The Florida Marlins are expected to send Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen to the Washington Nationals today (Tuesday).

The agent for starting pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham said Monday they are being traded from the Florida Marlins to the Washington Nationals. Agent Matt Sosnick said a news conference in the Washington area was being planned for Tuesday.

"They've both voiced they're excited for a fresh start. Neither of them has really played for anybody else except the Marlins," Sosnick said in a telephone interview. "They're both trying to process the information."

Willingham is a solid player. He should improve both the OBA and power of the Nationals, although that's not difficult to accomplish given their poor play in 2008. Olson will give the Nationals innings, but it's disconcerting to see his strikeout rate fall for the second year in a row. He struck out 8.3 batter per nine innings in 2006, 5.0 in 2008. Both players qualified for arbitration this season, however, and the Marlins would rather part with good but not great players rather than pay them a lot of money.

These moves, of course, open spots in the outfield and rotation, possibly filled by the two players acquired from Detroit last season, Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin. The Nationals get better, but they're still a long way from contention. Willingham and Olsen are complementary players, not the centerpiece of a championship team.

Update: Does it seem the Marlins have shortened the player life cycle? There are teams, (the Athletics and Braves come to mind) that get as much as they can out of a player during the six years of control, and are then happy to let them walk via free agency and get a draft pick, or trade them just before they walk for prospects. The Marlins are now taking that down to three years. Their philosophy appears to be, pay someone as little as possible for as long as possible, then trade them for prospects. That way, there's always young, cheap talent coming up. Both are predicated on young players being just as good as older veterans. However, the traditional way of handling this (six years) allows teams to capture a player's prime.

In the case of Willingham, the Marlins did just that. He'll be 30 in 2009. So they also managed to get Willingham's prime at an extremely low cost. The Marlins front office really knows how to manage a roster and get a lot for a little.