Seems the Nationals picked up two players from the Rule 5 Draft. Infielder Matt Whitney and outfielder Garrett Guzman join the club. It will be interesting to see what kind of help these two can provide.

According to the press release -

Whitney, who was the 33rd overall pick (supplemental round) in the 2002 First-Year Player Draft by Cleveland, led the Indians’ minor league system in 2007 with 32 home runs and 113 RBI in a combined 128 games with Low-A Lake County (South Atlantic League) and High-A Kinston (Carolina League). Whitney was named the 10th-best prospect in the Carolina League following the season by Baseball America after hitting .288 with 11 doubles, 16 homers, 49 RBI and a .549 slugging percentage in 57 games with Kinston.

Guzman was named an Eastern League post-season All-Star in 2007 after batting .312 with 23 doubles, 14 homers and 88 RBI in 125 games with Minnesota’s Double-A New Britain club. In his first full year at the Double-A level, the 24-year-old finished the year tied for fourth in the league in RBI and tied for third in batting. Guzman, a left-handed hitter, batted .333 (35-for-105) with three homers and 22 RBI against left-handed pitchers.

The Nationals have also offered contract extensions to Wily Mo Pena and Ryan Langerhans, avoiding arbitration for both. Pena got a one year deal with a mutual option year, while Langerhans agreed to terms for the 2008 season. Seems as though the outfield is set with five thanks to addition of Guzman. Guess that means we won’t be seeing Nook Logan in 2008?

Lastly the Nationals have agreed to terms with free agent infielder Aaron Boone.

Boone, 34, is a career .265 (961-for-3626) hitter with 203 doubles, 120 home runs, 527 RBI and 107 stolen bases in 1038 games spanning 10 big league seasons with Cincinnati (1997-2003), New York-AL (2003), Cleveland (2005-06) and Florida (2007). Although his season was cut short by a left-knee injury, Boone hit .286 with five home runs, 28 RBI and a career-best .388 on-base percentage in 69 games with the Marlins in 2007.

It’d be nice if we could get a catcher next to help Jesus Flores out next year.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Contracts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.