Washington Nationals: Revisiting Patrick Corbin’s deal one season

The Washington Nationals decided to sign Patrick Corbin rather than Bryce Harper, so here’s a look back at how the first year panned out.

Bryce Harper was a free agent after having a great tenure with the Washington Nationals. Mike Rizzo tried his best to re-sign him, offering him $300 million before the season even ended, but Harper wanted more money and he didn’t want it deferred.

No problem said the Nats. They decided to steal Patrick Corbin away from the New York Yankees and give him the sixth year he wanted, which was something Brian Cashman refused to do. But now he is paying for it.

Corbin might not have been in the spotlight in his first season of a 6-year, $140 million deal, as he was behind two of the best starters in the game, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. He was still over a 5 win player and composed a 3.25 ERA in over 200 innings.

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But he did get a lot of big outs in the postseason, as he turned into the Nats’ version of Madison Bumgarner in 2014. He started games but he seemed to be the go-to guy in the mid-innings of October games.

In 8 games in the postseason, he pitched over 23 innings and 36 and was a huge part in the Game 7 World Series win at Minute Maid Park.

After Max Scherzer gave up only two runs three days after he couldn’t dress himself, he surrendered just two hits in three innings of work while not allowing a single run.

So, 2019 was a successful season for Patrick Corbin in a Washington Nationals uniform and it may have set the Nats up better for the future.

Ownership can use the remaining $160 million that they saved for Bryce Harper on one of their top free agents, Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg.

Rendon is going to command north of $210 million, and so to have some money saved already will make the Lerner’s a lot happier to give Rendon a contract.

Even if they decide to go in that direction, they could get more bang for their buck by signing Strasburg to a good deal, and sign a cheaper third baseman in free agency to replace Rendon like a Josh Donaldson or a Mike Moustakas.

Corbin’s deal looks really good right now, and it is making Brian Cashman look really bad.