This what the absence of a real owner does to you

Esteban Loaiza and the Washington Nationals have a mutual option on his $2.9 million contract, meaning that either side can opt out of the next year. Loaiza, not surprisingly, wants a long-term contract, and there is no question that other teams will be willing to give it to him. The rational thing for the Nationals to do would be to sign Loaiza to a long term contract and move on to resolving other problems, like firing the GM.

The problem is that the Nats don't have a real owner, and until they do they won't be in a position to make these significant decisions. No one wants to lock in the future owner to big contracts when MLB tells us that it will select the owner really, really soon. The Nationals' inability to enter into big contracts in Reason No. 83 why MLB should get off its butt and pick an owner pronto!