What feels like a bad internet meme joke (if you don't get the reference, you should feel better about yourself), the Washington Nationals who at the start of the off-season looked to be exploding their payroll, might actually go in the opposite direction. Even with over paying for Werth, by losing out on other free agents caused their payroll to decrease.
The proof is apparent in this article.
The article projects the Nationals payroll to be about 61.5 million, or as they also point out, about 5 million less than last season. Another way to think of this is if they were able to sign Lee, Lee would have cost them about 33% of their current payroll.
Overall, I have no idea what to make of this, which is why I decided to share it. Does it show that the Nationals were smart in overpaying for Werth? Probably not. Does it show that they failed at the concept at overpaying for players they want? Not entirely, and I am not even sure if you can fail at that. This concept of the Nationals having a decrease in payroll just doesn't sit well with me.
Well, just wanted to share that with you all.
