hmmm. Janes says that they are going to trigger the luxury tax this year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2017/08/03/the-nationals-have-spent-more-on-this-team-than-ever-before-could-they-add-more/?utm_term=.76bbb3073b5dAfter their deadline moves, the Nationals have spent as much as they ever have on their roster, around $170 million in payroll, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts (which has yet to be updated to include their deadline acquisitions — about $7 million in prorated salary). Last year’s end-of-year payroll, their highest ever, sat at $170 million.
For the first time in their history, the Nationals are past the collective bargaining tax threshold ($195 million), in which payroll is calculated using the average annual value of contracts and includes an approximate $13 million for player benefits. Because they are first-time offenders, this will cost them 20 percent of their overage. That the Nationals are over the threshold at all signals unprecedented spending and likely means they will not be able to shoulder the kind of massive contracts that get traded this time of year, even if they did have interest.
I checked the Cots spread sheet on the running calculation for luxury tax purposes, and she seems to be right. It was at $192.5 without Kendrick, Madson, Doolittle, and Kintzler. Some of the names (Marmalejos) assigned MLB minimum are interchangeable with guys like Grace who are not assigned who are lumped into the 15 extras on the 40 man who are in the minors. There was about $2.5MM in space. Kendrick is MLB minimum, so figure he's interchangeable, but Kintzler is $1MM, Madson another $2MM+, and Doolittle is another $900K. That looks like at least $4MM additional salary or bout $1.5MM over the threshold. Janes says it is closer to $7MM in picked up salary, so I may be low.
Here's the Cots luxury tax tracker.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-t4BlpC_npBSj6KFivtDkuqtmEu5Vlk2yPvMZD_UkuQ/pubhtml#
