Sometimes perception really is everything. The Nationals made a legitimate run at free agent first baseman Mark Teixeira two years ago. They even offered him the most money. But he wasn’t interested — other than to use the Nats to drive up his price.
But the signs were there even then. Washington isn’t content with being an anonymous franchise. It has a billionaire owner, a three-year-old ballpark and a top-10 market that is more recession-proof than most. What it lacks — thanks to one losing season after another — is credibility.
Enter free agent outfielder Jayson Werth. Not only did the Nats offer him the most money — $126 million over seven years — but they blew everyone else out of the water. Dumb move? It does smack of Redskins-style desperation. But the city’s NFL franchise never has trouble convincing free agents to take its money. Until now, that was the Nats’ biggest problem.
“I think the way you change the perception of the Nationals is by becoming a winning organization,” Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said.
But that’s a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. It’s virtually impossible to build a winner using only the draft in Major League Baseball. And until you have a deep minor league system, trades can open as many holes as they fill. No, the Nats needed a win in free agency to open the floodgates. Whether Werth lives up to his deal or not is beside the point.
