When the Washington Nationals introduced a brand new multi-year contract extension for normal supervisor Mike Rizzo, crew proprietor Mark Lerner included this assertion within the press launch:

“We are once again hard at work to build a championship contender in D.C. We now believe we have the beginnings of a roster filled with promising young players and exciting prospects at nearly every position. While we once talked about winning World Series rings for our baseball-loving fathers, Mike’s family and ours now look forward to winning even more rings for our children and grandchildren — and, of course, for every other Nationals-loving fan and family everywhere. We are excited about our future.”

Does that sound like a person who needs to promote his baseball crew? Children and grandchildren? I don’t suppose so.

In a April 2022 Washington Post story, Mark Lerner introduced his household was trying into promoting the Nationals, the crew they bought from Major League Baseball for $450 million in 2005. “This is an exploratory process, so there is no set timetable or expectation of a specific outcome,” Lerner mentioned in an announcement.

The exploration resulted in a particular final result of discovering a black gap in the event that they thought there could be a line of bidders down South Capitol Street keen to pay billions for his or her baseball crew.

The black gap was MASN — their tv captor.

Since that April “exploration process,” there was little from the Lerners about what how that course of was continuing, save for a Washington Post report that Wizards and Capitals proprietor Transparent Ted Leonsis had a bunch that supplied greater than $2 billion.

I believe the Lerners wished considerably greater than $2 billion — significantly after the valuations of the sale of minority items of the Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies. The Rangers’ worth rose to $3 billion with the sale of 10% of the crew in May, whereas the Phillies offered a 16.25% share of their membership in June that resulted of their franchise worth being set at $2.8 billion.

The Lerners noticed these numbers and sure raised their very own expectations. But neither of these crew’s tv rights have been held hostage by one other crew.

If it wasn’t obvious earlier than the sale — it ought to have been — it turned clear after the exploration began that the tangled MASN settlement and the struggle for income between the Baltimore Orioles (which is actually MASN, each primarily owned by the Angelos household) and the Nationals that the Washington crew’s worth was diminished by the MASN deal.

Even with the information in June that the 2 sides, after a bitter, protracted authorized battle, reached an settlement over what the Nationals have been due for his or her tv rights from 2012 to 2016, the quantity to be paid continues to be in negotiations — and there may be nonetheless the determine from 2017 to 2022 to be fought over. None of that can be straightforward.

That’s a part of the issue. You have two sides within the Angelos and the Lerners that make each enterprise deal tough. I wrote when the information broke that the crew was on the market, “You want to buy a box of paper clips from the Lerners? Good luck with that. You want to buy a baseball team from the Lerners? That would be sort of like buying the box of paper clips — only many times worse.”

The state of Maryland is attempting to achieve a brand new Camden Yards lease settlement with John Angelos, the son of Peter Angelos, who has been incapacitated for a number of years. That lease runs out on the finish of the yr, and people negotiations have been embarrassing to all concerned.

I've written for a number of years that the Nationals sale gained’t occur till the Orioles are offered, which, based on sources, will occur as soon as Peter Angelos, 94, passes away. It is spelled out in his will, sources have informed me. There are bidders ready for the Orioles to be put in the marketplace — presumably together with Transparent Ted, whose group, based on Bloomberg, could be concerned about buying the Baltimore franchise if it does turn out to be accessible.

Any such sale of the Orioles would unlikely be accepted by Major League Baseball until the entire MASN settlement was dissolved, with every crew then free to find out their very own tv rights. Television rights are essential to Transparent Ted, who now owns NBC Sports Washington and desperately wants programming.

As far as we all know, Transparent Ted was the one one who had made a respectable provide to the Lerners.

If there isn't a sale, I doubt there can be many tears shed. The Lerners are very flawed house owners, however I’m unsure Transparent Ted could be significantly better. He has been a catastrophe as Wizards proprietor. He refused to pay his 2018 Capitals Stanley Cup profitable coach sufficient to maintain Barry Trotz from leaving. I don’t suppose the Lerners are even that silly.

So, with supervisor Dave Martinez and now Mike Rizzo locked up with new contracts, it seems Mark Lerner goes to see this rebuild of the Nationals by way of.

“These guys are into every step of the rebuild, particularly Mark Lerner,” Rizzo mentioned in a zoom name to debate his new deal. “They are all in. They want to win.”

With an $80 million payroll this yr — hardly what the entrance workplace believed was “all in” — you possibly can have fooled me. The crew could have exceeded expectations on the sector, however I’m unsure you desire a baseball franchise within the seventh-largest media market within the nation known as “scrappy.”

I believe their grandchildren deserve higher.

⦁ You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.

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