Nationals rank Second in operating income

Photo courtesy of arnaudt

Forbes has released their yearly MLB valuations, placing the Washington Nationals 16 out of 30 in terms of franchise value.

The Nationals, valued at $417 million dollars, posted revenues of $194 million dollars as well as an operating income of $36.6 million dollars, second to only the San Diego Padres at $37.2 million.

While it is not known as to what part of the income is then reinvested into payroll, scouting and other baseball ventures, Forbes lists the Nationals payroll at $85 million dollars, one million more than the $84 million dollar mark for the 2010 club.

Though it appeared the Nationals were big spenders this past offseason with their mega signing of Jayson Werth, most of the money they were spending came from the shedding of three of the team's biggest contracts in Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham and Cristian Guzman.

All told, the Nationals saw an 8% increase in total team value from 2010 ($387) to 2011 ($417).