Paul Lo Duca and the Nats have finalized a deal, for $5 mill over one season. He’ll rejoin former Met coach Manny Acta and Lastings Milledge, on a rebuilt Nats team that includes young sluggers Elijah Dukes and Dmitri Young. From Lo Duca, via Howard Fendrich of the AP:

“I’m excited to be part of a team that’s young and has a chance to win this division. The NL East is wide open.”

With all these new pieces, the Nats will be quite the team. Manny Acta will have a decent group of players and Paulie has a chance to be a veteran presence on this team. Hopefully they’ll do well, as long as they don’t do too well. Sorry Paulie, you’re the enemy now. Though you can beat up on the Phils all you want.

Paul Lo Duca appears headed to the Washington Nationals according to a report in the Washington Post, via Mets Blog.

I had heard he was going to the Blue Jays, but I guess the Nationals made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

I’d much rather Paul be off somewhere else far away so I didn’t have to root against him. I know there are folks who have strong opinions for and against Paulie, I happen to be on of the people who really liked him.

Like Vito Corleone tells Sollozo in the Godfather, good luck to you, as best as your interests don’t conflict with my interests.

mlbtraderumors.com has reported that the Nationals have signed IF Aaron Boone to a 1 year, $1MM contract. Boone played part time for the Marlins in 2007.

The Nats have also decided to extend OF Wily Mo Pena’s contract, geting $2MM in 2008 with an option in ‘09

According to Jerry Crasnick at ESPN, the Nationals are looking at ex Met catcher Paul Lo Duca.

As it stands now, the Nats will go into the season with ex Met and former Rule 5 draft pick Jesus Flores at catcher, but they’re looking for some insurance in the event he can’t handle the job full-time.

Lo Duca still wants to play regularly, so Washington is probably a long shot for him unless all his other options fall through.

Although it doesn’t seem likely, if the Nats are able to sign Pauly then they are going to be loaded with ex Met fan favorites. Not only that, Milledge and Pauly didnt exactly leave on the best of terms so you can be sure they would have a little extra in them for the 19 times the two teams play next season…something i’m really not interested in seeing.

Barry Svrugula of the Washington Post is reporting that the Nationals have received RHP Tyler Clippard from the Yankees in exchange for RHP Jonathan Albaladejo pending physicals for both players.

Man, the Nationals sure are active on the first day of the winter meetings, and I really don’t like it. After improving their offense with the aquisitions of Milledge and Dukes they go out and upgrade their rotation with this trade. They could be only a few pitchers away from being competitive next season.

Two sources confirm that both the Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals have been discussing a deal that will send OF Elijah Dukes to Washington. The St. Petersburg Times has more on the story.

There is only circumstantial evidence, including word that Nationals GM Jim Bowden was overheard on his cell phone yesterday at the airport talking to someone named “Elijah.” And both teams have scheduled announcements at 5 p.m. Plus, the deal would explain why Dukes, the troubled outfielder, hasn’t played since his latest eruption after being ejected from a Dominican League game on Thursday night.

UPDATE 2:18pm EST : Dave Sheinin at The Washington Post confirms that the Nats have acquired Dukes.

Here’s a rundown of Hot Stove news this morning…

Capital Punishment, one of the foremost Washington Nationals blogs had this to say about the Ryan Church and Brian Schneider deal for Lastings Milledge.

Church is what he is. He’s better than what the Nats think he is, but he’s not a centerpiece — his strength is his cheapness, something that’s going to start going out the window the next year or three as the arbitration process starts.

Schneider has his lovers, for sure. He’s a solid player, but one whose value is rapped up in mythos more than anything. He got lots of credit for developing young pitchers this season, even though there really weren’t any young pitchers who developed this year. And he never got any of the blame for ’06’s disaster of a pitching staff. The next guy might (or might not) come in, do just as well. (Or it could just be Flores… we’ll see!)

Another Nationals blog Nats320, offers their reflections on losing Schneider and Church

It’s the part of The Great Game, you come to dislike. The Trading of Your Favorite Players. Sometimes, following Our Washington Nationals can hit me hard. And, it has nothing to do with a frustrating loss. Whether or not My Main Man!! Ryan Church or Our Favorite Catcher–Brian Schneider–would EVER be All Star Players is not the point–the African Queen and I came to like both of them.

We admired their professionalism on the field, as well as,the way they handled themselves off the baseball diamond. They are fun–enjoyable people. No, we did not know them that well at all. But, both Ryan Church and Brian Schneider were stand up folks. And, their spouses–Tina & Jordan always had something nice to say to us when we came across their path at RFK Stadium. The announcement this afternoon that both Church and Schneider have been traded to The New York Mets for Lastings Milledge–hurts us–right in gut.

Nationals Farm Authority offers a recap of the Nationals press conference to welcome Milledge.

Milledge was on the call and thanked Bowden and the Nationals for the opportunity to play every day; his preferred position is CF though he said he can play LF/RF above average; with regards to the reported controversy in New York, he said all of it made him a better person and a better ballplayer.

WFAN is reporting an official trade that that is sending Lastings Milledge to the Washinton Nationals for OF Ryan Chruch and C Brian Schnieder.

According to Mike and The Mad Dog, during a tour of Citifield today Mets ownership informed them of the trade.

In 2007, Church hit .272 with 15 HR and 70 RBIs and Schnieder hit .235 with 6 HR and 54 RBIs. Both players had OBP over .300.

I agree with M and MD, I’m sure the Mets must have made the calls and realized that Milledge wasn’t going to get them a pitcher. THey have a better shot with Gomez. I will post the press release link when it is available.

UPDATE: 1:16pm

SNY.tv has confirmed the trade.

 UPDATE: 2:38pm

Mets.com had this to say…

The Mets released their tentative 2008 schedule which can be found at Mets.com.

I was looking forward to playing the 1 game series at the new Washington Nationals stadium to start the season in late March like it was rumored but I guess thats not happening. Also the home opening series against the Philadelphia Phillies should be a very interesting series.

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com believes the Angels have emerged as a most intriguing possibility for Marlins 3B Miguel Cabrera to land through a trade. The Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees all have interest as well, however the Red Sox are trying to re-sign Mike Lowell and the comments from Yankees’ representative Hank Steinbrenner saying that he would not trade one of the big three young pitchers.

Rosenthal also adds that the Washington Nationals would like to sign CF Andruw Jones but will likely have a tough time chalking up the money it will take to get him. He also notes that he sees the Giants and White Sox as two potential suiters with the Dodgers a possibility. The Padres would be more involved with him if his price dropped.

The Phillies believe that CF Aaron Rowand may command a four-year, $52 million contract. Both the Astros and Mets remain interested in free agent 2B Luis Castillo. The Indians, Padres and Dodgers could also enter the mix pending decisions within their franchise. The Twins are one of the teams attempting to trade for Red Sox CF Coco Crisp, but the Red Sox are demanding too much in return it appears. Teams with too many starting pitchers may look to the trade market to get rid of them. Indians starter LHP Cliff Lee, Brewers RHP Dave Bush and LHP Chris Capuano are amongst the possible choices.

Rosenthal ends on one final note. The Washington Nationals would like to trade for another young major league-ready starter. Mets 2nd-round draft pick in 2006 Kevin Mulvey is among one of the choices that Rosenthal adds, with the other being the Twins Kevin Slowey.

With the Mets in need of bullpen help. Could we be looking at a trade for one of the Nationals relievers? Chad Cordero or Jon Rauch could help this team in the bullpen and the Nationals are looking to get younger. The Nationals reportedly have interest in OF Carlos Gomez as well.

Washington Nationals SS Cristian Guzman had season ending surgery today.  He appeared to have sprained his thumb in yesterdays game, but did not leave the game. He was hitting .329 for the season.

More bad luck for new manager Manny Acta.  I think Guzman has spent more time on the DL than on the field with Washington.  He's become the national leagues Carl Pavano.

While we impatiently wait for the game to start, an extremely quick look around the NL East:

The Nat's snuck in a late rally to avoid the sweep. They had three runs in the 8th for their sole win in the series, but kept themselves in the best they could, taking Saturday into extra innings and losing by just one Friday.  All with a pitching staff cobbled together with minor leaguers and guys who haven't started in years. The Nats currently have 5 starting pitchers on the DL.

Philly seesawed for the weekend, but took the series with two 5-3 wins over Toronto, but mixed in a 13-2 loss. Todays win puts them back at the .500 mark for the season

In another up and down series, the Braves ended up on the losing end, dropping two to the Red Sox with a doubleheader yesterday that resulted in one victory by 14 runs to shut out the Red Sox, and one loss by 10.  The Braves lost todays game 6-3.  Matt Diaz went 4 for 5 but failed to score and had just one RBI.  the sole win came off a 7 inning shutout performance by Smoltz to earn his 199th victory.

And Marlins took the sole sweep of our NL East competitors, taking all three games over the Devil Rays in the battle for Florida. I'm sure all the Met and Yankee fans that retired to Florida were very excited.

Elsewhere in the NL East this weekend:

Ex Met Mike Jacobs is expected back Monday, after missing some time due to a thumb injury. The Marlins beat the Nats earlier today 12-6.  The Nats Jerome Williams gave up 10 runs, and Manny Acta pulled Ryan Church for not running out a grounder.  Its only assumed Acta is using lessons learned from the book of Willie Randolph as he tries to get the young Nats team turned around.  Zimmerman had a grand slam to make the game almost close, and but Uggla went long twice, Cabrera once and another from Willingham in the Marlins runfest.  The Marlins are now 8-10, the Nats 6-13.

Philly beat the Reds, and Ryan Howard returned after being day to day with a strain and getting an MRI.  He had a homerun as part of his welcome back party and Utley added two doubles.  The team was reported to have held a players only meeting this weekend, and have now won two in a row. The two game streak included Philly pulling a triple play on the Reds yesterday.  Red catcher, Ross, grounded to third allowing the force out there, followed by a relay to Utley (2nd) and Helms (1st) to make it three.  The last Philly triple play was against the Mets.