Why am I doing this?

I wouldn’t fault you for assuming I hate the Nationals. But that’s not exactly the case. Do I think the Nats are awful? Yes. Do I want them to be awful? No.

Are there reasons out there to hate them? Yes. Do I buy into all those reasons? No.

But there are fundamental questions about this franchise that have to be dealt with. The big one: Direction.

One reason to despise the direction of this team stems from the Alfonso Soriano debacle. Yes, it was a debacle. Because the team chose not to trade him, the franchise is worse off. Imagine if they had traded him last season. They could have got major league-ready starting pitching and probably a decent bat too. But they didn’t. So not only is the major league club worse off, the organization on a whole is worse off.

The trade deadline last season was an opportunity to help re-build the franchise. They chose not to do this. (I will admit, however, they didn’t do exactly nothing. Matt Chico may positively contribute at some point.)

So it’s not that I’ll enjoy the Nats losing this season. It’s just that they will. And that they probably deserve it. And that someone has to blog about it.