In an interesting interview with USA today, Washington Nationals owner Mark Lerner stated openly that the team cannot afford free agents Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon.
Moreover, Lerners takes a cavalier stance and is basically publicly admitting that one of these players is gone due to money. While it’s up to the reader to decide if this is true – the admission that the Nationals don’t have the cash – let’s examine the key quotes from the interview.
Washington #Nationals owner says team can't sign both Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon, leaving Strasburg return to Washington more likely than Rendon. https://t.co/lLmoXBGBHZ via @usatodaysports
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 6, 2019
Here’s what Lerner told Donald Dell in an exclusive interview with USA Today.
“We really can only afford to have one of those two guys. They’re huge numbers. We already have a really large payroll to begin with.”
Indeed, it’s interesting. The Nationals let Bryce Harper leave last year after offering him competitively enough to where they said they attempted to keep him. Also, the Nationals will need to decide whether or not to sign Juan Soto to a mega-extension in the near future. It’s early, but if ever there was a player who looks like he’s worth going all-in to keep; Soto appears to be that guy.
Still, Lerner says it’s on the players; not ownership if the players decide to leave. This is an interesting take.
“We’re pursuing them, we’re pursuing other free agents in case they decided to go elsewhere. Again, it’s not up to us. We can give them a great offer — which we’ve done to both of those players. They’re great people. We’d be delighted if they stay. But it’s not up to us, it’s up to them. That’s why they call it free agency.”
Look, it’s no secret that the Nationals have had some trouble retaining their own home-grown players in the past. Furthermore, it’s worth examining if the reasoning behind this is because the owners are penny pinchers. Widely listed by Forbes publications as some of the richest owners in sports, it could be a matter of the Lerner family simply wanting the baseball team to remain a money-making project rather than having the best players.
Of course this is fine, but they should be careful on saying they can’t afford two star players who should justify their new contracts. Simply put, that’s not the truth.
