Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats
Can Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo meet all of his goals for the 2020 roster of penciling in a 90-win team based on the analytics plus stay under the $208 million CBT salary cap, and bring back Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon, Howie Kendrick, and Asdrubal Cabrera? The answer is “possibly” and they have reportedly agreed to bring back catcher Yan Gomes at $5 million a year for two years. It would not be easy though to get most key players back at inflated numbers though and stay under the cap and fill all holes.
When you win a World Series, the fanbase wants the good feelings going, and they want to get the band back together. That will be impossible in part because Gerardo Parra has already signed with the Giants of the Japan league, but every other World Series player for the Nationals who became a free agent is still available. The CBT is there, but with some creativity it is certainly doable for the players who want to return.
“I have never had a problem with the financial resources I’ve had to utilize,” Rizzo said. “Like I said, earlier this year when we were 19-31, this wasn’t a resource thing, this was a personnel thing. We have certainly had the resources to field a competitive team since 2012. I do not believe that that’s going to change. They’ve always given me the resources to put together a championship-caliber club, and I do not see that changing in the near future.”
Here is our salary chart below with estimates:
| Pitchers | B/T | Contract Status | CBT Salary |
| Patrick Corbin | L/L | $ 23,333,333 | |
| Sean Doolittle | L/L | $ 6,500,000 | |
| Roenis Elias | L/L | Arb 2 | $ 1,900,000 |
| Erick Fedde | R/R | Minimum | $ 575,000 |
| Koda Glover | R/R | ||
| Javy Guerra | R/R | Arb 1 | $ 950,000 |
| Joe Ross | R/R | Arb 2 | $ 1,500,000 |
| Anibal Sanchez | R/R | $ 9,500,000 | |
| Max Scherzer | R/R | $ 28,689,376 | |
| Stephen Strasburg | R/R | Free agent | |
| Hunter Strickland | R/R | Arb 3 | |
| Wander Suero | R/R | Minimum | $ 575,000 |
| Austin Voth | R/R | Minimum | $ 575,000 |
| Free Agent Starter | $ 30,000,000 | ||
| Daniel Hudson | R/R | Free agent | |
| Tanner Rainey | $ 600,000 | ||
| Backend Bullpen Arm | $ 8,000,000 | ||
| Catchers | B/T | ||
| Tres Barrera | R/R | ||
| Raudy Read | R/R | ||
| Kurt Suzuki | R/R | $ 5,000,000 | |
| Yan Gomes | R/R | $ 5,000,000 | |
| Infielders | B/T | ||
| Wilmer Difo | S/R | Arb 1 | $1,000,000 |
| Carter Kieboom | R/R | Minimum | $ 575,000 |
| Jake Noll | R/R | ||
| Adrian Sanchez | R/R | ||
| Trea Turner | R/R | Arb 2 | $ 7,750,000 |
| Anthony Rendon | R/R | ||
| Free Agent 1B | $ 3,000,000 | ||
| Free Agent 3B | $ 32,000,000 | ||
| Utility infielder | $ 6,000,000 | ||
| Utility infielder | $ 3,750,000 | ||
| Outfielders | B/T | ||
| Adam Eaton | L/L | $ 9,500,000 | |
| Victor Robles | R/R | Minimum | $ 600,000 |
| Juan Soto | L/L | Minimum | $ 650,000 |
| Andrew Stevenson | L/L | Minimum | $ 575,000 |
| Michael A. Taylor | R/R | $3,800,000 | |
| 40 man cost est. | $ 2,250,000 | ||
| Player benefits est. | $ 15,000,000 | ||
| Bonuses and incentives est. | $ 3,500,000 | ||
| Total | $ 212,647,709 | ||
| CBT | $ 208,000,000 | ||
Can Mike Rizzo get this to work? There is some room to work with but literally no buffer except in the bonus and incentives numbers.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who are free agents beyond Anthony [Rendon] and [Strasburg] that group,” Rizzo said. “We’re certainly going to utilize the process that we have in the past, and we have the front office staff to handle it. We’ll make the right decisions on personnel in the near future.”
What would you do with Michael A. Taylor, Ryan Zimmerman, and Hunter Strickland? Can Mike Rizzo shave off $5 million to get under the CBT limit? These numbers also have implications on the 2021 roster and payroll.
