This winter, the question was the same - "What is going on in Washington?" - but for different reasons. Teams were taken aback by the Nationals' pursuit of Teixeira.
"They set the market for him," one opposing club official said.
Around town, people approached me every day asking whether the Nationals were going to land Teixeira. There was muted excitement - muted because most found it difficult to believe Teixeira would sign a long-term contract with an unproven operation like Washington.
But as reports began to come out that the Nationals were considered a player in the game, people were excited about the prospect of hope for an organization whose 2008 season ended with 102 losses and the lowest attendance for any new ballpark's opening year since 1992.
People were talking about the Washington Nationals in December. Every night, they were discussed on "SportsCenter." Hopefully, the Lerner family saw the value of that. The Teixeira pursuit was a change in philosophy - not necessarily in Baseball philosophy but in the realization that perception does matter.
The perception of this franchise in town and around Baseball had nearly hit rock bottom when this season closed. It took a step up in the Teixeira sweepstakes.
But they need a Plan B to keep the momentum going. The general consensus is Adam Dunn, whom Nationals general manager Jim Bowden drafted while in Cincinnati and has been coveted by Bowden, will be that Plan B. Unlike Teixeira, there are questions about Dunn's work ethic.
Now, Manny Ramirez would be something kind of different. You get the good and the bad with Manny, but that would put the Nationals on a different attention level. There may be five athletes that ESPN devotes much of its news programming toward. Manny is one of them.
With Teixeira out of the way, the other free agent dominos should fall quickly. Nationals fans will be watching to see whether their team is still in the game.
To the move that makes the most sense now is Manny Ramirez to the Mets. Rudimentary stuff. Baseball 101.
The Yankees had Manny as a fallback in case they didn't get Mark Teixeira, but they did, so he's not going there. And he's not going to Boston, because ... well, I think it's fair to say he burned some bridges on his way out of there. And the Angels' GM said yesterday that there's no way they're going to sign him.
So, the Mets. Right? Perfect fit. They need somebody to play left field. He's a monster hitter who'd probably put them over the top in the National League now that they have the bullpen worked out. They have money to spend (or so they say, Bernie Madoff notwithstanding). They need another lavage for the wounds left from another September collapse. Bring a New York guy, who also happens to be a future Hall of Famer, home? Perfect fit.
