Dmitri Young is close to signing a minor league deal with the Washington Nationals. The Nats already have Travis Lee around to play first while Nick Johnson recovers, but Young would certainly give them more pop while they wait.
Young struggled in limited time last year, but has always been a consistent source of power, and is only a few years removed from a sparkling .297/.372/.537 campaign back in ’03 in Detroit. I would’ve expect Young would find an AL home before he landed with an NL team, but Jim Bowden seems to like guys like this, as he signed Matt LeCroy last offseason.
UPDATE: Tony Batista has signed a minor league deal with the Nats, too. He must not have gotten any good offers at all, because there are few teams likely to have less playing time for Batista than the Nats, unless Batista thinks he can sell himself as a shortstop.
By Jeff Sackmann
www.BrewCrewBall.com
