Did you know?

The Washington Nationals' scouting director went into each of the last three First-Year Player Drafts ranking talent alongside another tool: signability.

He came away with much more.

In the last three drafts, the Nationals took third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, left-handed reliever Bill Bray and closer Chad Cordero in the first round. All three were close to big-league-ready out of college, signed quickly and are now playing with the Nationals.

Washington is the only team in the majors with its last three top draft picks in the majors.

That's a very good record. But this year, the Nationals are on the cusp of having new money behind them:

"Our hands were tied as far as taking the high-ceiling high school players because of budget issue," Brown said. "As far as some of the high school kids you have to overpay if you are going to draft them. Not having an owner, it was really difficult to say who you would be able to overpay."

That won't be the case this season.

Why? The strategy they've used so far worked really well. They didn't need to spend a lot of money to sign these players and they're all having a quick impact on the big league team. That sounds like an intelligent drafting strategy to me.