This was very much a transition year for the boys in DC.  Trying to get everything off the ground and out of the Montreal days proved a little difficult…especially when your strikeout leader is Ramon Ortiz…and even more so considering that he only had 104. 

Alfonso Soriano had a contract year for the ages, proving that a position switch and playing in RFK Stadium were no hindrance to his lightning quick bat. He was also a force on the base paths, swiping 41 bags. His OBP reached .350 for the first time in his professional career, which proved to be enough to convince the Cubs that he should be there next $137 million dollar leadoff man.
A lot of people are going to look at this team and see Alfonso Soriano finally reaching the 40-40 hump, but there's more to this team than just the Soriano story.  Namely, Ryan Zimmerman's emergence, the deal that brought in Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez, and Nick Johnson's breakout season…up until his injury anyway.

Zimmerman had a tremendous season, anyway you look at it.  He saw almost four pitches per plate appearance, hit .325 with RISP, managed to knock in 110 runs, and posted more Runs Created than Chipper Jones, Chad Tracy, and NL batting champion Freddy Sanchez.
 

That was the good, how about the bad and the ugly now.  The Nationals pitching staff was incredibly inconsistent, with only one pitcher throwing more than 155 Innings.  When your winningest pitcher loses 16 games, maybe things didn't exactly go your way. John Patterson has all the upside in the world, and the ability to strikeout more than nine batters a game.  Unfortunately, at 28 years old, he’s only managed to pitch more than 130 innings in a season just once. Last year was not that year. Oh well, Chad Cordero had another solid year, converting 29 of 33 save chances along with a nifty 69/22 K/BB ratio. We’ll have to see if the tremendous workload Frank Robinson has given him will come back to haunt the team.
 

They replaced Pedro Astacio with Jerome Williams and named Manny Acta their new manager, while ridding themselves of the ever-declining Jose Vidro, and picked up some pretty nice prospects in return. But this really wasn't the market to get involved with for the new owners.  Much credit to Stan Kasten for holding his ground for at least another season.
 

This farm system is really a work in progress for the new owners, but they've inherited some nice pieces here and there.  3B Kory Casto had a nice year, posting an .847 OPS in Double-A, and Ryan Church gets better and better every time I watch him play. He’ll start the 2007 season patrolling the RFK outfield along with Nook Logan and Austin Kearns.