Since the departure of slugger Adam Dunn, the biggest glaring hole in the Washington Nationals' roster has been at first base. According to Mark Zuckerman of Nats Insider, the team has filled that hole today by signing free agent Adam LaRoche to a two-year contract.
The deal won't become official until LaRoche passes a physical, which is due to take place Thursday in Washington. Financial terms weren't immediately known, though LaRoche is expected to make at least $7 million per season.
LaRoche is 31-years old with a career batting average of .271. The Nationals will be the journeyman first baseman's sixh MLB club, but he hits 25 home runs just about every year, and his 100 RBIs for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010 was a career high.
LaRoche will have a hard time matching Dunn's offensive statistics, but one of the reasons that Washington allowed their big first baseman to part (besides money) was his liability on defense. LaRoche's .995 fielding percentage is a significant upgrade over Dunn's .987.