Nationals get more bang for their buck with Dunn than they would Teixeira

Going into the 2008 offseason, the Lerner group promised Washington Nationals fans that the club would land a big name free agent. They had one man in mind, the biggest fish in the free agency sea, first basemen Mark Teixeira. It seemed destined to happen, too. Teixeira was from the D.C/Maryland area and the Nationals had the most money to offer to him. The Nats made their push for the slugger and they let everyone know about it. Then on Dec. 23, Teixeira signed an eight-year, $180 million deal out of nowhere with the New York Yankees. Merry Christmas, Washington. Desperate, the Nationals combed the now-depleted free agent market to try and find some sort of bat to support their young star Ryan Zimmerman. More importantly, they had to make some sort of signing to save the franchise from embarrassment in the media, and ridicule by their fan base. February rolled around and the Nats had yet to make any type of splash in free agency. There was only one man available, a man who had his ...