For the Nats this off season the biggest story of interest has been the free agency status of first baseman Adam Dunn and things just got a little more interesting because the Nats offered him arbitration…
For anyone not familiar with what arbitration is well the basic idea of it is that it allows for a team to keep a player for one year at a salary price that is comparable to that of the players who are also on his level.
From here Adam Dunn can either accept the arbitration which means he would be back with the Nationals for at least the upcoming season or he decline it and continue to test free agency.
For anyone hoping that the Nationals will keep Dunn in a Nationals uniform for at least the next couple seasons than an acceptance of the arbitration would be a sign of hope for them. Dunn coming back in 2011 would at the least give the Nats and Dunn a second chance at working out some sort of a deal that would keep him here past the 2011 season.
If Dunn decides to decline the arbitration that would mean he is free to sign with any team he wants to. If he declines arbitration and signs with another team in return the Nationals will get two draft picks in the 2011 draft.
So now the question is what will Adam Dunn do? At this point I expect him to decline arbitration and continue to look for a longer term deal. Who knows though he has made it known he wants to stay in Washington so we shall see….