I had a number of different title options here. “Perfecting the Imperfect” was my other favorite. But I digress…

I’ve been trying my best and doing a fairly good job of being a fan of the Washington Nationals. I am doing this because, well, why not? They’re my local team. I’m certainly not jumping on any bandwagon (and if so, it’s a pretty lousy bandwagon). And frankly, they need the support. There are a lot of people who live here in the DC area who are Nationals fans in theory, but not in practice. They like the idea of having a Major League team because it gives them something to do and someplace to go to hang out and drink beer outside, but they don’t quite love the whole, “bad baseball” thing. I’m different. I watch the games on TV. I follow the team daily. I stress out about roster moves. You could say that I’m a fan.

Up until recently, I would not call myself a Nats fan. It’s like saying you’re a fan of not sleeping or a fan of traffic. I have a lot of issues with the Nationals, but issues aside, I want nothing more (in terms of baseball) than for them to succeed. Not because this city “needs it” (it doesn’t deserve it, frankly). Not because they’re due (Paging the Pittsburgh Pirates…Paging the Pittsburgh Pirates). No, I want this team to succeed because, well, I’m actually not sure. The players deserve it. Ryan Zimmerman especially. And frankly, the dedicated fan base (and there is one…every team has dedicated fans) deserves to see a winning product. I have a lot of respect for the people who go to Nationals Park and root for the worst team in baseball every night. Baseball isn’t like the other sports. You really get no respite from the failure.

If you travel up Route 295 from Nationals Park for about 45 minutes, you end up staring at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles. It wasn’t until roughly 20 hours ago that I realized that the Orioles are kind of my home team too. All of their games are broadcast on local television here. In fact, they own the network that airs Nationals games.

The similarities end there between the two teams though. The Nats are the new team who came in and stole some fans from the Orioles fan base. There were lots of people who live between Washington and Baltimore who are closer to the DC end and weren’t terribly loyal to Baltimore because they had grown disillusioned with the ownership. And so the Orioles lost some fans when the Expos moved here in 2005. Orioles owner Peter Angelos tried hard to keep the Expos out of DC for many years, ultimately to no avail. There’s not a lot of love lost between the two organizations, but frankly there’s also not a whole lot of real hatred either. They might be geographical rivals and they might be cross-League rivals, but really, neither team is very good right now. So watching the two teams play against each other is kind of like watching the two weakest kids in school get into a fistfight. Initially it sounds entertaining because the word fight (in this case “rivalry”) is tossed around, but really, it’s just a lot of weak, futile fists flailing about. And no matter who wins, no one really wins.

And then last night, a great idea occurred to me. What if the two teams combined into one “super” team? Would that team be “super?” You be the judge. Here I present to you my melding of the two teams’ current 40 man rosters into one 25-man roster. For posterity’s sake, lets place them in the AL East (and move the Pirates to the NL East). Where would this team finish?

Catcher: Matt Wieters (Baltimore). This is a no contest between Wieters and Pudge Rodriguez. Wieters is a power hitting catcher in his early 20’s with tremendous upside. Pudge Rodriguez is a useless stopgap until Derek Norris is ready to move to catcher for Washington (If he ever gets there. There are many who don’t think he projects out to be a ML catcher. We’ll see)

First Baseman: Adam Dunn (Washington). Also a no contest. Baltimore’s 1B is Garrett Atkins, a serviceable option, but nowhere near the power hitter that Dunn is.

Second Baseman: Brian Roberts (Baltimore). Again, not even close between Roberts and Adam Kennedy.

Third Baseman: Ryan Zimmerman (Washington). The easiest no-brainer so far. Miguel Tejada couldn’t carry Zimm’s glove at this point in his career.

Shortstop: Ian Desmond (Washington). Not a lot of talent (yet) on either roster at SS. I take the younger Desmond and his potential over whatever it is that Cesar Izturis or Julio Lugo provide.

Left Field: Nyjer Morgan (Washington). I’m cheating by moving Morgan to LF, but there isn’t enough speed on this team and while Nolan Reimold (Baltimore) would be my choice over Josh Willingham (Washington), Morgan provides an element that every team needs: A man named Nyjer. Also, speed.

Center Field: Adam Jones (Baltimore). Moving on…

Right Field: Nick Markakis (Baltimore). Ditto. I mean, sorry Willie Harris, but you had no chance.

DH (remember, AL): Josh Willingham (Washington). Really, a very underrated hitter. He’s hit 20+ HR 3 times in his 4 full Major League seasons. And has a career OPS of .840. Not bad from a guy many people disregard.

Bench: Nolan Reimold, Ivan Rodriguez, Garrett Atkins and Julio Lugo

Starting Pitchers: Jason Marquis, John Lannan, Stephen Strasburg…remember 40 man rosters..(Washington), Kevin Millwood and Brian Matusz (Baltimore)

Relief Pitchers: Matt Capps, Brian Bruney, Jason Bergmann (Washington), Will Ohman, Mike Gonzalez, Cla Meredith, Jim Johnson (Baltimore)

Batting Order:

LF Nyjer Morgan
2B Brian Roberts
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam Dunn
CF Adam Jones