From Braves beat writer Mark Bowman comes a rumor about a possible outfield target that the team could be looking at acquiring, Xavier Nady.

#Braves have expressed interest in Nationals outfielder Xavier Nady. Could be the RH bat they have been seeking.

— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) March 29, 2012

Nady has long been talked about as an outfield option and right-handed bat for the Braves, specifically during the 2010-2011 off-season before the team acquired Dan Uggla.

Nady is currently with the Washington Nationals, having signed a minor league deal with them only 10 days ago. So if the Braves really wanted him they could have signed him at the beginning of spring training. Even though the injury to Chipper Jones had not happened yet, the Braves chose not to protect themselves by signing a guy like Nady. And now they might want to trade for him? Doesn't make much sense to me.

The 33 year old Nady missed the final quarter of last season after a fastball broke his hand. Nady also missed a large chuck of the 2009 season after he underwent Tommy John surgery for the second time. He has only made it into two spring training games so far this year.

He's shown some power in the past, but has never been good at getting on base. It seems to be that someone like Luis Durango would be a better option in left field as purely a guy who can get on base at the bottom of the order. The Braves already have a left-handed version of Nady in Eric HInske.

I'm hoping nothing comes of this rumor.