The Winter Meetings Conclude

Having been swamped at work, there hasn't been much time to stay abreast of everything going on at the just completed Winter Meetings. As it turned out, not much more happened, publicly, for Washington. But there was no surprise on our part when Zech Zinicola was picked by The Toronto Blue Jays in the Rule V Draft. Former Nationals Director of Scouting, Dana Brown, loved the guy and drafted him for Washington a few years back out of Arizona State. Now working for The Blue Jays as a Special Advisor to The GM, clearly Brown still has confidence in his ability to potentially succeed on the Major League Level. A belief, Washington's Current Baseball Management did not.

But the Rule V Draft this morning did give more credence to Our General Manager Mike Rizzo's decision to trade away the top pick to The New York Yankees (Jamie Hoffman from The Los Angeles Dodgers) for Major League ready pitcher Brian Bruney. There didn't seem to be much out there for the taking. Some teams, like Washington, more willing to bolster their Minor League lineups in the AAA & AA portion of the draft with filler (where any pickup does not have to stay on the Major League roster in 2010) than expose a 25-Man Spot to an unsure outcome in the Big Leagues. Not surprisingly, 34 of those 42 players picked by teams today were pitchers.

As the Winter Meetings concluded, Our Washington Nationals are still looking at Free Agent Pitching and Middle Infield help. Names like John Smoltz and Jason Marquis are still being mentioned as starters. Possibly, Mike Gonzalez in the bullpen. No real names clearly developing on the infield front.

Pitcher Zack Segovia was released from Washington's 40-Man Roster to make room for Jamie Hoffman to be drafted and sent to New York for Bruney.

There will be more later after I get through the remainder of the real work day.