Mike Rizzo has every reason to smile; Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats
As the first snow hit Washington, D.C., general manager Mike Rizzo was back at work as he is trying to finalize his 2020 roster. A week ago he was being criticized for a lackluster offseason even though he had six weeks before training camp was set to open. Sure, he was waiting on Josh Donaldson, but on Friday he pivoted to his Plan C and pulled off five key signings that added up to 5.0 WAR in four days. He added star reliever Will Harris and postseason star Daniel Hudson as well as Asdrubal Cabrera and then went outside the organization for “launch angle” convertee Starlin Castro and got the big lefty thumper in Eric Thames. The sum of the parts has once again added up to more than the whole. He spread the risk and spent $26 million on that quintet.
Some pessimists have said Rizzo spent the Donaldson money on five players to equal what just Donaldson would produce, but there are no guarantees that Donaldson can repeat his 2019 results while these five players could give you upside and far exceed their conservative projections. Risk is spread depth in the bullpen and depth in the infield. Rizzo also added positional flexibility as all of these infielders he signed can play at least three positions.
As we saw last year, injuries caused disruption because of the lack of depth, and now Rizzo has built depth in every aspect of his roster. If Rizzo is done with his roster, he will be nearly $11 million under the CBT cap and have that cash available if he needs it to spend at the trade deadline on the last day of July. The “ifs” are not an insinuation that Rizzo is done as he could still spend more of that $11 million.
After signing Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals spending spree landed the Nats on the tops of the spend list this offseason just under the Yankees he shot their wad on Gerrit Cole.
These are the only teams who have spent over $150 million:
- Yankees: $336.5 million
- Nationals: $314.8 million
- Angels: $260.9 million
- White Sox: $195.5 million
On that list, only the Nationals and White Sox have added seven or more players to MLB deals. With respect to the Nationals, there were many who questioned the levels the Nats would spend to, and they once again have pushed the limits of the CBT.
| Pitchers | B/T | Contract Status | CBT Salary | |
| 1 | Anibal Sanchez | R/R | Has a $2 million incentive pkg | $ 9,500,000 |
| 2 | Austin Voth | R/R | Minimum | $ 575,000 |
| 3 | Daniel Hudson | Has $1 million in incentives | $ 5,500,000 | |
| 4 | Hunter Strickland | R/R | Arb 3 | $ 1,600,000 |
| 5 | Joe Ross | R/R | Arb 2 | $ 1,500,000 |
| 6 | Max Scherzer | R/R | $ 28,689,376 | |
| 7 | Patrick Corbin | L/L | $ 23,333,333 | |
| 8 | Roenis Elias | L/L | Arb 2 | $ 1,900,000 |
| 9 | Sean Doolittle | L/L | $ 6,500,000 | |
| 10 | Stephen Strasburg | Small AAV pickup from Def int | $ 34,000,000 | |
| 11 | Tanner Rainey | R/R | Minimum | $ 585,000 |
| 12 | Wander Suero | R/R | Minimum | $ 585,000 |
| 13 | Will Harris | R/R | $ 8,000,000 | |
| Kyle Finnegan | R/R | Options | ||
| Erick Fedde | R/R | 1 option remaining | $ 575,000 | |
| Catchers | B/T | Contract Status | CBT Salary | |
| Raudy Read | R/R | |||
| Tres Barrera | R/R | |||
| 14 | Kurt Suzuki | R/R | $ 5,000,000 | |
| 15 | Yan Gomes | R/R | $ 5,000,000 | |
| Infielders | B/T | Contract Status | CBT Salary | |
| Adrian Sanchez | R/R | |||
| 16 | Eric Thames | Inc $1 million buyout | $ 4,000,000 | |
| 17 | Asdurbal Cabrera | S/R | Has $500,000 incentives pkg | $ 2,500,000 |
| 3rd baseman | L/R | $ – | ||
| 18 | Howie Kendrick | R/R | 1B/2B | $ 6,250,000 |
| Jake Noll | R/R | |||
| 19 | Trea Turner | R/R | Arb 2 | $ 7,750,000 |
| 20 | Starlin Castro | R/R | $ 6,000,000 | |
| Carter Kieboom | R/R | options | $ 575,000 | |
| 21 | Wilmer Difo | S/R | Arb 1 | $ 1,000,000 |
| Outfielders | B/T | Contract Status | CBT Salary | |
| 22 | Adam Eaton | L/L | $ 9,500,000 | |
| 23 | Andrew Stevenson | L/L | Minimum | $ 580,000 |
| 24 | Juan Soto | L/L | Minimum | $ 650,000 |
| 25 | Michael A. Taylor | R/R | $ 3,250,000 | |
| 26 | Victor Robles | R/R | Minimum | $ 600,000 |
| 40 man cost est. | $ 2,250,000 | |||
| Player benefits est. | $ 15,000,000 | |||
| Bonuses and incentives est. | $ 4,500,000 | |||
| Total | $ 197,247,709 | |||
| CBT 2020 Limit | $ 208,000,000 |
