Nationals obtain financial flexibility

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Piece-by-piece, deal-by-deal, the Washington Nationals have transformed themselves over the last six months from a "mid-budget" club of veterans with several burdensome, long-term commitments into a "low-budget" squad of young players with loads of financial flexibility moving forward.

Since purchasing the franchise from Major League Baseball last summer, the Lerner family (under the stewardship of president Stan Kasten and general manager Jim Bowden) has overhauled the team's roster and positioned itself to rebuild for the long haul. In the process, the Nationals have sliced their major league payroll nearly in half, to the point where they are likely to rank among baseball's lowest-spending teams in 2007.

This week's trade of Jose Vidro to the Seattle Mariners (which should become official today once Vidro passes a physical) was the latest bold move by Washington's front office to rid itself of high-priced veterans and open the door for young, inexpensive players to take their spots.

The Nationals are receiving 25-year-old outfielder Chris Snelling and 22-year-old right-hander Emiliano Fruto in exchange for Vidro, 32, but more important to Washington is the fact the Mariners will pay $12 million of the $16 million remaining on Vidro's contract over the next two seasons.

The Nationals still owe Vidro $1.5 million in 2007 and $2.5 million in 2008, but those figures pale in comparison with the dollars the club will save by trading the veteran second baseman to Seattle.

Combined with the money Washington has saved either by trading or not re-signing Alfonso Soriano, Livan Hernandez, Jose Guillen, Brian Lawrence, Ramon Ortiz and Tony Armas Jr., and the club's $63 million payroll from Opening Day 2006 could plummet to as little as $36 million by Opening Day 2007.

That figure (which could still change based on the eventual salaries of Washington's five arbitration-eligible players and other roster moves) would have ranked 28th among baseball's 30 franchises last year, ahead of only the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Florida Marlins. The Nationals had the sport's 20th-largest payroll in 2006 under MLB's ownership.

"I don't know what our payroll's going to be, because I really don't think of teams in those terms," Kasten said. "I think of assets, and acquiring assets, and looking at opportunities to add additional assets. So whatever it is today, I expect it to be more in spring training. And I expect it to probably be more during the season as we have opportunities to add assets that make sense for the long term."

Still, this wasn't what most observers expected when the Lerners paid $450 million to purchase the club last summer. Most figured the days of MLB's tight-fisted budget would be over and the new owners would pour millions of dollars into the Nationals' roster in an attempt to field a winning squad right away.

But the Lerners and Kasten made it clear from the moment they took over they would not rebuild the major league roster with high-priced free agents and instead would focus their energy and dollars on restocking the franchise's weak farm system and scouting department.