Washington's Lerner richest baseball owner

[cruzg24]

Can the Nationals become the Yankees of the National League, in terms of payroll? OK, well, bad example. The Yankees are on a whole different level. Maybe the Red Sox of the NL? It's entirely possible, from a certain point of view. You see, Washington Nationals owner Ted Lerner is the richest owner in baseball, according to Forbes' list of world's billionaires (big ups to Big League Stew for the leg work in sorting through the list).

Lerner is worth $3 billion. If he should so decide -- as George Steinbrenner once did with the Yankees -- that winning is more important than making as much profit as possible, he could easily spend the Nationals into contention.

Remember, the Nationals were hot after both Cliff Lee (free agency) and Zack Greinke (via trade) in the offseason. They didn't scoff at paying Stephen Strasburg or Bryce Harper big money out of the draft. They gave 31-year-old Jayson Werth a seven-year, $126 million contract. With a beautiful new ballpark and a fanbase desperate for a winner -- just see the crowd for Strasburg's debut -- it doesn't seem too much a stretch to see the Nats becoming a power in the National League down the road.

This specific scenario is, again, contingent on Lerner worrying about wins more than the bottom line. The next step would be to convince free agents to join the Nationals, but with a strong young base and a seemingly endless supply of green, it could happen.

There are five more owners who made the list of billionaires: the Tigers' Mike Ilitch ($1.7 billion), Drayton McLane of the Astros ($1.5 billion), Oakland's John Fisher ($1.1 billion), the Angels' Arte Moreno and Red Sox's John Henry (each at exactly $1 billion).

Source: By Matt Snyder
cbssports.com

 

[Giantmetfan07]

He can definitely do it and he's off to a good start. But no matter how much you have, when the expenses roll in you sure as hell better have the revenue coming in to match it, otherwise that $$ flies out the window extremely quickly.

He can do it. He's brought in a few guys and in 2012 if Strasburg is in form and healthy and Harper is on the team and making pitchers look like Chan Ho Park, the fans will be there. Ticket sales go up, merchandise, sponsorships, etc. Starts rolling in like hotcakes.

 

[.infamous]

I hope the Nationals can become like the yanks. They are my favorite team outside of the tigers.

 

[cruzg24]

Damn I cant believe the Athletics owner is one of the richest owners and he is soooo cheap with his baseball team.

 

[playmaker7]

I didn't know this

But as mentioned above, its about revenue and shit. Nats fans gotta start going out to games, but first they have to start winning them.

 

[Elite]

Spending the money will turn into people showing up. He needs to be willing to take small losses right now to make huge profits down the road, a la Steinbrenner

He wasn't making anything off this team when he first bought it and now they're one of the most valuable franchises in sports, being in NY obviously helps, but Washington is no small city

 

[cruzg24]

The Nationals are one of the worst franchises of all-time, they have a lot of work to do. But they are heading in the right direction.