Bustings Milledge

Whatever the immediate merits of the great Morgan-Burnett for Milledge-Hanrahan swap of '09 (the P-Rats clearly won the letter sweepstakes) it's hard to see this as anything but a loss for the Nationals. Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett may be competent major leaguers, an honest-to-goodness upgrade from the routine incompetence of the 2009 Washington baseballclub, but it's hard to see either of them being part of the "first great Nationals team," as much as I abhor the phrase. Weren't the Nats supposed to be in the business of stockpiling talented youngsters and building for the future? Unless "the future" has been radically redefined as 2010, I'm missing something here.Sure, Lastings Milledge was a self-aggrandizing headcase with a gift for turning routine defensive plays into highlight reel-worthy miscues. That said, he was still just 24, an age when many good-if-not-great players are still figuring out their game in the high minors. Despite...