Washington Nationals Brass Make It Clear They Aren't Ready To Spend Yet

Spending won't come just yet for the Washington Nationals.

Washington Nationals owner Mark Lerner | Brad Mills-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals could have spent money this offseason if they wanted.

It was theorized they might use this winter when some of their high-priced contracts came off the books to supercharge this roster alongside their star young stars who were already on the team.

Names like Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, Christian Walker, even Juan Soto were thrown around as possible additions to the lineup, while the likes of Max Fried, Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell were suggested to anchor the rotation.

But nothing like that materialized.

That wasn't too surprising, especially because this was always the more likely option.

It might have been frustrating for fans to see the lack of spending once again, but the organization has been committed to seeing this rebuild through. And with many of their star prospects joining the first wave of young pieces in The Show that they originally got when they started tearing things down, blocking a pathway to playing time for those players is not what the front office wanted.

Opening up the checkbook could eventually come for the Nationals, but owner Mark Lerner made it clear that is not the plan just yet.

"When Mike calls me in and says, 'We really need to think about it,' for next winter, we’ll talk about it. Right now, he doesn't think — and I agree with him: There's no point in getting a superstar and paying him hundreds of millions of dollars to win two or three more games," he said to Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post.

So, more patience will be needed from the fan base.

Perhaps nobody envisioned the 20th anniversary season that's taking place this year would be one centered around player development, especially since they won the World Series in 2019.

But that's the reality of the situation.

The good news is Lerner has spent money in the past.

Washington was in the top-half of payroll from 2013-2021, and even though they have slashed salary in recent years, that doesn't mean they won't return to the top of the league at some point in the future when they get more clarity about which of their young stars they can truly build around.

"Soon, we'll have it where we want it to be. And we've got a great team that's going to be here soon," Lerner added.

The situation surrounding a potential sale of the team was also put to bed by Lerner and his family, which should quell any of the concerns that the ones in charge of this franchise aren't committed to putting the best product possible on the field.

There is hope the Nationals can become what the Baltimore Orioles currently are after they did their own teardown rebuild, vaulting to the top of their division led by the crop of young stars they have in place that has set them up for success going forward.

Time will tell if that's the case, but even though the Washington brass made it clear they aren't ready to spend right now, that doesn't mean they won't ever be in the running to land high-price free agents.