Washington Nationals Mock Offseason: Harper leaves, Rendon extended

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WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 09: Bryce Harper #34 and Anthony Rendon #6 celebrate scoring on a Howie Kendrick #12 double in the first inning of the Washington Nationals during a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park on April 9, 2018. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

In FanSided’s mock MLB offseason, acting as the Washington Nationals, we pushed hard for Bryce Harper, before agreeing to an extension for Anthony Rendon.

We continue on with the FanSided MLB Mock Offseason with arguably the biggest decision of the winter for the Fake Washington Nationals. Site Expert Blake Finney, playing the role of Mike Rizzo, finally has to make the key decision of what to do with Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon.

Again, it’s important for us to emphasize that this is part of our Offseason Simulation with FanSided and not actual events. That being said, this is an entirely realistic, and potentially very likely scenario to come to fruition over the coming months.

Whether we like it or not, the entire offseason is centered around one man, Bryce Harper. When you have such a high-priced situation, that simply has to come first before the other major dominos can slide into place.

For example, in this offseason simulation, while we were in the bidding for Harper, we also had discussions with the Seattle Mariners over James Paxton. If we had to allocate funds to the homegrown outfielder, we couldn’t then go after a top-end free agent starter and would have to settle that need via a trade.

And obviously, one of the other ripple effects from the Harper decision is going to be Anthony Rendon. Entering his contract year, he becomes a priority later on in the offseason, and the Nats would be wise to try to extend him once Harper has decided where to sign.

We’ll get into the Rendon details a little later on in the piece, but first, let’s see how the Harper drama unfolded.

Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals reacts to striking out against the Philadelphia Phillies during the third inning of a game at Citizens Bank Park on September 26, 2017, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies defeated the Nationals 4-1. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

Fake Nationals miss out on Bryce Harper

As soon as the free agency opened in our FanSided Mock Offseason, the first move fake general manager Blake Finney made was to enter the Bryce Harper sweepstakes. Unfortunately, the fake Washington Nationals couldn’t come out with their homegrown superstar.

Before we go into the details of the offers that were put onto the table, first it’s important to go over the rule of free agent contracts. In this simulation, for free agent bidding, contract offers had to be in the simplest form, which means no opt-outs, no team, player or mutual options, no deferred money, or uneven yearly salary.

The Bidding War

Finney and the fake Nats quickly countered an early St. Louis Cardinals offer with a 12-year, $400 million contract offer for Harper. This came in just under the $35 million annual average we had initially set out as a budget.

That offer held for a while with Harper’s “agent” considering the bid before the pesky Phillies came back in and trumped it with a 12-year $425 million offer. That offer meant we had to go over our initial budget for AAV to bring back Harper.

Given it was the division rival Phillies leading the bidding, after some deliberation, we went up to 12-years and $440 million. The annual average $36.67 million was manageable, but with other teams still lurking, things didn’t look good.

That turned out to be the case, as the Chicago White Sox came in a with a hefty 12-year, $462 million offer for Harper. It was getting late in the bidding process, and we considered topping it for a time, before sensibly declining.

But that wasn’t the end of the drama, the Phillies beat the buzzer at the end to ink Harper for 12 years and an astounding $485 million. In a world without out-opts and player options, that contract is quite the price to pay, even for Bryce Harper.

The Reaction

It’s going to be painful to watch fake Harper play against the Nats for 12 seasons, but when you consider he’ll be draining them of over $40 million per season, the pain goes away. The Phillies wanted to be desperate, so we let them.

In our Fake Offseason blueprint, we did have Harper in those plans, with Adam Eaton in trade discussions early on in case we won the big sweepstakes. We had Adam Eaton and prospects set to head to the Seattle Mariners for James Paxton and Mike Leake, but the Phillies nixed those plans.

So now, with Harper going to fake Philly, the Eaton trade talks stopped, and we immediately focused our attention on the next best thing for the team. Anthony Rendon.

Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park on June 23, 2018, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

Mock Anthony Rendon Contract Extension

Yes, we were actively and aggressively pursuing Bryce Harper in the FanSided Fake Offseason. But it was important to know when to back out and turn our attention to keeping Anthony Rendon in a Washington Nationals uniform for a long time.

It was painful enough to watch one superstar walk out the building, so after it was confirmed that Harper was leaving, it was important to be equally aggressive in extending Rendon. After an initial offer of $20 million per season over six years, Rendon’s fake agent made it clear that we needed to up money involved.

More from District on Deck

After a quick back-and-forth, we came to an agreement that involved paying the third baseman $25 million per season for six years, with a team option for a seventh season. This would keep Rendon under contract through his age-34 season, with the potential to keep him until he his 35, should his production hold up.

Here’s a full breakdown of how the fake extension will look for the third baseman:

Year One: $18 million
Year Two: $22 million
Year Three: $25 million
Year Four: $25 million
Year Five: $28 million
Year Six: $30 million
Team Option: $25 million
Team Option has a $2 million buyout

Some may be surprised that it’s going to take that much to get Rendon to sign. The $150 million would rank him at 21st on the list of current active contracts, and the $25 million per season has him at tied with a few players for 10th highest annual average value.

But when you consider MLBTradeRumors would have him set to make $17.6 million in arbitration in 2019, $25 million comes as no surprise. When you consider that almost every year he’s played in D.C. he’s been a dark horse MVP candidate when healthy, it’s money well spent.

This was the biggest decision in the whole FanSided Simulation that fake GM Blake Finney had to make. In the end, given the money offered for Harper, it’s pretty safe to say the eventual outcome is a positive one and will allow for those precious fake funds to be invested elsewhere.

Washington Nationals. ANTHONY RENDON. 3B. Six-year, $150 million deal with a team option for $25 million.

Next. Mock Trade for Ian Happ from the Cubs. dark

Keep an eye out on District on Deck as Blake Finney tries to craft his Washington Nationals roster in the fake GM Simulation along with the rest of the MLB FanSided sites.

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