Injury-riddled pitcher Stephen Strasburg, MVP of the 2019 World Series, had his retirement press ... [+]
Financial question-marks are circling Nationals Park like buzzards as the team attempts to tighten its purse-strings even before the 2023 season ends.
The Stephen Strasburg retirement press conference scheduled for today has been cancelled. The contract extension for general manager Mike Rizzo is up in the air. Assistant GM Johnny DiPuglia has resigned rather than take a salary cut. And a half-dozen scouts and staff assistants have been released or told their contracts would not be renewed.
All of this sounds like the team, which was up for sale a year ago by the family of the late Ted Lerner, is taking a page from the time when penny-pinching Calvin Griffith operated the Washington Senators on a bare-bones budget.
Times have changed, of course, and the current Washington Nationals carry a player payroll of $125,964,867, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. A big chunk of that, however, will go to Strasburg, a former World Series MVP who has barely thrown a pitch since winning that honor with the world champion Nationals of 2019.
According to Cot’s, Strasburg’s contract, signed on Dec. 9, 2019, calls for seven years at $245 million, or $35 million per year through 2026, with $80 million ($11,428,571.43) deferred at 1 per cent interest.
Under that plan, the pitcher is entitled to $26,666,667 per year in July of 2027, 2028, and 2029 and an interest payment of $3,999,974 payable on Dec. 31, 2029.
At least the Nationals won’t have to worry about the contract’s bonus clauses that would have granted the pitcher anywhere from $100,000-$500,000 for winning a Cy Young Award, MVP, World Series or Championship Series MVP, Gold Glove, or Silver Slugger [National League pitchers batted at the time the pact was signed].
Selection to the All-Star team also would have given Strasburg a bonus.
When signed, the contract was the largest ever awarded by the Nationals and the largest for a pitcher in total value and annual average value.
The nation's first pick in the 2009 amateur draft, Stephen Strasburg pitched well enough to have his ... [+]
The 6'5" right-hander never justified the deal, posting a 1-4 record while pitching only eight times (once since the 2022 season began) over the last four seasons. He had a lifetime record of 113-62 and 3.24 earned run average and led the National League in wins, starts, innings pitched, and strikeouts at various times in his career.
His retirement announcement, also supposed to include the retirement of his uniform No. 37, was cancelled by the club Thursday, according to USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale, because of a disagreement over money. He said the team provided no further information.
Strasburg has been battling thoracic outlet syndrome, a malady that made it hard for him to open doors, let alone throw strikes in major-league games.
Now 35, the former flame-thrower is on Washington’s 60-day Injured List, so he doesn’t count against the team’s 26-man roster, but he would be on the 40-man roster during the winter unless he formally retires.
Now Rizzo, the long-time general manager, is wondering what the future holds for him.
When manager Dave Martinez signed a two-year extension on August 21, Rizzo was reportedly on the verge of renewal as well. It didn’t happen, with the executive seeking more years in a new deal.
Rizzo was responsible for signing Strasburg over slugging third baseman Anthony Rendon, who got a matching seven-year, $245 million contract from the Los Angeles Angels. The GM later traded veteran stars Max Scherzer, Ted Turner, and other high-priced veterans of the world championship season in an effort to make the team younger.
Entering play Friday, the Nationals were the least of the East in the National League with a 63-77 record that left them 28½ games behind the front-running Atlanta Braves. The Nats, who began life as the expansion Montreal Expos in 1969 but moved to Washington in 2005, have won only one pennant and one World Series, both in 2019.