Five Things to Fix

Another blown lead - something has to be done. Here's what I'd do with the Nats to make them ready to play in the big leagues:

1. Send Hanrahan, Mock to Syracuse or lower; promote Jason Bergmann to closer role; call up Jesus Colome: This move does a couple things. It gets rid of two of the biggest issues we have with the bullpen - the two guys who have blown the most games. Bergmann would be ideal for the role of closer because he has great stuff and his confidence is incredible; last season we saw his great ability to bounce back from poor showings to throw some great stuff on the mound. Colome can play mop up duty along with Rivera to get his/their confidence up before they can be promoted when the next meltdown happens.

2. Trade Nick Johnson for young starting pitching; demote Daniel Cabrera or Scott Olsen; move Adam Dunn to 1B: As much as I love Nick Johnson, this move does a couple of things for our organization. It allows us to get starting pitching to send one of Cabrera/Olsen (preferrably Cabrera) down to the minors or DFA one of them. This also gives more at bats to Josh Willingham, who has better outfield defense than Adam Dunn. Dunn would be less of a risk in the infield, I feel. Young, reliable starting pitching also gives us something to build on and a little more competition. Also waiting in the organizational wings is Chris Marrero - a young prospect with incredible upside who I hear has been tearing it up in the minors.

3. Draft Stephen Strasburg, demote other Cabrera/Olsen/Martis: Drafting Strasburg gets the starting ace that we can build the team around. Getting rid of the unreliable starting pitching makes the rotation a lot scarier, and if the entire starting five at that point (Lannan, Zimmermann, Strasburg, traded pitcher, other slot) is reliable, then they can go 6 or 7 innings and take pressure off a tired bullpen.

4. Switch Manny Acta's and Jim Riggleman's roles: Don't fire Manny Acta - he's a great personality to have around especially with so many negatives with this team. Instead, make him the bench coach - and promote Riggleman to the role of manager. This puts a more aggressive Riggleman into the role of manager, while still keeping Acta to coach the bench. I considered just making this a Fire Manny Acta/Promote Jim Riggleman thing, but I like Acta too much to completely get rid of him. Sometimes I like my thoughts too much.

5. DFA Alex Cintron; keep Alberto Gonzalez in majors: With Harris coming off the DL (and Guzman too), there's a little less space on the bench for pinch hitters. Cintron hasn't shown me anything and is not worthy of a spot in the major leagues. Alberto Gonzalez has shown me a lot and I think he can stick around in a 7 or 8 slot, or pinch hitting, unless the club would like him in the minor leagues to get every day at bats. In that case, still get rid of Cintron. He's terrible.

Note: While these five things probably won't turn the Nats into a World Series contender, they would certainly fix the club up a lot and make for a smarter and better team, more built for the future. Let's see how many of these come true in the coming weeks and months.