After Strasburg #1 What Should The Nats Do?

It's anticipated that the Nationals will draft pitching sensation Stephen Strasburg with the first pick in the draft. His resume includes a fastball clocked at 100 MPH as well as some talented breaking pitches. After the selection the Nats front office has to quickly get back to work for the #10 pick in the draft, a compensatory pick for not signing SP Crow in last year's draft.

MLB decimated the Nationals farm system and allowed trades to occur receiving little back as compensation for top tier players. As the Expos moved to Washington, MLB directed GM Bowden to draft more players from college to accelerate their climb to the big leagues.

The Nationals reversed that strategy over the past few seasons looking long term in the hopes that some young arms would soon yield better records for a franchise looking up from the bottom of the league. The organization has signed few free agents the past few years and the depth of young players hasn't translated yet to the major league level.

The fans are waiting for some encouraging signs of life from the team and the Nationals may need to pass on the potential of HS athletes for a more tested and proven player from the college ranks. Ryan Zimmerman worked out nicely for the team. it doesn't mean that the long term strategy is flawed or incorrect, but there's been some misses in the draft causing the club to stay status quo with the exception of the signing of Dunn and a couple trades. Hopefully for Nationals fans the evaluation of talent is correct and will soon find some of the recently drafted players on the big league roster in the not too distant future.