Jason Stark of ESPN polled baseball management about the off-season.
Among the questions Stark asked execs was which free agent deal was the worst of this MLB offseason. It turns out some of the Nationals' rivals see little sense in their decision to sign Max Scherzer to a $210 million deal.
Here is how Stark explains it:
"The reason for that isn't actually confusing. We'd sum it up this way: Love the player, hate the contract. There's no better example of that than Scherzer. "It's ridiculous that they'll be paying him forever," one voter said. "But he's a great pitcher."There are plenty of reasons why MLB executives may feel this way. Some may chalk it up to jealousy or envy or something intangible like that. Not every executive has the resources Nationals GM Mike Rizzo does to make such a move.
Or, one could take it as a reminder of the risk the Nationals are undertaking in committing such a monstrous price tag to Scherzer, who is a pitcher. Often times these deals do not work out - especially for starting pitchers - which essentially makes the Nationals as ones who are betting against history.
It is a valid point. Long term deals, especially with deferred compensation, can hand cuff a franchise down the road. (Aren't the Mets still paying Bobby Bonilla?) There will be a point when the television money will plateau, then recede. At that point, big spenders will be squeezed and dead money contracts will loom large.
But on the other hand, the Nationals are in "win now" mode. Whether the fan base really appreciates that the team is going all out for a championship in 2015 remains to be seen. D.C. is a fickle sports town. Fair weather fans are like the politics of the city.
The Nationals have a rare pitching staff (on paper) in place: three Aces in a row --- Strasburg, Zimmerman and Scherzer. One would expect no long losing streaks for the Nats this year.
