If you can't beat 'em, get 'em to join you?

I'm sure that I'm not the only one intrigued by the scenario put forth by Thom Loverro in today's Washington Times, about the possibility of the Nationals trying to sign Atlanta's Andruw Jones in the forthcoming offseason, as Jones will be a free agent. It makes you think, but let's face it, if the Chicago Cubs were willing to give Alphonso Soriano the 4th richest contract in MLB history, just what kind of money will Jones require, especially to leave Atlanta, where he has established roots? It might make Soriano's $138 million look like chicken feed.

I don't see the Nationals doing it, despite Stan Kasten's relationship with Jones. It just doesn't fit in with "The Plan", at least not at this stage. Anything is possible, but I just don't see them spending that kind of money on a 30 year-old, no matter how great a player he is, when they could take the same money and go after pitchers and continue to build the farm system.

I heard a joke recently about U.S. space tourist Charles Simonyi, who paid $25 million dollars to ride a Russian space shot to the International Space Station. It was something along the lines of how his view from the I.S.S. was beautiful, and how he could see dozens of countries from up there that could really use $25 million dollars. Well, that's kind of like the Nationals, the impoverished nation that is better off spending millions of dollars on infrastructure and basic needs while others are crying for them to spend that money developing a nuclear weapons (or space) program.

The Lerners aren't going to allow the Nationals to become the North Korea of the National League.

If this period of club development seems like The Great Depression, then think of "The Plan" as being akin to The New Deal. The Depression didn't end overnight and, yeah, I know, the Second World War had a lot to do with bringing the country out of it, but I still think that it's a good metaphor.

The Lerners build things. That's what they do. Building something right takes time. "Rome wasn't built in a day", and all that. We waited over 30 years to even get a team, I think we can wait a few more for them to become the Atlanta Braves/St. Louis Cardinals/New York Mets all rolled into one.