Nats’ approach to Rendon remains a guessing game
SAN DIEGO — By about 3 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday, in the cramped corner of a guest room on the 30th floor of the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel, two portraits of Anthony Rendon's free agency had emerged.
Scott Boras, Rendon's agent, had described discussions as accelerating, including multiple teams, revolving around seven-year deals for the third baseman. But Mike Rizzo, the Washington Nationals' general manager, had a different view. Rizzo didn't “sense anything is imminent at this point.” Then Rizzo backtracked to say that could have changed since the last time he and Boras talked.
“That was a while ago,” Rizzo said Tuesday, “so you never know.”
Tracking the free-agent market, and the Nationals' approach to it, often feels like a game of fact or fiction. And that applies, maybe especially, to what they may or may not do at third base.
Rendon is the best available player in a group that includes him, Josh Donaldson, possibly Kris Bryant via trade, and not much else. At the end of last week, managing principal owner Mark Lerner said the Nationals could not “afford” both Rendon and Stephen Strasburg. After signing Strasburg on Monday to a recordshattering seven-year deal worth $245 million, it would seem Rendon's time with Washington is finished. But Boras, who represents both Strasburg and Rendon, feels that the structure of Strasburg's contract, and the builtin payment deferrals, give the Nationals flexibility to make a run at Rendon.
Rizzo has not ruled that out. He indicated, as recently as Monday, that ownership has always provided the resources to make a player such as Rendon fit. But the Nationals remain interested in Donaldson, according to multiple people with knowledge of their plans. Rizzo has spoken with Donaldson's agent, Dan Lozano, and described the conversations as similar to those for many players.
If the Nationals drag their feet, and let one falling domino drop another, there's a chance they wind up with neither player. Rizzo's company line is that the Nationals need an infielder. But given how much Rendon produced last season, and given the few viable options to replace him, what they need is a third baseman, and they need him to be very good.
Boras expects Rendon's contract to be in the seven-year range. He has not publicly stated an expectation for money, but he has long been set on making Rendon the highest-paid third baseman in baseball. That is currently Nolan Arenado, who signed an eight-year, $260 million extension with the Colorado Rockies last spring. That contract carries an average annual value of $32.5 million.
The Nationals' books got a lot tighter after signing Strasburg, but deferrals, a hallmark of all of their contracts, lessen the immediate costs. About $80 million of Strasburg's total money is deferred and will be paid out with interest within the three years after the deal ends, according to a person with knowledge of the terms. If Washington plans to stay below the competitive balance tax threshold, set at $208 million for 2020, it has an estimated $40 million left to spend.