Nats to Decide on Whether or Not to Tender Contracts to 10 Players

The Nationals have decide by 11:59 on December 2nd as to whether or not they will tender contracts to 10 players who are eligible for salary arbitration. That list consists of the following players

Sean Burnett- In my opinion they need to keep him on the roster. The Nats bullpen was one of the bright points of the season and a large part of that had to do with the development of Burnett.

Jesus Flores- This is a tough call in my opinion. Do you want to keep him and move him to first? Do you want to send him down to the minors? Do you want to trade him? It all comes down to how will he fit in to their plans. He is too good of a talent to just let walk but at the same time the Nats are set at catcher now with Pudge and Ramos on the roster already and Norris in the minors. I say they should go ahead and tender him a contract

Alberto Gonzalez- I’m expecting for them to tender him because he is too valuable off the bench for them not to. He has a nice glove and gives them a guy who can fill in at a number of spots having playing some at first, second, short, third and outfield last year for the Nats.

John Lannan- He will definitely be tendered a contract. He will only be 26 next season and has been the Nats best starting pitcher over the last three seasons. Starting pitching is a big point of concern for the Nats so there is now way that they would not tender him .

Michael Morse- I like what I saw from him last season both as a part time player and as a starter once he started to see regular at bats. Up until the 2009 season he had yet to get any real significant amount of at bats in the majors but I liked the power that he showed with his bat (15 home runs in just 293 plate appearances). He will probably be tendered and should once again see a significant amount of at bats whether it is in the outfield or at first base.

Joel Peralta- He had a great season last year and on several occasions showed that he could pitch two or three innings which makes him pretty valuable for a team like the Nats who don’t really have a starting rotation that eat up innings and pitch deep in to games. So he will more than likely be tendered.

Doug Slaten- He is another bullpen guy who had a nice year and is still fairly young for a relief pitcher seeing as how he will only be 31 next season. Plus he one of the guys Rizzo drafted when Rizzo was still working for Arizona which I think earns him extra points with the Nats gm. So he will definitely be tendered

Josh Willingham- Will definitely be tendered a deal but could be traded. He has a good amount of value as far as hitting goes and is a real nice player to have batting say 5th in the order. So he should have decent trade value for the Nats and when you combine that with the fact that he will be turning 32 and has been plagued by injuries throughout his career I think  there is a good shot the Nats move him if they can get something halfway decent in return.

Wil Nieves- He wont be tendered a contract. As a person he has always came across as a likable guy and all but lets be honest the Nats are set at catcher and they have several better options than Nieves at this point.

Chien-Ming Wang- Having talked to people about this it seems a lot of people feel he wont be back. Personally I disagree I think he will in a Nats uniform come 2011. I know that he has had nagging injuries over the last couple of seasons but I think the Nats are still willing to continue to gamble on him.