Nov 10th 2008 10:00PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
The stove is getting warm in advance of the start of free agency on Friday. Earlier today we got word that Matt Holliday is heading to Oakland for a bevy of players, and now two NL East clubs have cooked up a deal. The Marlins sent starting pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham to the Nats for second baseman Emilio Bonifacio and two minor-leaguers.

On the surface, it looks like a steal for Washington. Olsen threw 200 league average innings in 2008, bouncing back from a weak 2007 season. That doesn’t sound like much, but such pitchers command a hefty sum on the open market and the Nats had just one pitcher who could boast such results. Olsen’s also just 24 and is a lefty, two more points that make him an intriguing pick-up for a pitching starved team.

Willingham will fit in somewhere in the corner outfield/first base mix for the Nats. He’s no great shakes, but gives the Nats an alternative to the atrocious Willy Mo Pena/Austin Kearns duo as well as a replacement for Nick Johnson’s injury du jour in 2009.

It should be noted that Olsen has had some behavioral issues in the past, which should make him and Elijah Dukes fast friends in the Washingon clubhouse, dawg. That may have brought his value down, as it’s otherwise hard to see why the Marlins gave him up for so little.Continue Reading