Isn't this how they went over the cap last year...not understanding the figures?
If you sign Kimbrel for $52MM and remain on the hook for Zimmerman money...whatever that is...don't you effectively say adios to Ant'ny?
Not sure honestly. Assume next season that Dozier walks and his spot is filled by Kieboom/Garcia at league minimum. Howie and Hellickson walk too. That means 13.8M comes off the books. I suspect Miller, Glover, and Difo are all in a make or break case on if they are considered a part of the team and may be non-tendered missing out on arbitration. Assume some raises for Joe Ross, Barraclaugh, and Trea. I think that gives about 10M MORE wiggle room than this year.
Now my question I posted earlier was if you extend Zim to adjust his AAV for this season, how does that actually work. It's not like his current contract gets voided and a new one is signed. Bluestreak (I think) suggested a 3/27M extension. That makes his complete deal a 8/110 and change. That would move the AAV to something closer to 13.7M a season instead of 16.67M a season, but what happens with the 5 years of 3+ Million in tax the Nats got hit for? Does that roughly 14.5M get "discounted" back to the Nats over the final three years of Zim's deal? Does that make Zim's tax hit more like 9M? If that were true, then the Nats would open up 7M more in space this year by adding 9M a year for Zim the next two seasons.
If I understood more about how extensions affect the tax, I could much more concisely poise a scenario in which the Nats could get close to being under the threshold AND sign Kimbrel AND extend Rendon. As of now though, my best guess is that Zim will get his 2M instead of his option being picked up, and if the Nats really get in on Kimbrel, they are above the tax this year and still have a way to extend Rendon before the end of the season and be under the threshold next year.
