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Because baseball contracts are guaranteed, it's pretty rare to see a cut in spring training that would be qualified as "shocking." At least, that's what I thought. Then the Nationals cut John Patterson this afternoon. It's true that he's been batting some serious arm trouble the past two years (he's got nerve damage in his right arm), but he was still expected to be one of the Nationals' top starters (he was in consideration to start the first game in their new park) this year and this move came from way out of the blue. For his part, Patterson seems to be handling things well:

"I didn't progress as fast as they wanted me to progress," said Patterson, who was Washington's Opening Day starter last season. "After what I've been though the last two years, I think it was a risk they were not willing to take.

"I don't think Mr. Lerner seeing me pitch against Baltimore helped the situation at all. That was not brought up at the meeting. I don't think that helped. I pitched pretty good in two starts, but he didn't see those. He saw the worst start I had. He never saw me pitch healthy. I would probably say that had something to do with it."

What's really baffling about the move is that Nationals are the type of team that can spend some time seeing if Patterson can get his form back, then trading him to a contender and, you know, actually getting something in return. The Nats are still rebuilding and just giving away a guy like Patterson certainly doesn't help that, even if it does get a young starter some extra starts.