It's been a few days since the Washington Nationals lost out to the Miami Marlins in the Mark Buehrle sweepstakes. Buehrle ultimately signed a four-year, $58 million deal with the Marlins, making many wonder what the Nationals were offering him. Now, we know what that offer was, thanks to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.
According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the Nationals’ best offer to Buehrle was $39 million over three years – $19 million less than the Marlins paid in overall guaranteed money and $1.5 million less in average annual value. Buehrle felt Washington was a good fit for him and his family, but the Marlins convinced him to head instead to a divisional rival.
General manager Mike Rizzo made clear throughout the process that he was not willing to give the 32-year old Buehrle a four-year contract, despite his durability. The Marlins were, and therefore were able to steal Buehrle away.
We'll be covering the Winter Meetings and all of the Nationals potential dealings this week in this StoryStream. For more on the Nationals, check out Federal Baseball.