When second best really is first loser

MLB.com put out the Expos/Nationals "Team of the Decade" this past week picked by a handful of people who were vaguely aware of the franchise's existence before 2005. While they didn't do a bad job the end result is a team that makes you think "Really? That's the best the Nats got?".

Unfortunately it is. To show that is indeed the case I thought I would come up with the second best team

C - Michael Barrett : He was awful with the bat, worse than Flores, but he played a bunch more games than Jesus. If Flores was good I'd put him in here, but here's a little secret - Flores overall hasn't been that good.

1B - Lee Stevens : You could make the argument for Dmitri since he was actually, you know, good for a year. But Dmitri also then gave the Nats the worst 2 years you can get for 10 million. Stevens was a decent power threat for back to back years.

2B - Ronnie Belliard : Ronnie was never really appreciated for the adequate player he was. Also, since Vidro dominated the early years there really is no other choice.

SS - Cristian Guzman : His numbers aren't good, but for a shortstop it could be worse. Like if he played for the Nats before 2005.

3B- Tony Batista : One of those fun, swing from the heels guys that killed a team over the course of a year but for any single game you liked to see bat.

OF - Jose Guillen : Yeah he was awful in year 2, but the choices are getting real slim. Plus, he was like a windup toy powered on hate. If you could make him angry and point him in the right direction, look out!

OF - Ryan Church : Am I being biased? Perhaps, but he played the 4th most games and had the 5th highest OPS+ for anyone who played more than half a season for this franchise. It's still crazy the Nats never seemed willing to give this guy his fair chance. Oh the Nats need a CF? What about this guy that can hit and play passable CF? That's crazy! Let's see what Brandon Watson can do!

OF- Willie Harris : At this point it's either guys who played a decent amount and sucked or guys who had a single decent season with the team. Juan Rivera? Elijah Dukes? Solid Sub Willie Harris is good enough for me.

I'm getting bored of all this mediocrity - time to speed it up.

P - John Patterson : That was one hell of a year right? There are worse little careers... as you will see.

P - Esteban Loaiza : Probably the best single season career for an Expos/Nats starter. Go ahead. Find a better case. I dare you.

P - Zack Day : No I'm not kidding... and there's two more to go. For those of you that picked up the team with the move he wasn't that terrible before.

P - Tim Redding. : Uh huh. This is the 9th best starter for the franchise in the 2000's, ladies and gentlemen.

P - Carl Pavano? : Bartolo Colon's half season? Dustin Hermanson? Whatever.

SU - Jon Rauch : Could have went with Scott Strickland, who pitched better, but Rauch was still good and had twice as many innings. That's been the franchise's strength for most of the decade. Pretty good set-up men.

CL - Uggie Urbina : One fair year before the shipping out is all you need to be franchise's second best closer for the decade. The next best choice here was Rocky Biddle folks. Rocky Biddle.

Take a look at that team. Where do you think they would finish? Laugh it up, but take a moment to compare them to this year's probable team, especially the pitching staff (-Strasburg). Still laughing?