3:00pm: The Reynolds and Zimmerman moves are official, and the Nationals have also moved reliever Joaquin Benoit to the 60-day DL. The right-handed Benoit, whom the Nats signed to a one-year, $1MM deal in free agency, hasn’t pitched yet this season on account of a forearm strain.
12:39pm: Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweets that Mark Reynolds has been spotted in the Nationals’ clubhouse, implying that the club has selected his contract and is likely to move Ryan Zimmerman to the disabled list. Indeed, Dan Kolko of MASN tweets that Reynolds is on the lineup card for today’s game while Zimmerman’s name is absent. Washington signed Reynolds to a minors deal early in April.
Despite a reasonably good .267/.352/.487 batting line with 30 homers last season, the 34-year-old Reynolds wasn’t able to attract a suitor for a major league deal this past offseason. More mysterious is the fact that Reynolds ended up signing a minors deal with the Nationals of all teams, as they already had Matt Adams and Zimmerman and haven’t got the benefit of a DH slot in the lineup.
It appears that he’ll get a big-league opportunity for now, though it’s not clear for how long. Zimmerman reportedly suffered a back injury during Wednesday’s game, and since the move is retroactive to Thursday he’ll be able to return as soon as May 20th. That would likely leave Reynolds the odd man out, considering Adams’ torrid pace.
The 33-year-old Zimmerman enjoyed a strong bounce-back season last year, posting 3.3 fWAR while crushing 36 homers in 576 plate appearances to go along with a whopping 136 wRC+. But he’s followed that up with an uninspiring .217/.280/.409 batting line to date and will now need to rest up a bit before he gets a chance to turn those numbers around.
great move!!
Didn’t even realize Washington had signed Reynolds. The dude deserved more than a minor league deal.
ABSOLUTELY correct
Yeah, I was surprised to see that as well. Meanwhile, you know what team could REALLY use a first baseman?
It’s not like he’s been lighting things up in AAA,
Can’t be much worse than Zimmerman has been to this point. We’ll see if Reynolds can perform outside of Coors. A wide majority of his production came from home in Colorado last season.
Zim has been fine over the last month or so. He had a horrible start to the season but has been hitting a decent clip since. Matt Adams has been raking all year. Reynolds probably won’t be playing much.
One injury after another for the Nats!
Uh no. I think Moises Sierra would eventually be the odd man out. With Michael Taylor, Andrew Stevenson as outfield defensive specialists they seem able to afford to keep Reynolds who unlike Zimmerman and his surgical repaired shoulder, is able to play the outfield and even third base in a UTL role with Difo’s defense on the roster. Moise’s spot on the 40-man roster would be filled by Juan Soto by the midway point as Its highly unlikely they will see Murphy and Eaton anytime soon.
I’ll guarantee you right now that when Zimmerman, Adams, and Reynolds are all healthy they won’t be on the active roster at that same time. There is no way on this Earth that the Nats will keep 3 first baseman. Reynolds cannot play any other positions well.
Crazy how in this market a 267/357/487 hitter with 30 homers had to settle for a minor league deal