It’s been about four months since Elijah Dukes got into any trouble, so apparently he was due.

From ESPN.com:

Former major league outfielder Elijah Dukes was being held in a Florida jail on Thursday after his pregnant ex-girlfriend accused him of slapping her in the face during an argument, authorities said.

Hillsborough County Jail records show Dukes, 26, was arrested Wednesday on charges of aggravated battery on a pregnant woman and driving with a revoked or suspended license. He also had been wanted on a contempt of court warrant. He was being held without bond.

A sheriff’s office report said Mountrail Mounshay Mack told deputies she and Dukes had been staying in motels for days. She said the two were arguing Wednesday when Dukes slapped her several times in the face, according to the report.

Dukes then went to his mother’s house, where he was arrested without incident, the report said.

How is this guy not behind bars? He’s been arrested at least three times for battery and at least once for assault. He’s also fathered five children (that the courts know about) with four women and something tells me that if he’s willing to hit a woman, he’s not paying child support every month. (Oh lookie here, he isn’t.)

I should probably have the decency to wait until more details emerge before slamming him, but it’s hard to give Dukes the benefit of the doubt when he continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. He has a million dollar swing and a 10-cent head to go with it.

GQ.com is doing a pretty cool feature where you can vote on which ball players deserve to be on their 2009 All-Wacko Baseball Team.

Some of the notables that you can vote on are White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski (should be on the all douche team), Dodgers’ outfielder Manny Ramirez and Nationals’ outfielder Elijah Dukes.

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and A’s infielder Nomar Garciaparra are on the list as well, which I don’t get, but the site has descriptions of why they could be “All-Wacko” this year so check it out.

Click here to cast your votes.

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Offseason Movement: Perhaps the Nats’ biggest addition was 1B/OF Adam Dunn, who will add some pop to the lineup, as well as a fair amount of strikeouts. Washington also acquired OF Josh Willingham and LHP Scott Olsen in a trade with the Marlins and signed free agents Daniel Cabrera, Alex Cintron and Javier Valentin. In the deal to land Willingham and Olsen, the Nationals agreed to send 2B Emilio Bonifaci, INF Jake Smolinski and RHP P.J. Dean to Florida.

Top Prospect: Jordan Zimmerman, RHP
Zimmermann is a serious Rookie of the Year candidate and is turning in a fantastic spring. As of this writing, he has allowed only six hits, two walks and has struck out 16 batters over 12 1/3 scoreless innings. He seems to be over shadowed on a national level, but that’s mostly because the Nationals have yet to officially hand him a spot in the starting rotation. But that should change soon and as long as he doesn’t let the bright lights of the Big Leagues eat him alive, the 22-year old could be a future star.

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