The last time we saw Ryan Zimmerman he was hoisting the World Series trophy at the Nats documentary premiere!
The Washington Nationals almost have the entire band back together after agreeing on a 1-year deal with Ryan Zimmerman that could be worth $5 million in total. Almost everyone from the 2019 World Series team is back together! General Manager Mike Rizzo has signed back Stephen Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman, Yan Gomes, Howie Kendrick, Asdrubal Cabrera, Daniel Hudson, and Javy Guerra (minor’s deal). In addition, the Nats picked up the team options on Sean Doolittle and Adam Eaton.
While it is great to see Zim back, there seems to be no room for Wilmer Difo now, and if you go through the roster, how could the team find a spot for Carter Kieboom? It is a numbers game and the only non-starter who projects to make the roster for the position players with a minor league option is Andrew Stevenson. Of course the team could keep four outfielders and send Stevo to Triple-A. The 26th player will certainly be a subject of discussion during Spring Training.
The payroll is at $202 million now, and the 40-man roster will be at 39-men after the Zimmerman signing becomes official.
| Pitchers | B/T | Contract Status | CBT Salary | ||
| 1 | Anibal Sanchez | R/R | Has a $2 million incentive pkg | $9,500,000 | |
| 2 | Austin Voth | R/R | Minimum | $575,000 | |
| 3 | Daniel Hudson | Has $1 million in incentives | $5,500,000 | ||
| 4 | Hunter Strickland | R/R | Arb 3 | $1,600,000 | |
| 5 | Joe Ross | R/R | Arb 2 | $1,500,000 | |
| 6 | Max Scherzer | R/R | $28,689,376 | ||
| 7 | Patrick Corbin | L/L | $23,333,333 | ||
| 8 | Roenis Elias | L/L | Arb 2 | $1,900,000 | |
| 9 | Sean Doolittle | L/L | $6,500,000 | ||
| 10 | Stephen Strasburg | Small AAV pickup from Def int | $34,000,000 | ||
| 11 | Tanner Rainey | R/R | Minimum | $ 585,000 | |
| 12 | Wander Suero | R/R | Minimum | $585,000 | |
| 13 | Will Harris | R/R | $8,000,000 | ||
| Kyle Finnegan | R/R | Options | |||
| Erick Fedde | R/R | 1 option remaining | $575,000 | ||
| Catchers | B/T | Contract Status | CBT Salary | ||
| Raudy Read | R/R | ||||
| Tres Barrera | R/R | ||||
| 14 | Kurt Suzuki | R/R | $5,000,000 | ||
| 15 | Yan Gomes | R/R | $5,000,000 | ||
| Infielders | B/T | Contract Status | CBT Salary | ||
| Adrian Sanchez | R/R | ||||
| 16 | Eric Thames | Inc $1 million buyout | $4,000,000 | ||
| 17 | Asdurbal Cabrera | S/R | Has $500,000 incentives pkg | $2,500,000 | |
| 18 | Ryan Zimmerman | L/R | Has $3 million incentives pkg | $2,000,000 | |
| 19 | Howie Kendrick | R/R | 1B/2B | $6,250,000 | |
| Jake Noll | R/R | ||||
| 20 | Trea Turner | R/R | Arb 2 | $7,750,000 | |
| 21 | Starlin Castro | R/R | $6,000,000 | ||
| Carter Kieboom | R/R | options | $575,000 | ||
| Wilmer Difo | S/R | Arb 1 | $1,000,000 | ?????? | |
| Outfielders | B/T | Contract Status | CBT Salary | ||
| 22 | Adam Eaton | L/L | $9,500,000 | ||
| 23 | Andrew Stevenson | L/L | Minimum | $580,000 | |
| 24 | Juan Soto | L/L | Minimum | $650,000 | |
| 25 | Michael A. Taylor | R/R | $3,325,000 | ||
| 26 | Victor Robles | R/R | Minimum | $600,000 | |
| 40 man cost est. | $2,250,000 | ||||
| Player benefits est. | $15,000,000 | ||||
| Bonuses and incentives est. | $7,500,000 | ||||
| Total | $202,322,709 | ||||
| CBT 2020 Limit | $ 208,000,000 |
It is not a surprise that Ryan Zimmerman will be back for his 16th season with the team which will now span into three decades and every season that the Nationals have existed since 2005. Zim was injured for most of the 2019 season and only played in 52 games, but fortunately was healthy for the entire postseason and had some key at-bats. Still to be seen is how the team will use him in the 2020 season and splitting playing time with lefty Eric Thames and Howie Kendrick.
Zim will receive a $2 million base salary, a $3 million incentives package plus he was already paid $2 million in his previously rejected 2020 option buyout. After Zim retires, he is still owed $10 million in a personal services contract. This new deal is pending a physical and includes a full no-trade clause.
The fine people at Fangraphs have already added Zimmerman into their stats, and they have him projected for a bounceback season at +0.5 WAR and a .792 OPS. There are some interesting stats that Don H. compiled for Zim based on rest schedules. Maybe the analytics crew and manager Dave Martinez can put together some lineups to enhance the results with resting some of the veteran players who are over 30 years old.
Zim has two nicknames. He was the original Face Of the Franchise; he is also known as Mr. Walk-Off since he has 11 Walk-Off HRs.
- Jim Thome is the all time leader with 13;
- six players are tied for 2nd;
- Zim is tied with two other players for third.
If he gets one more, he ties Mantle and Musial for most WO HRs with one team; two more and he ties Thome for first place all-time. Here is the complete list. Given the he will likely get lots of PHing opportunities this year, use the poll to tell us how many you think he gets this year. And yes, Two and Three+ are not at all likely. But we can dream, right?
