Dunn declines arbitration offer

Adam Dunn declined the Nationals' arbitration offer tonight, a procedural move that doesn't prevent the free agent first baseman from re-signing with Washington but does ensure the club will get draft pick compensation if he leaves.

The Nationals had submitted the arbitration offer last week. Dunn, like all current free agents, had until 11:59 p.m. tonight to either accept or decline the offer. Had he accepted, Dunn would have returned to Washington on a one-year contract, with an independent arbitrator determining his 2011 salary.

Dunn's decision to decline the offer guarantees the Nationals compensation if he ultimately signs with another team. Because the 31-year-old is classified as a Type A free agent, the Nats will get two 2011 draft picks as compensation. They'll get a "sandwich" pick between the first two rounds, and either a first-round or a second-round pick depending on which club signs Dunn.

The market for Dunn, who has averaged 40 homers and 101 RBI each of the last seven seasons, hasn't been as strong as the free agent originally hoped. The Tigers, expected to be one of his top pursuers, elected instead to sign Victor Martinez last week. The Cubs, another

Tender decisions

Photo courtesy Bill Scheuerman

The Nats face a tough decision with Chien-Ming Wang, who never pitched in 2010.

As everyone agonizes over another free agent pitcher coming off the market — Jorge de la Rosa has re-signed with the Rockies for perhaps as much as three years and $32 million — and awaits confirmation that Adam Dunn is turning down the Nationals' offer of arbitration — nothing more than a formality, really — let's turn our attention to another event that takes place around baseball this week: The non-tender deadline.

By Thursday night, all MLB clubs must tender contract offers to all players not yet signed for 2011 but still under team control. For the most part, this applies to anyone with less than six years of big-league service time, unless the player has already signed a long-term deal (like Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper).

The majority of these decisions are simple, especially when it comes to players with less than three years of service time who still make close to the league minimum salary. The tougher decisions tend to come with players who have more than three years but less than six years of service time: the arbitration-eligible players, who tend to earn sizable raises through that process.

The Nationals have eight arbitration-eligible players this winter: Josh Willingham, Sean Burnett, Jesus Flores, Wil Nieves, John Lannan, Michael Morse, Alberto Gonzalez and Chien-Ming Wang. By Thursday night, the club must tender their contracts (essentially saying they're

What pitcher should Nats acquire?

Javier Vazquez's signing with the Marlins yesterday depleted one more name off the list of potential Nationals pitching acquisitions, a list that is losing some of its luster.

Not that Vazquez's decision to take $7 million and move closer to home in Florida instead of coming to D.C. was a devastating blow to the Nationals' offseason plans. I don't think he would have been the difference between 75 and 85 wins in 2011.

But in a market boasting one really big fish (Cliff Lee) and plenty of less-than-inspiring alternatives, Vazquez seemed to be one of the better fallback options for a Washington club that is simply trying to stabilize its rotation while Stephen Strasburg recovers from Tommy John surgery and Jordan Zimmermann develops into a front-line starter.

So who's left for the Nationals to pursue? Let's break down the possibilities by four categories: 1) legitimate aces, 2) second-tier free agents, 3) trade targets, 4) low-risk options...

LEGITIMATE ACES
I think we all know only one free agent pitcher falls into this category: Cliff Lee. The Nationals have certainly made contact with agent Darek Braunecker and will attempt to be taken seriously by the left-hander.

Vazquez signs with Marlins

Cross Javier Vazquez off the list of possible additions to the Nationals' rotation. The veteran right-hander came to terms today on a one-year deal with the Marlins, according to multiple reports out of Miami.

Vazquez is coming off a down year with the Yankees in which he went 10-10 with a 5.32 ERA over 157 innings. The 34-year-old, though, owns a career 152-149 record, a 4.26 ERA, nine seasons of at least 200 innings and five seasons of at least 200 strikeouts.

The former Expos ace has been a more successful pitcher in the National League (4.02 ERA in eight seasons) than the American League (4.65 ERA in five seasons) and as recently as 2009 went 15-10 with a 2.87 ERA and 238 strikeouts for the Braves.

Vazquez's deal is believed to be worth $6 million to $7 million. The Nationals made him an offer (terms unknown) in the last two weeks. Other potential free agent targets still include Cliff Lee, Jorge De La Rosa, Brandon Webb, Carl Pavano and Kevin Millwood.

Thanksgiving in NatsTown

Everyone has something to be thankful for this time of the year (or any time of the year, for that matter) and that certainly holds true across NatsTown.

As a matter of fact, I somehow managed to interview more than a dozen Nationals players, staff members and team officials today and got them to tell me what they're most thankful for right now. I know, I'm just that dogged of a reporter to track all these people down and get them to pour out their soul for me. (Either that, or I just made these up.)

So with that, here's a list of what all the various residents of NatsTown are most thankful for this year...

Mike Rizzo: That the market for Adam Dunn may not be quite what Greg Genske thought it would be.

Adam Dunn: That there's at least one team out there willing to give him a three-year deal.

Ian Desmond: That errors aren't the only measure of defense anymore.

Danny Espinosa: That hamate bone surgery isn't a major procedure.