The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

Zim’s 2018 Spring Training on the back-fields; Photo by Craig Nedrow

For months our readers here have discussed our suggestion about the advantages of extending the contract of the face of the franchise for the Washington Nationals. In case you did not know, Ryan Zimmerman happens to be one of the top offensive players in baseball when facing left-handed pitching which is one of the reasons to retain him for a few more years at a lower salary. There is a perfect storm of need brewing for the Washington Nationals and Zimmerman because he wants to stay with the Nats, and the team needs to lower their 2019 payroll. They can both accomplish these goals together creatively speaking. The Nats can actually lower payroll by extending Zimmerman’s contract to include the 2019 season and at a market rate for the 2020 and 2021 season which would take Zim to his retirement at the age of 37.

For the two-time All-Star, he has repeatedly said he wants to extend his career in Washington, D.C., but determining his future value could be the sticky point. With Matt Adams signed to a new $3 million deal for 2019, the market seems clear what a 30 year old Adams is worth — but what would Zim’s value be for his age 35-36 season and his age 36-37 season? Would Zim agree that Adams’ salary is his true value? Hopefully he would as the 34 year old first baseman once again hurt his value by spending too much time on the DL and playing poorly for the first month of the season. Zim finished with just a +1.3 WAR that ranked at only the 22nd highest ranked among 1st basemen in 2018 while he is among the highest paid at that position and set to pocket $18 million more in 2019 if no renegotiation happens. Continue reading →