Scherzer (Signs w/Nats 7 -$210M )

[terpspe]

Washington is a much more desirable city to live in and play in then Detroit. At some point the Nats are going to put all of this together and bring a championship to the mid-atlantic.

[atomic]

Washington is a much more desirable city to live in and play in then Detroit. At some point the Nats are going to put all of this together and bring a championship to the mid-atlantic.

I doubt that is true. The Red Wings seemed to have had a much easier time of getting Free Agents to sign than the Capitals. And the Tigers have never had a problem getting free agents to sign with them.

[MurphDogg]

I doubt that is true. The Red Wings seemed to have had a much easier time of getting Free Agents to sign than the Capitals. And the Tigers have never had a problem getting free agents to sign with them.

Yeah, I can't imagine many athletes live in Detroit proper anyway. Do most Nats players actually live in DC? There are plenty of nice suburbs around Detroit.

[scOtt]

Rather have WAS have him than NYY.

Only hurts us for one (important) series...

[25 Nuggets]

Funny how Detroit moved Fister and let Scherzer walk and they're about to reunite and moved Smyly and they were three of their better pitchers, yet acquired Price and gave the big bucks to Fielder and Verlander and those deals over the long term have not worked out.

Detroit is trending down. I don't think they win the division next year.

[25 Nuggets]

Washington is a much more desirable city to live in and play in then Detroit. At some point the Nats are going to put all of this together and bring a championship to the mid-atlantic.

I'll take your word for it, but I personally would never live in Washington. I've worked there and I don't even want to see the place again.

[Mayor McCheese]

Washington is a much more desirable city to live in and play in then Detroit. At some point the Nats are going to put all of this together and bring a championship to the mid-atlantic.

Lol no one in DC cares about the Nationals. I lived / worked in downtown DC. The city is full of transplants.

Most of their fan base is from MoCo and NoVa who were just disgruntled Oriole fans to begin with.

[Birdfan21]

Nats fans are funny.

[wildcard]

My concern is that Zimmermann ends up in Boston, Toronto or with the Yankees.

[Going Underground]

The other perceived issue: the strong feeling throughout the sport is that the Nationals aren’t going to grow their payroll going forward. They expect to continue to be competitive, as they were in 2014, when their opening-day expenditures were just more than $134 million, which ranked ninth in baseball. But the Dodgers and the Yankees both spent more than $200 million last season. This is territory where the Nationals won’t tread.

o a seven-year, $175 million contract – an average of $25 million a year – certainly isn’t out of the question. And the Nationals could figure out how to make it work in a variety of ways – for the upcoming season and beyond.

Right now, the Nationals have roughly $127 million in salary obligations for 2015, but that covers only 22 players (and estimates reliever Jerry Blevins at $2.3 million, the midway point between the figures the sides exchanged for arbitration on Friday). They saved money not only by trading reliever Tyler Clippard, but by allowing free agents Adam LaRoche and Rafael Soriano to walk.

Say the three remaining roster spots are filled by players making near the league minimum of $500,000 – outfielder Michael Taylor, for instance – they still would be around $130 million, less than they spent a year ago.

So there are two ways they could add Scherzer. They could sign him to a deal that averages $25 million a year (or more), but if the Lerner family is concerned about a ballooning payroll in 2015 – upwards of $155 million, say – then Boras and Scherzer could easily backload the deal, paying Scherzer perhaps $15 million in 2015 and then higher salaries in future years. The Nationals could then go into the year with a ridiculous rotation of Scherzer, Strasburg, Zimmermann, Gonzalez and Fister (sorry, Tanner), and be the prohibitive favorites to win the World Series. Imagine that for a minute.

Another option: Sign Scherzer and trade Zimmermann – and his $16.5 million contract – for prospects. If Scherzer’s deal was backloaded as described above, then Scherzer’s 2015 salary would simply replace Zimmermann’s, and the Nats would end up with a comparable (maybe even better) pitcher for this season. (Scherzer, 30, went 18-5 with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.175 WHIP in 2014 while pitching in the American League; Zimmermann, went 14-5 with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.072 WHIP last year while pitching in the NL. Start the debate.)

If the Nats decided to keep everybody and create more buzz than anybody in the game – pick an Opening Day starter among Scherzer, Strasburg and Zimmermann – Boras could still argue payroll certainty going forward, because Zimmermann would be gone, Desmond (making $11 million this season and likely to receive a $150 million deal as a free agent) as well, and take off the salaries of Fister ($11.4 million) and Denard Span ($9 million), and suddenly Scherzer fits into a team whose payroll, by mere attrition, would fall by nearly $48 million. And it’s clear at this point: There are no substantive discussions about long-term extensions with either Desmond or Zimmermann, two of the Nationals’ homegrown all-stars.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/01/18/the-nationals-could-be-finalists-for-max-scherzer-heres-how-they-could-make-it-work/

[orioles119]

My only question with this is... why is this in O's Talk?

[25 Nuggets]

Lol no one in DC cares about the Nationals. I lived / worked in downtown DC. The city is full of transplants.

Most of their fan base is from MoCo and NoVa who were just disgruntled Oriole fans to begin with.

...which again enforces the theory that team payroll has little to do with a fan base. It's all a big business joke. Wouldn't be surprised if half the money doesn't even exist in standard.

p.s. - sorry guys I'm getting really salty the last few days from all the news about the Nats, Broncos, Patriots, MLB, NCAA, Oregon, Penn St, etc etc

[Ruzious]

I'll take your word for it, but I personally would never live in Washington. I've worked there and I don't even want to see the place again.

Have you ever seen Detroit???

[Ruzious]

Lol no one in DC cares about the Nationals. I lived / worked in downtown DC. The city is full of transplants.

Most of their fan base is from MoCo and NoVa who were just disgruntled Oriole fans to begin with.

There's a reason why Montgomery County and Northern Virginia are part of what's called the DC area.

[Mayor McCheese]

There's a reason why Montgomery County and Northern Virginia are part of what's called the DC area.

Sure. Ok. The 'DMV' if that's what you are referring to.

The actual OP was about DC (you know the city) not the DC area which is what I said is the majority leader of "Nats" fans.