The fact of the matter is that the Nats needed starting pitching more than they needed a corner outfielder, even one as good as Bryce. So I’m happier they signed Corbin. I honestly think the die was cast when Soto ended up being as good as he did. It made the marginal wins you got over by signing Harper wasn’t worth the big contract. Given the entire organization, it really didn’t make sense for this team to pay Bryce what he was looking for, if you’re assuming that the owners won’t put up unlimited money.
Second, I think if Bryce had gone to the Yankees or the Dodgers for this same contract, no one would care. And if the Phillies gave him the $400 million he wanted I think most Nats fans would have wished him well. But the optics of this are that he left for less dollars per year than the Nats offered him, so it looks like he couldn’t wait to get out of DC. And then add on the fact that he signed what seems to most people to have been an inferior contract just for the hype of having ESPN declare it the “LARGEST CONTRACT IN
THE HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN SPORTS!” People can understand going for the most money. But signing where you don’t want to be just for the weird ego boost of having the biggest contract for two years just seems pathologic.
And when you look back on how he’s acted, it all just seems like he wasn’t actually “tweaking the media” or “having fun,” he just legitimately didn’t want to be here and most of the stuff he said was BS. And this was despite the fact that the team and the fans adored him.
So yeah. I can see how folks are pissed. I personally thought he was a good player who seemed to be a total couch. And I’m excited to see what the Nats can do without him.