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Nationals second-half preview Date published: 7/13/2006
By TODD JACOBSON WASHINGTON--Their lockers stand just a few feet apart, so Nationals catcher Brian Schneider is keenly aware of Alfonso Soriano's situation with Washington. If the Nationals begin a rebuilding effort, which they are expected to do after a disappointing 38-52 first half, it will start with Soriano--the team's lone all-star--and could affect several other veterans, significantly changing the face of this team in the next few weeks before the July 31 trade deadline. "This is the time of year when it's an uneasy time of year because you don't know who is going to be staying or leaving but there's nothing we can do about that," Schneider said. "On a day to day basis we just keep going about it hard." It's a very different approach a year later, but for the Nationals, year two of baseball's return to D.C. brings a very different set of circumstances. At the All-Star break a year ago, the Nationals were perched atop the National League East after a magical first half and they were buyers looking to dip into the trade market. A day before the second half of the season started, they acquired Preston Wilson from the Colorado Rockies. Not this season. After an awful first half--one that ended fittingly with a three-game sweep at the hands of the San Diego Padres--the Nats are last in the National League East, 15 games behind the New York Mets and nine games out of the Wild Card race. And with new ownership in place and pledging to rebuild the franchise slowly, from the ground up, the time to start thinking young is now. "We don't look at it as well, we are only nine games out, let's make a couple of patchwork deals and see if we can pull this Wild Card thing out," Bowden said. "That's not what our goal is. Our goal is, and we have been very upfront with the fans and very honest, we are going to build this thing for the long term which means there is short-term pain to get long-term gain." No one will come out and explicitly say it, but that means Soriano, the team's lone all-star after a 27-homer, 20-steal first half, is likely to be gone by the time August rolls around.
Date published: 7/13/2006
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