Maya and Harper get paid regardless
If Cots (or any other source of payroll numbers) included players not on the 25 man roster then those guys would be relevant to the discussion of total payroll, but they don't, so including them for the Nats falsely raises our payroll number in comparison to that of other teams.
The line about hidden expenses comes into play here, Phil Woods and Mark Lerner would have us believe that the Nats are spending more on minor league talent, development facilities, and scouts than other teams, which accounts for the huge deficit in major league payroll. Which is of course bullcrap, but it sounds nice since there is no way to account for total expenditures.
