Time is getting short for the Washington Nationals.

With just twelve days to go before the start of the 2009 season, the Nationals' roster is woefully unbalanced. There are too many starting outfielders and too few veteran pitchers, and the bullpen remains an enigma.

It would be a safe to say that if Jim Bowden was still the team's general manager, there would be several trades in the que to get rid of the glut of outfielders and pad the starting rotation with at least one veteran arm.

But I'm sure that Mike Rizzo is having difficulty making a deal. Not because he's not up to the task, but rather opposing general managers are testing him, trying to see if they can get an all-star for the equivalent of a bag of balls. That takes time. It may be weeks, or months, before any significant trade can be worked out.

Let's take a look at who those players are that are most likely on the trading block.

Austin Kearns - Right Field: Career 162 game average: .260-22-86
Boy, I don't know what to make of this guy. He started off his career in Cincinnati at a high average player, batting .315 with a .407 OBP. Since then, he has yet to bat over .270 for a full season.

He gets hurt often-though not to the extend of Nick Johnson-and has played more than 150 games just once in his career. He is an outstanding defensive right fielder.

I think that at this point in his career, Kearns is a starter on a bad major league team or a 4th outfielder / platoon player for a contender. Against lefties, he's averaged .272-19-110 with a .393 OBP over a 550 at-bat season, much better numbers than against right-handers (.256-17-78, .339 OBP).

What's the trade value for a 29-year-old with a history of injuries and has a difficult time hitting right-handed pitching? Not much. A mid-round prospect and the hope the other team will take over his entire $8 million dollar contract is about all the Nationals can hope go get.

Wily Mo Pena - Left Field
There isn't much love for Wily Mo Pena, but in reality, his career numbers aren't much different from Austin Kearns. He's averaged (over a 162 game season) .253-23-65, though his career OBP of just .307 isn't that great. Further, he's a liability in left field, and we aren't talking Adam Dunn liability; we're talking Frank Howard liability.

Like Kearns, Pena hits lefties very well, averaging .277-24-78 against them over a 550 at-bat season. His on-base percentage against them of .340 is acceptable (against righties, it's a woeful .289).

Pena would be an acceptable platoon in left on an average team, but he could also be a potent right-handed bat off the bench (if you were a lefty pitcher on the mound with the bases loaded and no out, you wouldn't want to see Pena pinch hit).

Sadly, because he's been injured, I don't think the Nationals could get much for him. He'll either be a starting outfielder for 'AAA' Syracuse (and be showcased for other teams) or he'll end up being released at the end of spring training.

Josh Willingham - Left Field
Of all the team's spare parts, Willingham has the most trade value. When the trade with the Marlins was made last fall, then GM Jim Bowden said that Willingham would be the team's starting left fielder. But with the signing of Adam Dunn, and the certainty that he'll be the team's left fielder, Willingham is the Nationals' odd man out.

He's averaged .266-26-86 during his career over a 162 season. He's a good-enough fielder and plays the game hard. He is a solid in the clubhouse.

But with Dunn, Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes starting for the Nationals, I doubt that he'll get 250 at-bats in 2009, unless of course the injury bug bites the team yet again.

Willingham is a unique player because as a right-hander, he hits right-handed pitching better. In a 550 at-bat season, he's averaged .269-22-85. At 29, he still has another 6-7 productive years left.

To leave him on the bench is a shame.

If the Nationals aren't going to start him, they need to trade him. Willingham could be the keystone in a trade that could land a solid veteran pitcher.

I don't want to lose him, but I'd rather have someone who can help the team at least contend for the wild card.

There are also a few other players who might bring some value. The Nationals have three reserve catchers, Josh Bard, Wil Nieves and Javier Valentin. One will make the Nationals and a second will play at 'AAA' Syracuse. Perhaps the odd-man out might be packaged in a deal for a prospect.

Alex Cintron has had a fine spring but has no chance of making the team. A career .277 hitter, he could also have some trade value.

If Mike Rizzo can prove himself to the league's other general managers, and do it quickly, the Nationals could trade some of these players and get in return a veteran pitcher or a couple of prospects.

If not, the Nationals will have one of the most lopsided rosters in the National League.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

T-minus 13 days to Opening Day for the Washington Nationals.

Many of the team's questions have been answered while others remained bubble-wrapped with uncertainty. What's good and what's not?

Let's take a look.

The starting rotation, which has been abysmal since the team first moved to Washington in 2005, has the potential to be somewhere between major league average to slightly above.

Though no official announcement-maybe pronouncement is a better word-has been made, I think that barring any late spring trades, this will be your starting rotation:

1-John Lannan
2-Scott Olsen
3-Daniel Cabrera
4-Jordan Zimmermann
5-Shairon Martis

Three of them, Lannan, Zimmermann and Martis, have been outstanding this spring. Lannan has yet to give up a run in 12 spring training innings (15 if you count his exibition stint against Italy) and is certainly the ace.

Zimmermann was pounded for five runs in his last outing against the Cardinals, yet still has a 3.14 ERA this spring (and don't forget he spent the previous day barfing all over the clubhouse).

And though Martis was given an opportunity to win a starting spot this spring, no one really thought he would. It was assumed that Colin Balester would grab that last spot, but he has fooled no one this spring and currently has a 7.80 ERA.

Martis, on the other hand, has a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings. He's young and not as polished (or as talented) as Zimmermann, but he looks like he can get the job done.

How might they do in 2009?

This is how I see them performing, assuming they remain healthy all year:

1-John Lannan: 14-11, 3.50
2-Scott Olsen: 13-11, 4.20
3-Daniel Cabrera: 12-12, 4.50
4-Jordan Zimmermann: 11-10, 3.65
5-Shairon Martis: 10-12, 4.60

That's a total of 60 wins. The typical bullpen wins roughly 25 wins in a season, so the Nationals could end the season 85-77, plus or minus seven games.

Of course, injuries, and rookie starters pitching like rookie starters, could drop that win total down into the low to mid 70's.

Infield:

1B: Nick Johnson
2B: Anderson Hernandez
SS: Christian Guzman
3B: Ryan Zimmerman

I am deeply disappointed that Manny Acta and Mike Rizzo have chosen to play Nick Johnson at first and Adam Dunn in left (though to be fair, Dunn looked horrible at first during the WBC).

Johnson is a free agent after this season, and there is no way he team will resign him. Even if he remains healthy (something I seriously doubt), he's a one-year rental player, not what a team that's building for the future needs.

I keep placing Ronnie Belliard ahead of Hernandez, but I'm beginning to believe in the kid. He began his career with the Mets going 11-84 before being traded to the Nationals for Luis Ayala. He batted a surprising .333 with a .497 on-base percentage last year for the Nationals and this spring is at .308 with a .400 OBP. I keep waiting for him to fail but he keeps on hitting.

Cristian Guzman, fresh off his .316 batting average last year and a two-year contract extension, is a lock at short. Ryan Zimmerman will begin winning Gold Gloves any time now and offensively, has averaged .283-21-93 in his four seasons with Washington.

This is how the infield should look offensively:

1B-Nick Johnson: .260-20-80
2B-Anderson Hernandez: .265-0-45
SS-Cristian Guzman: .275-9-55
3B-Ryan Zimmerman: .290-28-120

There are two many questions on the right side of the infield for a team hoping to bolt towards respectability.

Outfield:

Where do I begin?

The Nationals currently have six outfielders who have been starters in the past two years. From what Manny Acta has said, here is your starting outfield:

LF-Adam Dunn
CF-Lastings Milledge
RF-Elijah Dukes

No question that's a solid outfield, but there are too many spare parts left over. You could create a second outfield with Josh Willingham, Willie Harris and Austin Kearns, and still have Wily Mo Pena coming off the bench.

Had Jim Bowden not been forced to resign, I think this logjam would be long gone. But Mike Rizzo and Stan Kasten are adamant about their willingness to start the season with all of them.

The best Nationals' team would have Adam Dunn at first and Josh Willingham in left but unless Nick Johnson gets injured or traded, it's just not going to happen. Willingham is just too good to stay on the bench and won't get nearly enough at-bats as the team's 4th outfielder.

Here is my prediction for the outfield as currently constituted:

LF-Adam Dunn: .245-40-100
CF-Lastings Milledge: .275-20-60, 30 steals
RF-Elijah Dukes: .290-26-90, 30 stealsan

Regardless of how good those three can be, the outfield would be far better with Willingham in left.

Catcher:

Jesus Flores has the potential to be a solid if unspectacular major league catcher. He's slated to catch 120 games a year, and will probably hit somewhere near .270-12-60 or so.

Prediction:

The Washington Nationals are on the verge of rising from the abyss of baseball squalor and have a .500 record in their sights. Getting there will require a relative injury-free year and seeing the kids continue to mature.

Can they do better? They can if they play Adam Dunn at first and Josh Willingham in left. That will increase the quality of the outfield defense (though admittedly it will do the opposite at first). Lastings Milledge has the range-but not the ability-to cover that left-center field area that will become a Bermuda Triangle, a no-man's land because Dunn simply can't reach balls hit there.

On a scale of 1-100, I'd say the starting pitching rates an 80, the infield a 75 and the outfield an 85. I'm not going to rate the bullpen because for the life of me I can't guess who will make the team at this point.

If Mike Rizzo fixes the problems in the outfield, and trades Nick Johnson, I think the team will really surprise. If the team goes into the season with the team as is, they'll be respectable.

And really, respectable will be enough for Nationals' fans.

With less than three weeks of Spring Training remaining, the Washington Nationals have filled three of their five spots in their starting rotation. John Lannan, Scott Olsen and Daniel Cabrera will take the mound for the team's first three games of the season.

And while former general manger Jim Bowden had several young pitchers lined up vie for those last two spots, the team would have preferred to fill out the rotation with veterans, giving the young arms one more year of seasoning in the minors.

With that in mind, Bowden resigned Odalis Perez in February to a minor league contract, though it was assumed that if he pitched as well this spring as he did last year (when he went 7-12, 4.34 for the Nationals) he'd be in the rotation.

And Manny Acta said that if Shawn Hill was healthy-if he could show that he could be counted on for 30 starts-he would without question start for the Nationals too.

Of course, things didn't turn out quite the way the team had hoped. Two weeks after signing his contract, Perez developed an extreme case of "signer's remorse" and refused to report unless he received a major league contract.

He was released a few days later.

And Shawn Hill, though he pitched well in his two spring innings, continued to have forearm issues and in a move that shocked Nationals' fans and players alike, was also given his unconditional release.

So now what?

Well, "Plan B" becomes the original "Plan A," that is, to let the kids battle for those last two spots.

Jordan Zimmermann, who the front office believed could make the jump from 'AA' Harrisburg to the big club this year, has been possibly the best starting pitcher in all of Florida in 2009. In 12 innings, Zimmermann has given up just six hits and two walks while striking out 16.

Oh, and he has yet to give up a run.

I think it's safe to assume that Zimmermann has locked up the fourth spot in the rotation.

Colin Balester, who had 15 starts with the Nationals last year (3-7, 5.51) was considered the best bet among the youngsters to win a job with the Nats in 2009, but has struggled mightely this spring, allowing 11 hits and 6 walks in 11 innings.

He's surely headed to Syracuse to start the season.

Unless the Nationals make a trade for a starting pitcher in the next week or so, that final spot in the rotation will likely go to a 21-year-old from the Dutch island of Curacao, Shairon Martis.

Now, let's cover a couple of things that are important. First his name is pronounced "Shy-rone Mar-tis." Second, have you ever wondered why all these big leaguers come from a tiny island that you probably never heard of until Andruw Jones made to the major leagues?

Curacao, part of the Netherland Antilles, is less than 40 miles from Venezuela. Baseball migrated to the island and is today an important part of their culture.

Andruw Jones. Randall Simon. Jair Jurrjens. Hensely "Bam Bam" Meulens. Wladimir Balentien. All are former or current major league players who hail from Curacao.

Martis, just 21, was signed by the San Francisco Giants as a non-drafted player in 2005. He joined the team's Gulf Coast League entry and was the dominant pitcher in the league. In 11 starts, Martis went 2-1, 1.85, striking out 50 in just 34 innings.

He was chosen to play for the Netherlands in the inagural World Baseball Classic in 2006, and stunned Panama by no-hitting them in a seven-inning game.

He was just 18 years old.

He started 2006 with the Giants' low-A team in the South Atlantic League, and pitched well, going 6-4, 3.40. He seemed to be on a fast-track to the major leagues, which is why what happened next made no sense.

Jim Bowden had signed Mike Stanton in July 2005 to bolster the team's bullpen during their short-lived pennant run during their first season in Washington. But with the team in the middle of a 30-51 second-half finish, Bowden unloaded Stanton, trading him to the Boston Red Sox for minor leaguers Rhys Taylor and Yader Peralta.

Stanton became a free agent at the end of the season, and after negotiating with several teams, signed with-you guessed it-the Washington Nationals.

This time, Bowden held on to the veteran lefty until mid July, when he traded him a second time, to the San Francisco Giants, getting Martis in return.

Giants' bloggers eviserated GM Brian Sabean for trading one of the team's best pitching prospects for an aging relief pitcher. Whispers out of the front office in the days that followed hinted that Martis, with a fastball that topped out at 88 mph, would never make it to the major leagues.

In other words, they really didn't give up anything for a relief pitcher that solidified their bullpen for their pennant chase.

And Martis certainly wasn't overly impressive in his first year with the Nationals. He finished out the 2006 season splitting time with low-A Savannah and high-A Potomac, going 1-3, 3.60.

He started 2007 with the Potomac Nationals, but the Nationals were ready to send him down to Hagerstown if he struggled early on with the P-Nats.

It never happened.

Martis went 14-8, 4.23 in 27 starts with Potomac. In 150 innings, he had a very good 1.34 WHIP (baserunners allowed per inning) and a 2:1 strikeouts to walk ratio.

2008 was another solid season for Martis. He began the year in Harrisburg and went 4-4, 3.98 before being promoted to 'AAA' Columbus, where he went 1-2, 3.02. He earned a call-up to the Nationals in September, and though he didn't pitch particularly well (1-3, 5.66), he showed enough promise to at least be given a chance to vie for a starting job with the Nationals.

So far this spring, Martis has a 2.08 ERA in 13 innings, giving up just 7 hits.

It's no surprise to Randy St. Claire as to why Martis has improved so much in the last year. He's gained 6 mph on his fastball.

Martis began to top 90 mph early last year while with Harrisburg and by the time he reached the Nationals, he was routinely hitting 93-94 mph. A mechanical flaw was found-and corrected-which gave Martis the much needed boost in velocity.

His scouting report looks promising. TSN.ca says that Martis has a "ton of potential" and projects "above-average stuff" as a middle of the rotation starter.

Martis is 21 and will likely be a major league starter this year. By way of comparison, John Lannan was a senior at Siena College when he was 21. Scott Olsen, the youngest starter in the National League in his rookie season, was a year older at 22. Daniel Cabrera was playing for Bluefield of the Appalachian League when he was 21.

And even the amazing Jordan Zimmermann is 22.

Martis has the potential to be a consistant 14 game winner for years to come. It's hard to say whether he's old enough, and mature enough, to make that kind of impact in 2009.

But the Nationals aren't going to be ready to contend until 2011, which will give him two years to mature and be ready to help the Nationals make their first real attempt at winning the division.