Doesn't it stand to reason that if you break the bank by giving the #1 pick a record signing bonus, not to mention having 2 picks in the top 10, that you'll be shelling out quite a bit of money?
They didn't break any bank. In many ways, this deal helped both the Nats and Boras. Strasburg could probably have gotten a straight up bonus of 10-12 million on his own and kept all three years of arbitration. If he assumed he would eventually pan out to be a decent pitcher he would almost certainly get another 10M in 2013 on top of the initial bonus money. With this deal, he waits until 2014 for arbitration, so while the Nats take the risk with the extra cash up front, they get the reward if he pans out. And since it is a ML contract not all bonus, Boras gets his cut of the salary as a percentage of Strasburg's take home.
Yes, he's still a rich young kid, but this is a win-win all around. In terms of the money spent, the money they save not exercising the 10M option on Kearns plus what they didn't spend on Crow last season pretty much covers most of the cost of the next 4 years of Strasburg. Yes, it is a risk, but all baseball spending is. This is just the cost of doing business. They done good. And it doesn't really eat into the budget much at all.
