Funny how the choice of keeping Rendon or Strasburg was a no-win scenario.
The point that the malcontent fans bring up constantly - that the Nats never pay the big bucks - is of course stupid. From 2011 to right now, they've paid big contracts. As bad as it is at the moment with Corbin and Strasburg jamming things up, the Nats have dodged a lot of bullets.
Desmond turned down over $100 million, left and had a couple of good seasons, but that contract would have been a stinker. Letting Zimmermann leave was a lucky break. Rendon, probably too. Harper is a tough one, as he has played well in Philly, but most of the other major free agents who left was for the better. I don't think they were ever serious about signing Alfonso Soriano back in the day - the issue there was not trading him and instead letting him walk and getting a draft pick. That pick turned out to be Zimmermann, so that worked out really well for a 1-year rental.
I personally think that the Ryan Zimmerman deal was a bust, even though it was relatively cheap, because the Nats had a player for half a decade who really couldn't throw a baseball.
[JCA Note - I broke this out of the Stras thread because it is a great discussion that deserves it's own thread. Big issue going forward will be who to pay for and how much. Some of that depends on what the market can support.]
