FLB: Nationals preview
By Tristan H. CockcroftESPN Fantasy Games
Baseball returned to the nation's capital for the first time in 34 years in 2005, but that hardly means stability returned with it. The Washington Nationals, formerly the Montreal Expos, remain a team without an owner, and during the offseason, minor setbacks in setting the grounds for a new stadium seemed to put the franchise back in doubt. Fortunately, the team secured a lease for its proposed new park in early February, the first step toward getting the Nationals back on solid ground. Now all that's left is getting the funding squared away, finding an ownership group, building the stadium … OK, so there's a lot left to do.
With so much still up in the air in Washington, general manager Jim Bowden -- whose future is also unclear -- figured, why not throw more controversy into the mix? He seemingly made one of the winter's better acquisitions in getting former 30/30 man Alfonso Soriano from the Texas Rangers, then announced his intent to move Soriano to left field. Soriano promptly disputed the decision, and to this date, it remains unclear whether he'll accept the shift or insist upon remaining at second base, a spot Jose Vidro has manned for the team for more than seven seasons. One is obviously going to have to move, and if it's not Soriano, then either Vidro will be bumped or another Soriano trade might be necessary.
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