Upon hearing the news that Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg was planning to retire, it got me thinking about all the times I’ve posted about him, because primarily, I’ve always been fascinated with just how much money the Nationals have been willing to throw at him throughout history.
A really long time ago, I wrote about how the Nationals were taking a big gamble on the big contract they gave to Strasburg, which was a 7-year, $175 million dollar deal, where $45M of it was deferred money, and if there’s one thing that my zero readers know always captures my attention, it’s the topic of deferred money in baseball contracts. Between the lines, the post was critical and meant to ridicule the Nationals for putting themselves in a situation where they could be paying out the nose for a guy whom might not even be playing for the team at the time, because that’s generally the risky nature of deferred money deals, the potential for embarrassment when a guy takes their talents elsewhere, but you’re still on the hook for their supplementary income.
But then just a long time ago, I revisited that post to eat my crow and admit that the deal actually did pan out, because not only did the Nationals win the World Series that year, Stephen Strasburg himself pitched like a god-killer throughout the playoffs en route to the championship. I realized that in the crap shoot that is actually winning championships, just about any cost is worth it, if it actually pans out, to which the Nationals enjoyed the spoils of. And in the case of the Nationals, they paid the fuck out of Strasburg to keep him, and he actually delivered the baseball championship that the Nation’s Capital so greatly wanted.
However, since then, things changed yet again; mostly because I wasn’t really paying attention, nor did I really examine the finer details upon learning of it, but apparently after the 2019 World Series championship, Stephen Strasburg opted out of his original 7/$175M deal, and became a free agent, and the Nationals were quick to snap him back up, but it was going to cost them $245 million for the next seven years, and in typical Nationals fashion, was loaded full of deferred money, that would undoubtedly be due when he was either at the end of his career, or no longer playing.
So for all intents and purposes, the crow I ate for criticizing the original 7/$175M was short-lived, and we were moving onto a clean slate where the Nationals were undertaking another massive gamble where the clock was ticking on a 7-year window with zero World Series championships won.
And this time, it didn’t take long for the wheels to fall off this car, as between the start of the 2020 season to the present, Stephen Strasburg has pitched in just eight games, and completely ineffectively at that, going 1-4 with a 6.89 ERA. Not that I wish him any ill-will, but the poor guy was absolutely demolished by injuries, to his neck, nerves, wrist and ribs. Eventually, it turned out that he had thoracic outlet syndrome, and just nothing seemed to be working out in order to get him back into playing shape.
Do the math, and he’s literally been paid almost $10M per start since the start of his new deal, and regardless of the fault of the physical ailments, he’s sucked.
So despite the fact that his first big money contract should be considered a success since he did win a World Series while on it, his new contract is unfortunately on the table as being one of the worst contracts in baseball history. Furthermore, I learned that he’s still going to be making $35M per year in ’24, ’25 and ’26 which is suspect, and the only reason I can think that would happen is if he doesn’t officially retire like Prince Fielder didn’t, which is a massive ethical red flag, but not all baseball players are Gil Meche.
But, because it turns out that the Nationals didn’t insure the contract either, which would’ve meant an insurance company would have had to reimburse the Nats somewhat, they’re 100% on the hook for that remaining $105M, adding to the narrative that the Nats got hosed and that this is still potentially one of the worst contracts in baseball history.
Oh and it looks like the deferred money is still on the table too, where the Nationals are still going to remain on the hook for the three $26.7M installments they’ll owe Strasburg in ’27, ’28 and 2029, so doing the math, and that’s nearly $185M being paid to a non-player over the next six years.
Baseball really is the best sport.
Somewhere, Bobby Bonilla is going damn when he finds out about this, and considering my general enjoyment of celebrating Bobby Bonilla Day, we will most definitely not be hearing the end of this, and should absolutely expect to see Stephen Strasburg’s name in the brog in the future, and probably at least once a year, for the foreseeable future.
