[texasdave]

The Nationals had, arguably, the best team in the NL last year. To that mix they have added Denard Span, Dan Haren and Rafael Soriano. They seem to be heavily in on Javier Vasquez as well. They seem to be pushing all-in these next couple of years.
Their owner, who is worth nearly 4 billion, is Ted Lerner. He is also 87 years old. I doubt he is looking five years down the road.
As far as the Soriano signing goes he will received 7 million the next two seasons, with the remainder being spread out over the next decade. 7 million a season for Soriano is quite reasonable if you ask me.

And, like I mentioned earlier, when you are 87 years old your plans are probably skewed more towards the short-term than long-term.