The Nationals “structure their offers" to free agents using its dispute over rights fees with MASN "as an influence -- frequently making their proposals less attractive than the total dollar value might suggest," according to sources cited by Barry Svrluga of the WASHINGTON POST. Sources on both sides of the negotiating table said that the Nationals’ pursuit of top free agents this winter "consisted of heavily deferred contracts, deals that are trumped easily by more traditional baseball offers.” While LF Yoenis Cespedes re-signed with the Mets for three years and $75M, sources said that the Nationals’ offer to him was for five years and $110M, but that money “would have been paid out over more than a decade.” In the deal Cespedes signed with the Mets, he gets a $10M signing bonus and makes $17.5M in ‘16 -- “after which he has an opt-out.” In the Nats’ offer, he “would have made” $7M in ‘16. New Cubs CF Jason Heyward, the Nationals' "primary target in the outfield this offseason,” received a $200M offer from the club, but signed for eight years and $184M with the Cubs. A source said the Nationals’ offer to Heyward -- to be paid out over 16 years -- was “the most complicated deferral I’ve ever heard of." When LF Jayson Werth signed a seven-year, $126M deal with the Nats prior to the ‘11 season, “there was little mystery.” His annual salary “increased gradually over the course of the deal” -- from just more than $10.5M in ‘11 to $21M in both ‘16 and ’17, by which time the Nationals “figured the MASN issue would be resolved" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/3).
