Adam LaRoche and Sean Burnett declined their mutual options and are now free agents, Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports. The Nationals exercised their side of the $10MM mutual option on LaRoche's contract and the $3.5MM mutual option on Burnett's contract.
Both LaRoche and Burnett have said they'd like to stay in Washington. The Nationals retain exclusive negotiating rights for all of their free agents, including LaRoche and Burnett, until Saturday morning. Neither player gets a contract buyout in this case (it would have been $1MM for LaRoche and $250K for Burnett if the Nationals had declined).
LaRoche and the Nationals established some parameters for an extension last week, but haven't been in recent contact about a potential deal. Burnett hits the market as a candidate for a multiyear deal at a time that teams such as the Dodgers and Cardinals figure to seek left-handed relief.
I think Burnett leaves and ALR stays with Nationals.
In case ALR leaves, I would like Nats to move Morse to first and trade for Choo.
In case Burnett leaves, sign Affeldt.
IF ALR leaves then the Nats need to get a real CF instead of running Harper out there. Bourn would provide good leadoff hitter with SB and excellent defense.
Even though the Nats have a lot of talent does not mean they are guaranteed to return to the playoffs every year.. Injuries and poor play happen to the most talented of teams..
And I dont think Cards spend the kind of money Burnett is gonna get.. They need MI help and RH OF help more than anything.
Holliday and Beltran? Anyways, if ALR leaves, we don’t have a potential power bat from left side. Harper is not ready for that role I think. He is more suited to be #2 right now.
Doubtful Cards are gonna spend 4 million plus per for 2 or 3 years on a single loogy.. That was my point.. Cards will spend big money on position players and starters.. They have history of not going big on dollars for anyone else..
I doubt he will cost that much. But you guys do need a LH reliever, just like us.
If ALR doesn’t sign by Saturday I think he’s gone. I think he’ll eventually get more years and guaranteed dollars elsewhere…which means Morse moves to 1B and Rizzo needs to find a new LFer (unless you think Moore can move in full time, which I don’t – plus Harper would be the only LH batter, well except for SH Espinosa…).
I keep reading about the Cardinals seeking left handed relieves. What about the Brewers? Parra, their only lefty reliever is sure to be non-tendered after another disappointing season and they have needs for all kinds of quality in the pen, but specifically from the left side.
If the price is right LaRoche could be a good pick up for baltimore
Why would he go to the AL when he can probably get as much money from the Nationals and continue to be a part of a good thing still?
O’s are a one year wonder.
One year wonder? Pot calling kettle black, don’t you think???
You obviously did not watch the Orioles after the all star break, but that’s the typical DC fan who doesn’t know anything about sports.
You obviously didn’t not see the orioles play at all after the all star break.
Who’s the black one? You’re implying LaRoche is a one year wonder? Or you think the Nationals aren’t for real, lol? Seriously?
So what makes the Nats for real and the Orioles not? They made the playoffs, no?
The mix of pitching that the Nationals have is a lot better than what the Orioles have to offer. They have a team that is going to be good for years. The Orioles, not so much.
The Nats made the playoffs because their hitting, starting pitching, and relief pitching were all top 10 in the MLB. The Orioles ranked 14th for starters average, 20th for batting average, and 5th in relief ERA. The Nats made the playoffs because they had a good team. The Orioles made the playoffs because they were clutch. Statistically, the only good part about the Orioles was their bullpen (huge part) and the HRs. Look at the numbers for yourself. But they hit and pitched when they had to. I’m not dissing the Orioles, but I don’t see how it is unreasonable to say the Orioles may not duplicate their success. I don’t think there is anyway they will duplicate their extra inning record, 16-2, that was incredible. There is no gurantee with closers too. Jim Johnson came out of nowhere this year, kinda like Axford in 2011. And look what happened to him. You can’t judge teams soley on paper, but its the offseason and it’s all we got. And I notice when teams come out of nowhere (I wouldn’t say the Nats came out of no where, you could see the talent they had in the rotation and in their lineup), the folllowing year is kind of a dud. Like the D-Backs in 2011 to 2012.
I’m saying this as an unbiased third party. Way to assume like some typical O’s fan.
Sure I did. I just don’t see them repeating their success in 2013. The other teams in the division should be as good or if not better (except the Blue Jays).
It all comes down to pitching and the Nationals are way better.
Kind of a weak argument…there is no reason why the O’s could not duplicate what they did this year. Please don’t base your “future” argument on one guy(Harper).
Yea the Nats pitching is better, but that doesn’t mean the O’s is bad. On topic though I agree he would prob get more money from the Nats. Especially since the O’s are trying to figure out what to do with Reynolds.
There’s a huge reason to think they couldn’t duplicate what they did this year. Their record in one run games and extras was incredibly flukey. 29-9 in one run games, 16-2 in extra innings.
They have a good bullpen but you’re lying to yourself if you think that’s repeatable.
I keep talking pitching. Don’t know why you bring up Harper?
I’m sure his argument is backed by the fact that there is more than one guy. Harper, Rendon,Meyer,Skole,Goodwin,Perez,Moore, Lombordozzi, Brown, Purke,Giolitto all promising rookies let alone Zimmerman,Desmond, Espinosa, Morse, Shark, Strasburg, Gio, Zimmermann, Detwiller, etc this team is stacked an will be for quite a while. The fact that we have the richest owners, a great GM and Davey Johnson just solidifys his argument
Why flukey, because it is one of the best records of all time? The reason is was so good was mainly due to the great bullpen and clutch hitting.
I can list the lineup and prospects as well. Big deal…
It’s flukey because it’s flukey. I shouldn’t have to explain what a crapshoot one run games are or how lucky it is for a team who didn’t have a positive run differential until the 10 days of the season to make the playoffs.
Do you remember the last time Johnson was given the role of closer before the 2012 season? It was pretty ugly and did not last very long.
If I had to hedge my bets…Nationals are in a much better position to win a pennant. And LaRoche and his agent probably recognizes this as well.
And yet they made it just as far as the Nats, the team with the best run diff(+137). So please tell how run diff mattered this year?
Yup, and that’s great for them. But see we’re talking about NEXT season and whether or not the O’s can repeat what they did this year NEXT year.
And run differential didn’t matter this year obviously but the O’s are the exception, not the rule.
And I still have not read one reason why they cannot. If they did it this year with such “poor” pitching, why not next year? Look what Tillman and Gonzalez did with ONLY 15 starts each this year…give them 30 in 2013.
Well you said he had a weak argument and that you hoped he wasn’t basing them all on one prospect, I was letting you know that there is more than “one guy” and it is a pretty fair argument
Oh yeah, of course they’ll be just as good over a full year. I mean 15 starts is more than a large enough sample size to determine future performance…
But look I’m done arguing about this. If you O’s fans want to think your team’s bullpen will be just as good next year and it’s winning percentage in one run games will stay the same go for it. You’re gonna be disappointed though.
How can you question on one team’s success and not your own? The O’s and Nats won by different ways this year…and probably next year too. All that matters are W’s and L’s and not how you get them.
Well it lasted all year this year and all he did was lead the baseball in saves. Money talks…we will see what happens Saturday.