The for-sale sign is down at Nats Park, as the Lerner family has taken the Nationals off the market! Principal owner Mark Lerner told WaPo Monday that “the team will remain under the family's control,” and it’s pretty obvious to at least one Junkie why.
“My guess was they didn't get what they're asking,” Bish said. “I mean, they want $2.4 billion, and no one's giving them $24 billion for this team.”
“I was gonna say that, and what I really would want to know is does that mean they'll start spending again?” JP asked. “They were not necessarily the top team spending, but they were amongst the top spending teams there for a while, giving huge contracts to pitchers like Scherzer and obviously Stephen Strasburg. They gave big contracts to a lot of players along the way and then all of a sudden they became a bargain-basement team.”
“It is really shocking – the league average payroll for 2024 is $147 million,” Cakes said, listing off the top three teams that are all above $237 million. “The Nationals, for 2024, have the 23rd payroll in the league at $90.1 million.”
The Nats’ payroll was just over $197 million in 2019 and has steadily declined since, now less than half of what it was in their World Series season just five years later.
And, as Bish noted, the Orioles just sold for less than $2 billion, and they have a brand new lease and a young team coming off a division title, so, yeah, the Lerners’ asking price was a bit much.
“It's the same owners, if they're going to stay with the team, I would just urge them to actually start spending some money,” JP said. “I know what they did is they basically got rid of all the payroll and they're trying to go with young players, so they're probably still another year away from all these guys being in the Majors, but I think if they're gonna stay with the team long term as owners, spend some money.”
“Who knows what's going on with the real estate, because they were in dire straits during COVID with all the real estate investments they have,” Bish replied. “I don't know what they're doing, I think I've heard they're consolidating all of it, but they were losing a bunch of money, they were losing a bunch of money on the real estate. But if someone comes in later this year or next year and offers closer to that $2.4 billion, I bet you they would sell, but as far as them spending money in free agency, I think you're just gonna get the Jesse Winkers and the Joey Gallos of the world because they're all about just grooming those young players.”
Cakes’ dagger there?
“To me, I feel like it's embarrassing when you're spending less than the Kansas City Royals,” he said. “I just consider Washington like a few pegs above Kansas City when it comes to market size importance, and you're not going to spend as much money as the Royals, kind of a backwater team? Like, what are we doing here?”
Take a listen to the entire discussion on the not-sale above!