Photo by afagen.

Next year’s Nationals season is already shaping up to be a real bummer. First, no Strasburg. Now, Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell seems pretty sure that first baseman Adam Dunn — who the Nationals didn’t trade this summer, though there were certainly suitors — will not be returning to the club next year. Boswell says that the team has likely decided (though admittedly “[n]ot formally”) against offering a new deal to the slugger, who has smashed 72 homers and knocked in 196 runs in the last two seasons in a Washington uniform, because the front office’s vision of the future is “golden gloves or spectacular defensive range or powerful arms everywhere they look – and Dunn doesn’t fit that model.”

Fans of the Nationals will obviously think back to Alfonso Soriano’s departure in 2006, when the Nationals refused to trade the popular star and ended up getting but supplemental draft picks in return when he left for Chicago via free agency.

The Nats’ reasoning behind the move is frustrating, to say the least. The team has had terrible defense this season, it’s true. But the team didn’t acquire Dunn to play defense. They signed him to hit home runs, knock in runs and provide some much-needed lineup protection for Ryan Zimmerman — three goals which he’s certainly met in his two years with the team. The other frustrating thing about the team’s decision is that it represents a fallback to the ownership’s thrifty manner. Boswell writes that “the Nats can assume a former Gold Glove first baseman coming off a poor year will probably be available for less than Dunn’s current two-year, $20 million deal.” After laying out plenty of cash for both Strasburg and Byrce Harper (both unproven when they signed, mind you), there was hope that the Nationals might be loosening the purse strings somewhat, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.