Willingham and Olsen fill two big holes for Nationals
The two biggest needs the Nationals had entering the 2009 season were starting pitching and a power bat. By trading for outfielder Josh Willingham and left-handed starter Scott Olsen on Tuesday, Washington accomplished both.
Willingham has the potential to be the power bat that Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden was looking to add to the Nationals line-up and Olsen is a front line pitcher that very well could be the Opening Day starter against his former team and for the foreseeable future.
The biggest question about the trade is, where does Willingham fit into the equation? The Nationals have Austin Kearns, Elijah Dukes, Lastings Milledge, Wily Mo Pena and Willie Harris in the mix.
"I'm always a big fan of competition," Bowden said. "When you have depth, you have a means to make other deals to make the team better in other areas."
There is always a chance that Willingham could end up at first base. He's played the position before but isn't exactly known for his glove. With Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young coming off injuries, Willingham is definitely open to the idea.
One thing Willingham does know, he's happy to be in a Nationals uniform. "I'm really looking forward to moving forward with the Nationals. They talk about the plan they have with this team and I'm going to believe in it."
An area of concern fans may have is Willingham's back. He missed 50 games last season with a herniated disk in his lower back, but he says he is completely healthy and ready to contribute to a team that finished last year with 102 losses.
"The back is good, really good," Willingham said. "It's been good since I've come back to play. If I stay healthy, the numbers are going to be there. They always have been."
Olsen, who went 8-11 with a 4.20 ERA last season, has been an innings eater since breaking into the Majors. The 6'5'' lefty has thrown at least 170 innings in each of the last three seasons and feels he's matured, not only as a person, but as a pitcher.
"Coming in in 2005 and 2006, I really only had a fastball and slider and it worked," Olsen said. "It worked well for a year, and I never had enough confidence in my change up until about half way thru 2007. In 2008 I really started throwing it a lot. I finally found a grip that I liked. A lot of it was just having confidence and it really turned things around for me."
Hopefully things have turned around off the field as well for the young left-hander. Olsen was charged with driving under the influence and scuffling with police officers in 2007.
"You just try to keep yourself out of situations where there might be a problem," said Olsen. "I think that's the biggest thing with all this maturing that everybody claims that I've done. I think it comes down to one thing, and that is, don't be in situations where something might happen."
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