By Barry Svrluga Barry Svrluga Sports columnist with beat writing experience on baseball, golf, the NFL, college basketball and college football Email Bio Follow Sports columnist March 1 at 2:06 PM Next up, new business: An extension for Anthony Rendon, granted by the only club he has ever known, the Washington Nationals. Approach Rendon today, Nats. And do us all a favor: When you do, make a good-faith, above-the-board offer.
There’s one thing I feel bad about in the Harper saga, and it’s this: We reported, time and again, that the Nationals had made a 10-year, $300 million offer. That wasn’t wrong. But it wasn’t exactly right, either. The lesson here, which we should have learned long ago: When we report on a Washington offer to a player, we need to know more than just the years and the dollars. We need to know about the deferrals.
The difference that allowed those deals, each for seven years, to be consummated: Both Strasburg and Scherzer will be paid all of their money within seven years of the end of the contract. Neither will be 60. That’s not the way other clubs do business, but it’s not a dealbreaker, either. Remember: This isn’t new. It’s modus operandi in Washington. Three offseasons ago, the Nats pursued, to varying degrees, free agent outfielders Jason Heyward and Yoenis Cespedes and utility man Ben Zobrist. They lost on all three, and deferrals came into play. Cespedes, for instance, was offered a five-year, $110 million contract by Washington but took a three-year, $75 million deal from the New York Mets. Why? The Nats were going to pay out that $110 million over 10 years.
Bad Take.See Max Scherzer,Stasburg,Jason Werth
They offered 10 years and $300, so it's not like they didn't go big. The Phillies just went bigger.