WASHINGTON, D.C. –- The Washington Nationals announced Tuesday that outfielder Lastings Milledge was demoted to Triple-A Syracuse, briefly eliminating the Nationals log-jam at that position.  The club has not elected to announce a corresponding move. 

 

Milledge began the season hitting .167 (4-for-24) with 10 strikeouts in seven games and has displayed suspect defense in center field.  He has scored just one run out of the leadoff spot, with no home runs and one RBI.  

An example of Milledge’s sub-par defense came on Opening Day in Florida against the Marlins.  Milledge misplayed a long fly ball by Marlins second baseman Emilio Bonafacio and watched as the former Nat scored an inside the park home run in a 12-6 Nationals loss.  The team currently stands at 0-7 on the season.

There are other factors for the demotion of Milledge outside of his play.  The opening day roster had five outfielders, all of whom were accustomed to being starting major league players, and the Nats knew that one position of strength this season would be outfield depth.  

Manager Manny Acta had plenty of outfield options to start the 2009 season, with newly acquired Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham being added to returning Nationals Elijah Dukes, Austin Kearns and Milledge.  The return of a now-healthy Nick Johnson at first base limits Dunn’s availability to the outfield.  Some consider Dukes the most dynamic and effective player the Nationals have in the outfield, and Kearns needs to play because of his $8 million contract.

Perhaps this just left no room for Milledge, especially since he struggled out of the gate.

In addition, Milledge was rumored to have missed a team meeting last week and showed up late for opening day.  Although Milledge was fined by the team, Acta elected to keep him in the starting lineup that day.  With such a young team, acting General Manager Mike Rizzo most likely did not want Milledge setting a bad example for the younger players.

Although some people speak negatively of Milledge after his slow start in Washington, there is no denying that he is an immensely talented player.  After being the first round pick of the New York Mets in 2003, Milledge has long been listed as a top prospect in baseball, with all five-tools to be successful.  Last season, he had 14 home runs and 61 RBIs and showed improvement throughout the season in center field.

The team now has a spot open on the major league roster, and they expect to either promote a pitcher--after a rough start for Washington’s pitching staff--or a utility infielder, in light of the recent spate of injuries to second basemen Ronnie Belliard and Willie Harris.  Harris was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Monday, while Anderson Hernandez was activated after spending the first week of the season on the DL with a strained hamstring.