Last year the Washington Nationals signed Jayson Werth away from the Philadelphia Phillies, and now it seems like they are close to bringing one of his former teammates in Philly on board.

Source: Brad Lidge is close to signing with Washington Nationals

— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) January 26, 2012

Lidge is a very good player when healthy, but you wonder why the Nationals felt like he was a priority to bring on board. They already have a very good young closer in Drew Storen and an All-Star setup man in Tyler Clippard. Even behind those two guys, it's not a guarantee that Lidge would get the seventh inning all to himself. But if he does and can remain healthy, he would give the Nationals a dominating backend of the bullpen. Which raises the question, why is he available for the Nationals to sign?

lidge close to signing with #nats (via @JSalisburyCSN). philly's offer was of the lowball variety, i hear

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) January 26, 2012

We'll have to wait until this deal is finalized before we can fully judge it, but it seems like the Nationals are about to make one of their greatest positions of strength even stronger.

For more on this potential signing and all things Washington Nationals, please head over to Federal Baseball.