The Washington Nationals stole some headlines from the National Football League on Sunday with word they had signed outfielder Jayson Werth to a seven-year, $126 million contract. Not a good start for the offseason for general manager Mike Rizzo. The contract surpasses the 7 year, $120 million deal the St. Louis Cardinals gave Matt Holliday who is a year younger than Werth is.

So Scott Boras strikes gold again. Despite all the rhetoric you hear from owners, it always seems like there is one team go above and beyond what would seem practical for a contract with a Boras client.

There are several issues with the deal. From a financial standpoint, the Cardinals budget is about $30 million more than the Nationals so giving that much money to Werth would have ate up 27% of the Nats payroll last season. The Nationals will also be paying Werth $18 million per year when he is close to 40. Not a place where you want to have money tied up when players like Stephen Strasburg, Drew Storen, Ian Desmond and Bryce Harper to name a few are going to be looking for contracts.

One would think that more general managers would learn from the quote “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Look how recent outfield deals for Alfonso Soriano and Vernon Wells have turned out. Both the Chicago Cubs and Toronto Blue Jays would love to have another team take those players off their hands so they could have the salary relief.

It is deals like these why many of the smaller to mid market teams never make it to the playoffs. Once they get a little money to spend they are all in. The Nationals are more than one player away from making the playoffs. It also why deals like these show why a salary cap is needed. If the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox are paying a player $18 million at 38 or 39 and they player does not perform, they have enough money to cover up the mistake. Other smaller teams are not that fortunate. In a way, the owners and general managers need to be saved from themselves because once they have money, they often times don’t know how to spend it. It is like when you got a credit card for the first time and you go crazy on a shopping spree, only to regret your purchases down the road.

Why did Rizzo not just sign Dunn for the four years and save himself $60 million? Then he could have had another $60 million on reserve for his younger phenoms when they are ready for their first big contract. Is Werth an upgrade over Dunn? Maybe from a defensive perspective but they play different positions. Now they still have a hole at first base they need to fill with either a free agent or moving someone like Mike Morse there.

If they do go the free agent route and say sign someone like Carlos Pena for four years and $50 million, is the team that much better off than if they would have just re-signed Dunn? Then they would be spending $30 million per season on just two players.

The Nationals seemed to be headed on the right course with core young players now at middle infield, a top of the rotation starter in Strasburg once he is healthy, a closer in Storen and Harper on the way in a few years. It doesn’t make sense to have splurged big time for a long term deal on a player that will be 32 next May. It looks like the youth movement ship that was  leaving the port just hit a major iceberg that will have significant ramifications over the next seven years.