Rumored Red Sox / Nationals Trade

David Pinto links to a rumored Red Sox / Nationals trade. Pinto is normally very astute but here he's talkin' crazy talk. Yes - the Nationals need a starter now that Brian Lawrence may be out for the season with a torn rotator cuff but the Nationals needed starting pitching before Lawrence went down too. A couple of points I'd like to make here:

- Take every story that involves the Nationals with a grain of salt because milkweed GM Jim Bowden "leaks" more than a breastfeeding mom who has been away from the baby for more than 6 hours.
- Soriano makes absolutely no sense for the Red Sox. They have Loretta for this year and Dustin Pedroia is ready to make the leap. I could see a trade where the Nationals lose Soriano and his contract, get Clement and his contract and the Sox flip Soriano to the Mets (he's precisely the type of player Omar Minaya loves) for some top prospects.
- I don't think the Sox are going to trade Arroyo. He's cheap and he wants to play in the spotlight of Boston. That's a tough combo to come up with and why would the Sox give up on that just because the Nationals have "needs"?
- Why would Nick Johnson be attractive to the Sox when they already have Kevin Youkilis?