Patterson is a good talent, but he's just suffered too many injuries to have much success in the Majors. He had one good year where he was injury free in 2005, when he thre 198 innings and went 9-7 for the Nats, but since then he's started a grand total of 15 games over the last two years.

I hope he gets picked up by another team - I always kinda liked him since I had him on a fantasy team back in 2006. But he's not a guy I'd want to see the Rangers go after.

is not the same player he once was, and almost certainly never will be.  i wouldn't mind having him in our OKC rotation, but this guy was topping out at 86 mph this spring.  

On other sites, like BTF, there is talk that some team will scoop him up with a minor league deal. It seems like you would stand a better chance of getting Patterson if you came to an agreement that you would give him a major league deal, but he would have to start in the bullpen. The Nats cite his loss in velocity as the main reason why they let him go. Even with a lower velocity, you can fool a hitter or two, which makes him a good fit for the bullpen. A reader at BTF had this to say about Patterson:

I watched his last start and he didn't look great but he is definitely worth a flyer. In the first two innings, he got 5 swings and misses out of 25 pitches and froze a hitter or two with that good curve of his.

Should Patterson get his velocity back, he could then slide over to the rotation. He also has a pretty serious injury history, and starting him in the bullpen would keep his workload down. It seems like he would be a good fit for the Tigers. There are questions about their bullpen to start the season. There are also concerns if Rogers and Bonderman can stay healthy all year (they did in '06, but not in '07). In a perfect world, Patterson would help the bullpen until Rodney and Zumaya return. And then fill in for Rogers/Bonderman.

reported after him.