Nationals spending on spring training complex costing them free agents?
By Jason Parker
The Washington Nationals are trying to get into their new spring training complex in South Florida this year – but is the price tag hurting the team?
In less than a month, 30 teams in Major League Baseball will begin the process of reporting to cities in Arizona and Florida as the annual Spring Training part of the season will start. For the Washington Nationals, the hope is that they will be doing their camp in a new city this season.
After spending the last 14 seasons on Florida’s Space Coast in Viera, the Nationals are heading south and joining the Houston Astros in a brand new complex the teams will share in West Palm Beach.
As it turns out, that move and the push to do it for the 2017 season might be costing the team when it comes to signing players. Former general manager Jim Bowden threw a match on that fire when he tweeted out a message about the team’s inability to sign two big name free agents, Greg Holland and Matt Wieters.
#Nationals still have interest in both Wieters & Holland..but they are way over budget on Spring Training Complex making decision difficult
— Jim Bowden⚾️🏈 (@JimBowdenGM) January 18, 2017
It would be weird to think the Nationals are choosing a building they spend six weeks in over the next eight to 10 years of the franchise. The Washington Post did point out that if the project was over budget due to a rush, it’s all on the teams:
"The original stadium deal, which the Nationals’ and Astros’ joint company (HW Spring Training, LLC) made with Palm Beach County, includes an initial budget of $135 million. Any overages would be the responsibility of the teams, who had already committed to pay for about a third of the project, though they are doing so over the course of their lease, in part through use fees."
The thought of the roster suffering due to this project – which when you look at the numbers might not be as complicated as it appears – has the team’s star player, outfielder Bryce Harper, taking to local media with a response:
Matt Wieters/Greg Holland > Team Store! #NatsNatsNatswoooooo https://t.co/aXPpp5qZLR
— Bryce Harper (@bryceharper3) January 18, 2017
When the Nationals do make the move to Palm Beach County for spring training, it will be the third time the organization has done so.
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What was then the Montreal Expos shared a stadium with the Atlanta Braves in West Palm Beach from 1969 to 1972 and again from 1981 until 1997 before sharing a stadium with the St. Louis Cardinals in nearby Jupiter from 1998 until 2002.