http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spken2812809891may27,0,7519419.column Ken Davidoff What do you get for the team that has nothing? For the Nationals and Mike Rizzo, their vice president of baseball operations, the buzzword is "impact" players. "Nick Johnson, or (Josh) Willingham, or (Austin) Kearns, anyone on our roster, if we can make a good baseball trade and improve ourselves, not only for our present but also for our future -- a player that can impact us -- we have to make those kinds of trades," Rizzo told Midweek Insider Tuesday, before his team lost yet another game to the Mets, dropping their record to worst-in-baseball 13-32. All right, let's back up for a moment. It's a mite harsh to say the Nationals have nothing. Thanks in large part to Rizzo, who oversaw the club's last two amateur drafts, there is some talent coming through the pipeline. Nats veteran lefty Ron Villone, the former Yankee, called young outfielder Justin Maxwell one of the best athletes he has ever seen in the game. But Rizzo does have miles to go. He's the club's de facto general manager because Jim Bowden, the first and only Nats GM, resigned in spring training in the wake of reports that he was being investigated about his role in a price-skimming scandal in the Dominican Republic. Bowden sullied the team brand with the constant drama he generated. Just as bad, he wasn't a very good GM. Bowden seemed to operate under the premise that you can never have too many first basemen and outfielders. Hence Rizzo's confirmation of Johnson, about whom I asked, and volunteering of Willingham and Kearns as potentially available players. Johnson, now 30, is having the sort of season the Yankees envisioned of him 10 years ago, when he put up a .525 on-base percentage for Double-A Norwich. The lefty-hitting first baseman has a .436 on-base percentage and .460 slugging percentage and has played in 44 of the team's 45 games. Alas, nearly all of Johnson's seasons have been disrupted by injuries, so teams in need of first basemen or designated hitters -- like the Mets and Red Sox -- will be reluctant to give up too much. Rizzo denied the reports that the Nats and Boston had discussed a deal that would send Johnson to Boston for reliever Manny Delcarmen. Said Rizzo: "That was never proposed to anybody. That was never rejected by anybody. It was fabricated by somebody." When we followed, "There were never any discussions or parameters involving Johnson and Delcarmen?" Rizzo said, "No." In any case, as Rizzo said, he wants players with high ceilings, whether they currently play in the majors or in the low minor leagues. Willingham, primarily a leftfielder, has put up a respectable .820 OPS and is making just $2.95 million this season, while the rightfielder Kearns has an underwhelming .730 OPS and is making an unwieldy $8 million with a $10 million team option (or $1 million buyout) for 2010. Both Willingham and Kearns hit righty; the Mets, with Carlos Delgado out and Gary Sheffield surging, are more in need of a lefty bat right now. The Nationals season has largely been undone by their bullpen, which has 13 blown saves to eight saves. They're already out of contention for 2009. The key, now, is to develop promising kids like pitchers Shairon Martis and Jordan Zimmermann, showcase face of the franchise Ryan Zimmerman and keep moving forward. With the youngsters that are here now, and with trades to bring more youngsters aboard. "Certainly, the roster flexibility affects what we do. It's part of the plan that we have to play with," Rizzo said. "So we're trying to get more balanced. We're trying to get more athletic, and younger, and better, in each facet of the game. I think we have the personnel in place, either here on the major-league side presently and on the minor-league side for the future, to do so." Perhaps. Rizzo, who has earned the full-time GM job he hasn't yet received, helped put together the talented Diamondbacks team that made the 2007 National League Championship Series. But the next few months are important, too. Obligatory Strasburg Question Part of Rizzo's professed optimism is tied in with the fact that the Nationals own the first pick and the 10th pick in this year's amateur draft. As everyone knows, San Diego State right-hander Stephen Strasburg is widely regarded as the best prospect out there, and he's represented by Scott Boras. The Nats have little choice but to select Strasburg. Rizzo has said repeatedly, "If the draft was today, he'd be our guy," and he cited that quote when asked Tuesday. "So what if the draft was today" Midweek Insider followed up. "If the draft is today, I don't think anything has changed," Rizzo said. --

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