For years, the knock on Nationals ownership lived in the offseason — the winters the Lerners let free agents walk, the extensions they wouldn't fund. At the MLB trade deadline, when this team was contending, former general manager Mike Rizzo was allowed to go for it. But after a wild World Series ride came a painful rebuild, and the question that hardened into something simpler every summer: Would ownership ever open the checkbook again?
This year the framing is obsolete, and not because Mark Lerner found his wallet. These Nationals, just two games out of a wild-card spot, don't need an expensive fix, which is convenient because they'll spend the deadline weekend testing baseball's second-best road record in Atlanta against a Braves team sitting atop the NL East. And the decision that actually matters — whether to bet real money on this young core — can't be made this week, or maybe even this winter, with a labor war bearing down on the sport.
