Plus 15 million tied up in Scherzer.
It takes a really good farm system to compete at 80 million. The Nats dont have that. And they havent even invested in it until last offseason.
Well, this is where we get into signing an innings eater (I am not saying I figured Tyler Anderson would be as good as he is, but that's one of the ones that was often mentioned and even suggested by writers as a good fit), ideally a CF/ LF and a decent 2d/SS/3B. i probably would have prioritized those moves over signing Cruz, and if you knock Cruz's $15 million guarantee, you could redeploy that money to have made a play for Story/ Correa. Yadi could have handled it, or Yadi / Thomas if you wanted Thomas full-time (split between DH and CF) and Yadi / Robles platooning. Mind you, I understand not playing for those guys now if they are looking to sell, but I'd have liked to have seen them trying to begin to complement Soto instead of running the clock out on him. Oh, and to be 100% honest, I thought they should have played for Kris Bryant, which now looks like a questionable signing.
As for money owed Scherzer and other deferrals, I don't think that should impact decision-making at all. Cash payroll should not matter as much as CBT payroll that's based on AAV.
