I just don't get it

Not only do I not understand why on Earth old Leatherpants would sign Dmitri Young to a contact extension rather than trading him for a prospect to a contending team in need of another bat, but I also don't understand Nationals fans' jubilant reaction to the news. Is baseball still so new in Washington that people don't know a stupid move when it happens?

Dmitri Young was out of baseball. Old Leatherpants got lucky in signing him and getting the production he has, and the signing only happened because of Bowden's obsession with ex-Reds. Who's to say that this comeback isn't a fluke?

When Young left the Reds, he had the gall to complain about Ken Griffey, Jr. getting "special treatment." Reds fans and management alike were ecstatic that we had been able to sign Junior, but Young never got the special relationship between Griffey and Cincy, so he had to run his mouth. I've never liked him since. I don't know if the whole "alcohol was the source of my problems" explanation is the truth or an excuse, as I don't know enough about the story to pass judgment, but I find it difficult to believe that someone can change their whole personality in half a baseball season.

But - my personal feelings about Dmitri aside, this is simply a bad baseball decision. Is Young a bad player to have on a team? Probably not, but for a team as bad as the Nationals, with no end to the badness in sight, not trading one of the few pieces of your team that could actually bring a prospect in return is stupid, stupid, stupid. This is the second time in a week it's happened, too, with the Belliard extension. It just shows that "The Plan" is not a plan at all, but a series of tubes. Downward pointing tubes.

And $10 million?!!

The only good I see coming out of this is perhaps it will push Nick Johnson to come back. I can't imagine roly-poly playing leftfield next year and think that Leatherpants has completely lost his mind. (I don't understand fatties in baseball. They have access to the best weight and exercise equipment, they make enough money to have fresh fruits and vegetables around at all times, and they play a freaking sport, for chrissake!) There better be a weight stipulation in that contract for $10 million!