The Nats are...For Sale?!?

[Slateman]

Criticism of Ted and the Wizards seems fair.  However with the hockey team I believe he had two Presidents Trophy winners and a Cup winner.  I put it on the players for "squandering" any more Cups and the Stanley Cups even more than MLB are really a crap shoot.  He assembled a team that has been competitive for a long run.  He kept Oshie when most seemed to think that was not possible.  Letting Trotz go seemed dumb.  Hiring Lady seems good now but has not resulted in any playoff success. 

So overall I agree he will want to sign Soto just as he clearly wants to keep Beal with the Wizards.  I don't really have a problem keeping Rizzo unless he has an eye on something better which is doubtful.  In any event this looks like a shared thing with Rubenstein. 

He literally let the coach who won him a Stanley Cup walk. Leonsis is a freaking idiot

[Natsinpwc]

He literally let the coach who won him a Stanley Cup walk. Leonsis is a freaking idiot

Idiot with a Stanley cup and a couple presidents trophies. I think it’s unlikely Trotz gets the team much further anyway. They are generally a bunch of postseason underachievers. 2019 was a miracle run.

[HalfSmokes]

Idiot with a Stanley cup and a couple presidents trophies. I think it’s unlikely Trotz gets the team much further anyway. They are generally a bunch of postseason underachievers. 2019 was a miracle run.

The same can be said of the Nats.

[Natsinpwc]

The same can be said of the Nats.

Yep.

[Smithian]

Leonsis would extend Soto and the do the bare minimum to look like he was trying to win.

Good?

[HalfSmokes]

Good?

If you want to watch a slugger on a 90 loss team every year

[miller10]

I do think Ted will try and win but he will milk the fans at every turn.  For those watching on TV, it will be fine, for those paying for tickets, it's going to be tough.

[Smithian]

If you want to watch a slugger on a 90 loss team every year

I assume "look like he's trying to win" means more effort than this season.

With the expanded playoff, less need to go all-in. Barring a Bezos coming in and trying to outspend Steve Cohen, I want a competent owner. I think Leonsis can run a competent organization.

[DPMOmaha]

Does Leonsis have any partners with the Caps or Wiz like a partnership with Rubinstein ostensibly would be? That could change the calculus on how they approach things. Not sure if that would be for the better or worse?

[HalfSmokes]

I assume "look like he's trying to win" means more effort than this season.

With the expanded playoff, less need to go all-in. Barring a Bezos coming in and trying to outspend Steve Cohen, I want a competent owner. I think Leonsis can run a competent organization.

The Wizards have a team payroll $50 million less than the top team in the league. He spends in hockey were the rules don't really allow splurging, but he doesn't in basketball where to rules allow teams to blow by the salary cap. I have my doubts that he'll spend in an uncapped league.

[Slateman]

Idiot with a Stanley cup and a couple presidents trophies. I think it’s unlikely Trotz gets the team much further anyway. They are generally a bunch of postseason underachievers. 2019 was a miracle run.

Idiot who fired the guy who got him that Cup by overcoming a legacy of choking.

In case you forgot what it was that Trotz overcame:


And Leonsis cheaped out. Hard pass on Leonsis. He gets the team, this rebuild takes a decade.

[Smithian]

The Wizards have a team payroll $50 million less than the top team in the league. He spends in hockey were the rules don't really allow splurging, but he doesn't in basketball where to rules allow teams to blow by the salary cap. I have my doubts that he'll spend in an uncapped league.

I think Leonsis is screwed with the Wizards because that team needs more than anything to blow up and start over, but you can't blow up easily when they have Bradley Beal and don't want him to demand a trade. I know it is more complicated than this thread allows. But I don't consider his Wizards ownership more instructive than the NHL ownership.

[Natsinpwc]

The Wizards have a team payroll $50 million less than the top team in the league. He spends in hockey were the rules don't really allow splurging, but he doesn't in basketball where to rules allow teams to blow by the salary cap. I have my doubts that he'll spend in an uncapped league.

There are several teams below the Wizards that are better including Phoenix. The NBA is different also because you can re-sign your own guys for more money and avoid luxury tax. Which is what Golden State has done.

I think most Wizards fans would say the problem is signing guys to big contracts who are not worth it. Arenas. Wall. Beal. Good players but not number one or even two on championship teams. Ted will not full on rebuild as I believe he fears losing revenue. So they are caught in NBA purgatory. Seems the opposite of the Lerners current approach.

BTW the Wizards will be closer to the top once they pay Beal the almost $50 million he will be eligible for.

[Natsinpwc]

I think Leonsis is screwed with the Wizards because that team needs more than anything to blow up and start over, but you can't blow up easily when they have Bradley Beal and don't want him to demand a trade. I know it is more complicated than this thread allows. But I don't consider his Wizards ownership more instructive than the NHL ownership.

Beal has a player option for next season. They already offered him more than $40 million a year for four years which he turned down. He is elegible for almost $50 million per year. I suppose they could do a sign and trade.  Lakers? Philly?  It would actually be very easy to blow it up and let Beal go. Ted is afraid of losing fans which is funny because he has already lost so many.

The Caps are coming to a reckoning also very soon. Almost all the key players 32 or older. Some decent prospects but no stars. Will
Be interesting to see what they do.

[UMDNats]

And given what the Nats ownership has done since last year, I would take this!  You can build around a multi-generational talent like Soto.  The trick is to get him (and Boras) to sign, and in that regard, you need to look like you are trying to win.

I normally would have accepted the current rebuilding phase, but to do that and also have the nerve to jack up prices 20% is just unacceptable.  I still can't wrap my head around their thinking on the price hike.  I'm sure the idea of selling the team didn't just come to them in the last few weeks, so they must have made a calculated decision on raising prices that much.  But how does that help the value of the team?  I don't have any numbers, but I have to believe that their season ticket holders are way down this year. 

just wait until ted takes over and ticket prices shoot up again to pay for soto and a roster of turds

[UMDNats]

Idiot who fired the guy who got him that Cup by overcoming a legacy of choking.

In case you forgot what it was that Trotz overcame:


And Leonsis cheaped out. Hard pass on Leonsis. He gets the team, this rebuild takes a decade.

moving on from trotz was a pretty bold move from Ted IMO and showed he understood that he was just going to firing trotz in 2-3 years anyways. Trotz isn't exactly lighting it up in long island

[Natsinpwc]

just wait until ted takes over and ticket prices shoot up again to pay for soto and a roster of turds

People here should be happy as they are not happy with a rebuild. Ted will be signing the equivalents of Davis Bertans to multi year deals. 

[Natsinpwc]

moving on from trotz was a pretty bold move from Ted IMO and showed he understood that he was just going to firing trotz in 2-3 years anyways. Trotz isn't exactly lighting it up in long island

Yea the players embraced his defensive system to win a cup but once that happened they would have turned on Trotz.

[Smithian]

Beal has a player option for next season. They already offered him more than $40 million a year for four years which he turned down. He is elegible for almost $50 million per year. I suppose they could do a sign and trade.  Lakers? Philly?  It would actually be very easy to blow it up and let Beal go. Ted is afraid of losing fans which is funny because he has already lost so many.

The Caps are coming to a reckoning also very soon. Almost all the key players 32 or older. Some decent prospects but no stars. Will
Be interesting to see what they do.

No star player is coming to DC. If they move Beal, they have to get bad and pray in the draft. I get the reluctance. The NBA is the hardest league, imo, to move from bad to good.

On Capitals, we had a fun 15 year runs. Tons of regular season first place appearances. A championship. These past few years they've run out of gas. I think they should have hit the rebuild button after Reirden. But I get not wanting to give up when you finished in first again and convinced yourself the problem was the head coach, who can be changed.

My point is I don't think Leonsis is bad. I am not sure how many owners are good. I just think Leonsis would be a safe owner.

[UMDNats]

No star player is coming to DC. If they move Beal, they have to get bad and pray in the draft. I get the reluctance. The NBA is the hardest league, imo, to move from bad to good.

On Capitals, we had a fun 15 year runs. Tons of regular season first place appearances. A championship. These past few years they've run out of gas. I think they should have hit the rebuild button after Reirden. But I get not wanting to give up when you finished in first again and convinced yourself the problem was the head coach, who can be changed.

My point is I don't think Leonsis is bad. I am not sure how many owners are good. I just think Leonsis would be a safe owner.

The literal only reason why Ted Leonsis is considered a good owner is because his team got lucky enough to draft Alex Ovechkin. Even then, Leonsis freaked up the org so bad that it took 14 years to win a Cup, and the only reason he was able to do that was because he was incredibly lazy and hired McPhee's assistant who actually gave a damn about winning. The bar in DC is so incredibly low. Ted, through his own ineptitude, had a team that just so happened to be able to draft the greatest hockey player of all-time and he gets credit for it somehow. It's like how Rizzo gets credit for drafting Harper and Strasburg.

Ted is loyal to a fault with his management, cheap, and has the ego the size of Jeff Bezos, and if he takes over the Nats his dipcrap son is going to be the guy running the show. fun!

[HalfSmokes]

There are several teams below the Wizards that are better including Phoenix. The NBA is different also because you can re-sign your own guys for more money and avoid luxury tax. Which is what Golden State has done.

I think most Wizards fans would say the problem is signing guys to big contracts who are not worth it. Arenas. Wall. Beal. Good players but not number one or even two on championship teams. Ted will not full on rebuild as I believe he fears losing revenue. So they are caught in NBA purgatory. Seems the opposite of the Lerners current approach.

BTW the Wizards will be closer to the top once they pay Beal the almost $50 million he will be eligible for.

Those teams are well constructed. The wizards draft stiffs because the refuse to bottom out or trade for picks. In the alternatives, they could be more active absorbing salary in exchange for picks, they don’t do that either. They just happily tread water. Do we expect Ted to bottom out the nats and go all in on prospects?

[UMDNats]

Those teams are well constructed. The wizards draft stiffs because the refuse to bottom out or trade for picks. In the alternatives, they could be more active absorbing salary in exchange for picks, they don’t do that either. They just happily tread water. Do we expect Ted to bottom out the nats and go all in on prospects?

Ted's goal would be to lock up Soto and spend about $160-180 mill a year on a roster that can get to the expanded postseason. He gets his generational player to sell merch/jerseys and keep the team from bottoming out and spends just enough to keep people off his back.

[Natsinpwc]

Ted's goal would be to lock up Soto and spend about $160-180 mill a year on a roster that can get to the expanded postseason. He gets his generational player to sell merch/jerseys and keep the team from bottoming out and spends just enough to keep people off his back.

Yep. 

[bluestreak]

The literal only reason why Ted Leonsis is considered a good owner is because his team got lucky enough to draft Alex Ovechkin. Even then, Leonsis freaked up the org so bad that it took 14 years to win a Cup, and the only reason he was able to do that was because he was incredibly lazy and hired McPhee's assistant who actually gave a damn about winning. The bar in DC is so incredibly low. Ted, through his own ineptitude, had a team that just so happened to be able to draft the greatest hockey player of all-time and he gets credit for it somehow. It's like how Rizzo gets credit for drafting Harper and Strasburg.

Ted is loyal to a fault with his management, cheap, and has the ego the size of Jeff Bezos, and if he takes over the Nats his dipcrap son is going to be the guy running the show. fun!

Wut?

[UMDNats]

Wut?

When a player breaks an unbreakable record, set by the previous greatest player of all-time, he, uh, takes over that spot. Wayne scored a million goals against guys who didn't know how to skate backwards and Alex is scoring 900+ against guys Zdeno Chara.

Discussion for another thread, of course, but I know I'm right.