The Nationals have been kicking the tires on Prince Fielder and recently locked up Gio Gonzalez long-term, but now they're focusing on their homegrown star. MLB.com's Bill Ladson reports that the team is currently discussing a contract extension with Ryan Zimmerman. Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post says (on Twitter) that the two sides have been talking for a while, but they're no closer to a deal.
The 27-year-old Zimmerman still has two years remaining on the five-year, $45MM contract he signed prior to the 2009 season. He'll make $12MM in 2012 and $14MM in 2013. Zimmerman has been one of the game's best players in recent years, hitting .296/.370/.499 with 70 homers over the last three seasons with stellar defense at the hot corner. He earned MVP votes in 2009 and 2010, and probably would have again in 2011 if he didn't miss two months due to an abdomenal problem.
Zimmerman's camp is likely looking at extensions recently signed by Troy Tulowitzki (six years, $119MM) and Ryan Braun (five years, $105MM) as framework for a new deal. All three players were selected within the top seven picks of the 2005 draft, as were Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, and Ricky Romero. Zimmerman is represented by Brodie Van Wagenen.
cant find a better top 7 draft than that
2002 might come close. BJ Upton, Grenkie, and Fielder were in the top 7.
The draft also ended up producing Hamels, Swisher, Francis, Span, Loney, Saunders, Blanton, Guthrie, Franceur, Cain, Mayberry, Santos, among others in the first round.
Idk, 2005 is six bonafide stars, and Upton really is a star now, IMO, so thats only two.
You think BJ Upton is a star or Justin Upton is a star? Because one is and one isn’t.
Right. BJ is maybe the most over rated by fans here. Not to mention over paid for what he does.
It will be very interesting to see exactly what he gets after the season via FA for someone who has done squat with the bat since 2007 and has lived via the glove since and un fulfilled potential.
i meant to put uptown isn’t a star, and should have clarified that i meant bj
Alex Gordon’s a star? This is the first year he’s been above substitute level WAR since 2008.
I think 2005 better but that 2002 draft comes pretty close too. It’s 5 stars vs. 2 1/2.
’02 is kinda close relatively speaking, but still ’05 was clearly better.
And with the third pick of the 2005 MLB draft, The Seattle Mariners select Jeff Clement.
not as bad as the Rays passing on Posey who was playing college ball like 15 feet away from them.
O cab said that he Is done. Congrats on a great career
Who said who is done?
I think he means Orlando Cabrera.
Yeah.
One of the most underrated players of the past several years alongside Konerko.
If he proves he can stay healthy I’d have no problem giving him a Tulo sort of deal, but 106 games in 2008 and just 101 this past year is no good.
Rizzo should be all over it, Ryan’s an elite third baseman when healthy
Wonder what that deal is gonna look like. What (if any) are potentially similar extensions?
laroche + ian desmond to the rays for bj upton + 2 prospects
Hm. 8 million worth of a 0 WAR 1st baseman and an error-prone shortstop with a career wRC+ of 87 for a 4.1 WAR centerfielder with upside and “two prospects”. I would say this is patently dumb, but with the Nationals’ demographic of fans it probably is not a unique sentiment.
Friedman says no thank you.
why not they need a first baseman and a short stop ……bj upton will be on the trading block anyways
Hak-Ju Lee could be up in 2013. They don’t need a guy that has made over 50 errors in his first two seasons. BJ would be dealt for prospects only most likely. They just signed Luke Scott to play some 1B as well.
yea thats true …. i actually have seen hak. play in aaa games he is really exciting to watch but he has little to no power ,
They don’t need an over-payed and over-the-hill first baseman and a slightly above average shortstop. Just because Upton will be on the block, doesn’t mean they’re going to give him up for peanuts…
Rizzo can’t let hometown sentiment grow too strong here. He’s an injury liability with only two really good seasons. I wouldn’t go more than six years at 18-20 million a year.
That’s why I’ll be surprised if he sign an extension this year. But if he cuts down on his throwing errors and misses less than 20 games this year I fully expect him to get an extension. Same goes for Jordan Zimmermann if he pitches a full season with the good numbers.
Waiting till next season to sign Zimmerman has the Nats in the same boat Kemp had the Dodgers in. If you they have any inclination to keep him, it’s probably wise to be pro-active.
157 games in 2006
162 games in 2007
106 games in 2008… Injured from a head-first slide
157 games in 2009
142 games in 2010
101 games in 2011… Groin injury I believe, not sure how it happened though
Besides a fluke injury in ’08 and being injured the past season Zimmerman has been far from ‘injury prone’
Give him Tulo money, when healthy(which is most of the time) he’s the best 3B in the National League
5 year 95 million dollar extension sounds good for both sides. Zimmermans very good but the 7 years is long enough to have someone under team control for.
Not sure how eager Zimmerman will be to sign a deal for 30m less than the one Werth got. I see him getting Chipper’s big deal back in 2000 (6/90m) plus inflation, which I’ll round up to 6/132m. Clearly that’s a lot less (guaranteed money) than Adrian Gonzalez & Joe Mauer got, but it feels close.
Agree on the premise of 7 years being a long time, but from Zimmerman’s point of view a new contract comes down to being offered a new 5-year guarantee to stay with the Nats to getting 6, 7 or 8 years on the open market after ’13. Six years seems most likely to me.
6/115 or maybe 7/125 would probably get it done the guy is amazing but a lot of his value is in defense and like it or not elite defensive 3B never get compensated the way elite power hitters do.