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     I covered this the other day on my MLBlog (http://go-nasty-nats.mlblogs.com), but in case it slipped by you...John Patterson, who 3 years ago was considered the ace of the Nationals' pitching staff, decided that the injuries he suffered the last 2 seasons were enough to convince him to retire.

     Frankly, I'm not surprised at this.

     I had serious doubt that Patterson would be healthy enough to at least start the season. Now, we'll never know for certain.

     What I do know, is this opens up a spot in the rotation come spring training next month. But that's the least of the worries for this franchise. So let's see if I can review, position by position, what the front office should be addressing.

     For starters, first base...

     If...and that's a giant "if"...Nick Johnson's recovered fully from his injury 2 months into last year, then he's the starter @ 1B. How Dmitri Young starts off @ Syracuse determines when he backs up Nick. In the meantime, what exactly is the timetable for Chris Marrero to make it to Washington?? Does he stay @ Potomac, or move up to Harrisburg (or Syracuse)??

     OK, who's our second baseman?? To me, it appears Ronnie Belliard's got the gig in spring training. But, who's backing him up?? Emilio Bonifacio's off to the Marlins; remember the Scott Olsen/Josh Wittingham deal?? So it looks like (perhaps) Willie Harris backs up Ronnie for now.

     Shortstop?? I'm hoping Ian Desmond gets his chance in spring training to show the brass what I saw @ Harrisburg last April...that he's got the smarts (and the power) to be the everyday SS for the Nats. Remember the name, Ian Desmond.

     Third base?? EXCUSE me?? The franchise, Ryan Zimmerman?? NEXT!!!

     Now, the 4- (or 5-) headed monster known as the Nationals' outfield. Let's see, Wily Mo Pena in LF, Lastings Milledge in CF (or LF at times), Austin Kearns in RF--and then you have Elijah Dukes and the aforementioned Josh Willingham as backups. (I'm not even taking into consideration Willie Harris can play OF as well as IF.) Formidable, wouldn't you say??

     Jesus Flores needs to have somebody backing him up @ catcher. Bottom line. So you'd think Bowden, Kasten and company would be making "Pudge" Rodriguez a serious offer to come to Washington, right?? RIGHT?? I'm not hearing anything about this, so I can't begin to predict what'll happen.

     Notice I'm not addressing pitching. I think I'll wait till spring training before I comment on that. I mean, there is Scott Olsen and Daniel Cabrera...but the rest of the rotation is in flux.

     As always, comments here or Twitter (http://twitter.com/go_nasty_nats) are welcome.