WASHINGTON NATIONALS ACQUIRE WILLIE MO PENA

Red Sox send outfielder to DC for player to be named later.


The Washington Nationals picked up disgruntled outfielder Willie Mo Pena (seen in the accompanying picture after hitting a home run for his new team) from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for a player to be named later this weekend. The move was made to make room on the Red Sox roster for outfielder Bobby Kielty. While Pena was an unwanted man in Boston, he had been a target of the Washington Nationals for a couple of years now.

Pena never found a regular job in Boston despite being considered a top prospect for years. He does have a lot of power and given consistant at bats should be good for 30 plus home runs per season.

The knock on Pena has always been his questionable defense. Hitting is beyond a doubt his forte. The plan in DC is for Willie Mo to platoon in left field and fill in occasionally in center and left field. Days that he doesn't start will probably find him in a pinch hitting role.

Nat's manager Manny Acta is a former minor league manager of Pena and several players on the squad are familiar with him from their shared time as memebers of the Cincinatti Reds, who traded Pena to Boston before the 2006 season.

The pickup of the outfielder is the most recent transaction that shows promise for next season as the DC team builds for their future in a new stadium. The signings of Dmitri Young and Ronnie Belliard also show this is a team that is thinking toward the future and building a nice mix of young players and quality veterans.

As it happened, Pena blasted his first home run as a member of the Nationals today. I suspect it is but the first of many he will hit for DC in the years to come.