It appeared town’s half-billion {dollars}, or closer to $1 billion when you factor in interest, to fund a brand new stadium for the billionaire Lerners was cash not so unbearably misspent — particularly when the workforce received the World Series in 2019.
But earlier than they received that championship, the Lerners refused to re-sign Baker regardless of his main the workforce to consecutive 90-plus-win seasons. Then they watched Harper stroll away to Philadelphia. Why? Because they wouldn’t pay him with out deferring a lot of his wage.
And after the Nationals received it all, the Lerners let Rendon, the World Series hero, go away for the Los Angeles Angels. Why? Because, once more, they wouldn’t pay him upfront, discovering as soon as extra that gamers know a greenback right now is price multiple tomorrow.
Then final July, as their season cratered beneath the load of accidents, coronavirus setbacks and poor play, the Nationals dealt Scherzer to the Los Angeles Dodgers. I wasn’t mad about that. Scherzer was 37. He had finished his factor right here spectacularly for seven seasons, longer than his stint in Detroit.
But when Turner’s identify popped up as a part of the Scherzer deal, I used to be staggered. Turner was a first-time all-star. He was simply 28. He had change into as electrifying of a participant as there was within the recreation due to his velocity on the bottom paths and his bat that received him there typically. Yet it appeared he was tossed into the commerce for, oh, the hell of it. Word was the Lerners didn’t need to pay Turner what appeared to be his going charge: upward of what shortstop Francisco Lindor received from the New York Mets, $341 million over 10 years. Turns out, that will have been a close to discount. Turner is outhitting Lindor, outslugging him, stealing extra bases and scoring extra runs.
Against that dismal backdrop, I received the invoice from the Lerners for my 2022 ticket package deal final offseason — and it was up 21 %. With no Turner. No Scherzer. No Rendon. No Harper. No Baker. That added up, not surprisingly, to extra losses than wins — so many losses that the Nationals threatened to have the quickest fall after successful a World Series in baseball historical past.
And now it is believed the Lerners will commerce Juan Soto, simply 23 — whom, like Harper and Rendon, is a homegrown participant who developed right into a star — after he turned down a 3rd long-term contract supply, the most recent price $440 million over 15 years.
In April, the Lerners introduced they’re procuring the franchise, our franchise, which is now valued at $2 billion, perhaps extra — a minimum of 4 instances greater than the $450 million they spent for it.
If you’re promoting the workforce that made you a billion and a half, promote it as-is. Soto ought to convey. Let the subsequent billionaire proprietor resolve whether or not to keep as thrilling of a participant as there may be within the recreation or begin anew with out him in what virtually actually would change into a ghost city of a house stadium.
The Soto saga isn’t a couple of contract for him as a lot as it is a couple of contract with us, the fan base. We enriched the Lerners via taxes to construct the stadium and this season by shelling out $279.30 on average for a family of four to watch the worst workforce within the recreation.
But I’m not sure the Lerners are in contact with us. If they have been, they wouldn’t have allowed Scott Boras, agent to the celebs, to push a narrative concerning the workforce refusing to get Soto a constitution flight to Los Angeles, the place he received the Home Run Derby in dramatic trend. No, the Nationals didn’t have to. But if the Lerners cared about optics, they might’ve used the equal of 1 evening of my Nationals Park part’s spending to guarantee no exhausting emotions with the cornerstone and face of the workforce. Instead, they selected to additional alienate everybody.
I don’t need to hear about any deserves in dealing Soto, as a result of there aren’t any. Swapping an obvious Hall of Fame commodity who performs the sport with the panache of Ken Griffey Jr. for a bunch of prospects ensures completely nothing.
I would like to acknowledge the advantage of maintaining Soto.
The Lerners owe not solely Soto, for what he has completed and what his accomplishments promise for the longer term; the Lerners owe the fans, for the stewardship we’ve endured the previous few seasons.
If they don’t pay us, then I’m not all-in anymore. Not as a season ticket holder. And angrily so.