With the start of the Major League Baseball (MLB) season less than two weeks away, local sports coverage is beginning to turn once again towards the Washington Nationals. While the spring training period is often a time of hope for baseball fans, Nats fans have learned to temper expectations. Even the team president, Stan Kasten, and general manager, Mike Rizzo, are full of talk regarding “patience” and “rebuilding” rather than winning a title.
However, the Nationals have been selling fans a false bill of goods for several years now. When Kasten took over in 2006, he acknowledged that the team might lose initially, but would ultimately emerge stronger for its slow and steady approach.
The moves that the team has recently made especially deserve criticism. The team has handed out three large contracts to three mediocre and over-the-hill players. Jason Marquis was given a two year deal worth $15 million, despite being 31 years old, while 29 year old Chien-Ming Wang was given a one year deal worth up to five million, even though he just posted one of the most horrific seasons for a starting pitcher in baseball history. Is this part of the slow, careful rebuilding process? It?s understandable that there are holes on the team that need to be filled, but is handing out unnecessarily large contracts to otherwise unwanted players the way to go about it.
Similarly, Drew Storen, the 22-year-old pitcher who dominated in the minor leagues, was expected to enter the year as the team?s closer, and yet the team made the puzzling decision to sign injury-prone veteran Matt Capps to a three million dollar deal for the ninth inning role. The team clearly just wants to maintain the illusion that they care about winning with these deals, shunning the rebuilding process even as they claim it?s necessary.
So, if Nats fans are to assume that the team is ready to win now, it would be reasonable for the team to open its pocketbooks and try to sign a big star in free agency. However, their attempts to do so have been clumsy, at best. The team was initially pursuing slugger Mark Texeira in 2008, even offering him up to $160 million. When the New York Yankees raised the bidding to $180 million, the Nats pulled out, refusing to go the distance to procure this marquee player. They settled instead for Adam Dunn, paying $20 million for a player whose only talent is hitting home runs, and watched as Texeira?s excellent all-around play helped the Yankees win yet another World Series.
If the Nats do want to try and win now, they should break the bank for a premier player in free agency, sending the clear message that Washington can be a destination for prime players. When reigning AL MVP Joe Mauer becomes a free agent in 2011, they should get a deal done no matter what. This would show fans ? and the rest of the MLB ? that they?re serious about winning. If that doesn?t interest them, then they should stick to developing young players. Fans will understand and appreciate either approach, so long as the team is honest about what they?re doing. But to hover somewhere in the middle of both approaches will only keep Nationals Stadium sparsely attended and the team at the bottom of the standings.