A Tale of Two Orlandos

by Phil Wood

Hudson, I get. Cabrera, not so much.

That the Nationals are looking at Orlando Cabrera as a potential free agent signee is interesting, I'll say that. It's no secret that Cabrera has been associated with a lot of winning teams. Cabrera has seen post-season action with the Red Sox, Angels, White Sox, and this past season, the Twins. He doesn't walk a lot, but he doesn't whiff a lot either. He's a .275 career batter, with decent peripherals, averaging 11 home runs and 71 RBI every 162 games.

It's the fact that he keeps jumping around that concerns me. I've heard the rumors that he's not a great clubhouse presence, but there's always someone who wants him.

And the Nats are apparently interested in him as a second baseman, a position he's played just 33 times in more than 1,700 games.

Orlando Hudson is clearly their first choice, though Hudson's agent is looking for a huge payday, reportedly $9 million. Today's signing of Miguel Tejada by the Orioles for around $6 million should indicate to Hudson that he won't get even that much money.

Losing his job to Ronnie Belliard last September doesn't help his case much either.

Time is running out on players like the Orlando's. Clubs are going to start putting offers out to players like that saying "first one to call back gets it." The Nats hope it'll be Hudson, and knowing that Cabrera is also in the picture may hasten Hudson's decision.

The clock is also running on guys like Jon Garland and John Smoltz, both of whom are on the Nats' radar. Joel Piniero, Doug Davis and Jose Contreras are off the market. If the rest of the still-available free agents believe that dollar amounts are going to start increasing, they may be in for a rude awakening.

Next week could be fun.