Today is the deadline for the Nationals to offer Adam Dunn salary arbitration, according to Ben Goessling at MASN.

Arbitration is an important part of the free agency process that ensures that if Adam Dunn elects to sign with a different team this winter, the Nationals will receive two first-round draft picks as compensation. if Adam Dunn elects to sign with the Nationals, then an arbiter will determine the value of his upcoming contract. It's a pretty complicated and seemingly unnecessary part of free agency, but for the Nationals and Adam Dunn, it's one of the biggest days of the offseason.

The two first-round draft picks are important because it seems like it will be the only thing that the Nationals will get in exchange for Adam Dunn, who was one of the hottest commodities at the MLB trade deadline last year. Lots of fans and members of the media alike felt that the Nationals should move Dunn just because they needed to get value for a player that that was probably going to leave in free agency anyway. Now it looks like the Nationals didn't capitalize on a good opportunity to add young talent. But hey, at least they got the draft picks, right?