Washington Nationals Not Players, Just Played

So, I've been out of town the last few days. Anything happening in the Natosphere?

Just kidding.

Nats fans in particular, and baseball fans in general, should be depressed at the way the Mark Teixeira saga shook out. It really is a sham that the Yankees have a license to print money and operate in the manner they do.

I know it's the reality of the situation and the baseball owners are the ones that make the rules they play under, but how can anyone consciously participate in a coalition that allows one of its members to act with fiscal impunity?

Comments from baseball executives, from Brewers GM Doug Melvin to Angels owner Arte Moreno to Red Sox principal John Henry, have decried the financial situations they play under, and how the Yankees have their own set of rules. Melvin's comments, in particular, are biting.

Milwaukee lost free agent CC Sabathia to the Yankees, but that's not the worst part. Because Teixeira is a higher-ranked player on the Elias Rankings for free agents, Los Angeles will receive the Yankees' first-round pick in compensation, leaving the Brewers to collect only a second-round pick for Sabathia, the top free agent pitcher this season.

That part of the system is broken and can be fixed pretty quickly. But the idea that the Yankees can act with impunity is a result of how the owners have set up the financial structure of the entire game.

Apologists, like ESPN.com's Peter Gammons, will point out that the Yankees have a lot of money coming off the books next year and that their salary will actually be lower than this year. Big deal. The bottom line is that the only teams in the Teixeira sweepstakes, as with CC Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, et al. before him, were the New York Yankees.

And that just ain't right.

What about the idea that because the Nats were in the Teixeira sweepstakes they have become "players?" That's just ridiculous. The Nats got played, plain and simple. They were nothing but unwitting pawns in the whole thing. All Jim Bowden accomplished was driving the price the Yankees paid just a little and giving false hope to a rapidly diminishing fan base.

Nats fans, please don't go thinking that Stan Kasten is directing Bowden to go off on a spending spree now with that $160 million. There's no one else in "The Plan" out there. If they were spending that money this offseason, it was for Teixeira.

I will say this: If Bowden even makes a run at Manny Ramirez, as has been widely speculated, the Nats are even worse off than imagined. Two (or three, or whatever) years of Ramirez would not only handcuff the Nats for those number of seasons, but would further contribute to the idea that Bowden cares about just one thing: his image.

In other news, the Nats signed a bunch players on Tuesday that all had promise at one point in their careers, but have failed as big leaguers for one reason or another.

Daniel Cabrera? Corey Patterson? Freddie Bynum? Jorge Sosa?

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah Nats fans.