The roster, it is a changin'

As you've probably seen already, the Nats have made a plethora of moves and announcements today:

Dmitri officially has been placed on the 40-man roster, taking Wily Mo Pena's spot, as he was put on irrevocable waivers. [Nationals Journal]

Both Shairon Martis and Jordan Zimmermann will be parts of the ML rotation. Martis will start the year as #4 and Zimmermann will start the year in AAA and be called up when the #5 starter is needed.

Javier Valentin refused his assignment to AAA and became a free agent.

Jose Castillo and Corey Patterson were sent to AAA (thank God!!).

Collin Balester also was sent to AAA. [Nationals Journal]

What does this all mean? It means we are going in the right direction. We are going into Opening Day with the best pitchers we have in the rotation and the best position players at bat and in the field. Cutting deadweights like Wily Mo Pena is something Bowden was way too hesitant to do. Glad to see Rizzo's got the guts to do it.

ZOMG WE GOT HIM!!!

COREY PATTERSON IS A NATIONAL!!!!!!!! Ok, that was unneccesary. JORGE "SAMMY AIN'T GOT NOTHIN' ON ME" SOSA IS A NATIONAL!!!!! Ouch, the awful signings keep on coming. At least these are no-risk minor league signings. (EDIT-MLBTR says Sosa will earn $850k and Patterson will earn $800k. Goodness gracious, will somebody give me the dang GM job? At least I wouldn't go around signing awful players to contracts more than the league minimum).

And it looks like we lost out on the main prize of the offseason, Mark Teixeira. It will either be Nicky J/Da Meat Hook/Brad Eldred (can I just call him Breldred?) or Adam Dunn at 1B. It's ok, I'd rather have O-Dog at 2B and Adam Dunn than just Tex.

ANOTHER EDIT-the Nats signed 3 other guys to minor league deals: 

IF Jose Castillo

LHP-Gustavo Chacin

C-Gustavo Molina

And I'll put up Sosa/Patterson's BR pages too:

RHP Jorge Sosa

CF Corey Patterson

Initial thoughts: All are meh. Chacin, Sosa and Patterson have all had exactly 1 standout season (and by standout I mean OPS+ or ERA+ above 100....so really just 1 "above average" season).