Viera, Fla. — Viera, Fla. -- Since the Washington Nationals settled in the nation's capital in 2005, their outfield has been caught somewhere between experiment and wasteland.
They've searched waiver wires. They've repositioned an All-Star infielder. They've handed a starting job to a guy named Nook.
None of it stuck. In their three years of existence, the Nationals have used 24 left fielders, 15 center fielders and 22 right fielders. Only four Nationals have played at least 100 games at the same outfield position in a season.
So this winter, the club struck boldly to find outfield stability.
In separate trades, the Nationals acquired talented but raw center fielder Lastings Milledge from the New York Mets and, in a much riskier endeavor, Tampa Bay outfielder Elijah Dukes, who has been arrested multiple times since 1998 on charges ranging from marijuana possession to assault.
Eyebrows were raised, but the Nationals didn't care. While he was a Mets coach, Nationals second-year manager Manny Acta got to know Milledge. He had no concern that Milledge's reputed cockiness, which irked some Mets veterans, would be a problem in Washington's clubhouse. "From day No. 1, I was on board with the Milledge situation," Acta said, "because I knew Milledge from New York and I know the type of player he can be, and all he needs to do is play."
As for Dukes, whose violent outbursts have overshadowed his ability, the Nationals figured it would be worth the gamble because they gave up only a low-level pitcher.
"Adding Elijah here, everyone knows his off-the-field problems, but he is so young. And I always think that people can become better persons, especially when you are 23 years old," Acta said. "It's a low-risk type of acquisition, too. Elijah knows what he is getting into, and we are not going to put up with anything."
The duo was added to an outfield mix that includes two other highly regarded but underachieving players, Austin Kearns and Wily Mo Pena - forming a hulking quartet that has a ceiling as high as any in the game.
"I think if everybody plays how they are capable of it obviously could be pretty exciting," said Kearns, the old man at 27. "You've got some guys who can hit the ball out of the park and can steal some bases. Potentially, we could be pretty good."
The key word, of course, is potentially.
