Nats shopping Lannan, want Jackson

It’s generally well known that the Washington Nationals blow. The main team down there is sadly the Baltimore Orioles and people just tend not to care about the Natties. But, could that be changing? They already went out and got Gio Gonzalez and they have young guns like Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg on the way. Could people actually start to care about this team?

Well, for one thing it seems that they aren’t done this offseason. According to Ken Rosenthal, the Nationals are actively shopping left-hander John Lannan, who will certainly command a huge haul after a 10-13 season. The biggest problem with that is where you’ll play all the great players that you get in return.

Actually, it seems like they are clearing up some money (his arbitration got him $5 million this season) to make room for Edwin Jackson, who Rosenthal says they are making a pitch for. Landing Jackson (or maybe Oswalt, but I doubt he’d go there) would actually make for a decent rotation with Strasburg and Gonzalez. It wouldn’t make them the Phillies, but they also wouldn’t be an easy sweep every time either.

Regardless, it’s clear that the NL East is getting better and better (except for the Mets) and the Phillies will not remotely be able to walk away with the division like they did last year.

UPDATE: The Nationals have agreed to sign Jackson, so it doesn’t seem like moving Lannan had to come first.