New Hope Or New Hype in Washington

There is only a 1 letter difference between the words hype & hope. In the Nationals case, they'd like the spelling to contain the letter O, like the one they so famously left off their own jerseys in April.

While you can argue that signing to the deal Boras reportedly wanted would have increased the DC crime rate, you can't argue that the Nats are in serious need of not only talent...but a box office draw for a franchise that is 26th in attendance. More importantly than that, Washington entered Monday night without an identity. So at approximately at 11:58 last night, they purchased that. An identity. And for Stephen Strasburg, he immediately becomes the face of a franchise, signing to the highest signing bonus ever paid to an amateur draftee. The record $15M signing bonus surpassed the previous high paid to Mark Teixeira ($10.8M with Texas in 2001). Personally, I think this was an absolute necessity for a franchise desperate to shed the vagabond label that has followed them from Montreal. Simply put, the Nationals weren't just biding for a pitching prospect. They were biding for a face & a name fans can recognize & pin some sort of hope on.

Hopefully for the DC franchise, this is money well spent & it doesn't turn into something similar to the Smiley Gonzalez signing who was discovered this year to be 23 (not 19) & actually named Carlos Alvarez Daniel Lugo. Even if the list of failed high caliber pitching prospects is as long as Yao Ming, the Nationals sent a message to their fans late Monday. That message being we are ready to compete, & we will spend record dollars to do it.