Ryan Zimmerman: 6 years/$100

Nah, Carlos Lee is still worse.

 

Dude you don't get to pick when guys become free agents. Lock him up now or risk him having an MVP cailbur year this season and commanding a goliath contract closer to 200 million.

He had a down year last year, but in the 2 previous years he played at an all star level. He's a stud, even last year his 162 game WAR was a very good 3.7. He's a great 3rd baseman who can hit, that's a rare animal.

This guys has already had 2 years better than any year Lee ever had. He's signing the deal entering his prime, as opposed to Lee who was already 31 when we signed him.

Jason Werth his teammate has a deal even worse than the Carlos Lee contract.

 

This is also a PR move by the Nationals, I think. Zimmerman was the team's first real "home-grown" guy after moving to Washington and they are going to do all they can to keep him in their uniform for his entire career, even if that means paying him this kind of money.

 

Great move. This is 2012. Big contracts are the rule now. You locked up a stud 30 HR gold glove caliber third baseman for 6 years. They've got Stras and Bryce coming in. Solid team. If Werth starts hitting like he used to hit, then the NL East will be great fun for the next 5 years. Phillies, Nats, Braves, Marlins all have solid teams. Poor Mets.

 

In 6 years in the league, he's hit 30 HRs once. Outside of that year, he's never hit more than 25 HRs. He's never had an OPS over 0.900, has a career OPS in the low 0.800's, and he's coming off a terrible year. He's a good player, but not nearly the superstar people make him out to be.

The Nationals better have a huge payroll potential, because if they are paying this kind of money for guys like Werth and Zimmerman, they are going to owe a fortune to Strasburg and Bryce whenever its time to lock them up if they live up to potential.

 

Zimmerman will only be 32 in the last year of the deal. He was a 7-win player in 2009 and 2010 and you could argue that he hasn't even hit his prime yet. There's risk involved, but I think it's a good move. Not a bargain, but a good move.

 

You don't judge people by thier raw numbers, you judge them based on position. And he plays a premium position very well. Over the last 3 seasons

His WAR of 12.8 is 2nd only to Evan Longoria (he's never had an OPS over .900 either)

His OPS of .870 is is 2nd, again only to Longoria's .874.

He was hurt last year and his numbers suffered, but he was still a very good player. Assuming he he returns to his 09-10 form, he is neck and neck with Evan Longoria as the best 3rd baseman in baseball. But even if he doesn't he is at worst a well above average 3rd baseman.

He's a lot better than A-Rod now. Not prime A-Rod, but he's not getting paid like prime A-Rod either.

 

A-Rod was hurt last year as well, but his numbers the last 3-5 seasons run circles around Zimmerman. Adrian Beltre that last two years has been much better as well. David Wright has had some consistency problems, but he's put up several seasons far better than Zimmerman's best. Aramis Ramirez is right there as well, though he's had some injury problems. Kevin Youkilis runs circles around Zimmerman, though he was also injured last year. Most of the above have a season far superior to Zimmerman's best within the last few years. That's six 3B's in his class, at the very least.

Unless you're the Yankees or Red Sox, the type of money we're talking should be reserved for an elite class of hitter that can be the centerpiece of your offense because you simply can't afford a lot of those players. An oft-injured, mid-0.800 OPS hitter that hits 20-25 HRs a year at a corner infield spot is not that guy. The only positions that should get that kind of money for that kind of production are C, 2B, and SS.

The guy wasn't even a free agent for another 2 years, so there was no immediate need to do this anyway. Even if he has another great year, his price wasn't going to go up very much - Zimmerman is now the 2nd highest paid 3B in the league, so there's not much higher to go. For a team that has way too much money tied up in Jayson Werth already, they are going to run into financial constraints to build a full team, unless they have a much larger payroll than they've had thus far.

This has the potential to be the Astros all over again, when they had half their money tied up in 3 no-trade-claused players (Oswalt, Berkman, Lee) - except the Nats players aren't as good as the Astros' stars were.

 

wait, wait, wait... I assumed he was just short on service time and bought out his last arb year, signing him through 2017...

Signed through 2019? I don't think I care for this deal, actually.

 

A-Rods number have been in steady decline, you can't use his 3-5 because he's not that player anymore, his OPS has gone down 5 consecutive seasons, and he's a sub-par defensive player.

David Wright has had 3 consecutive subpar years, and he's not nearly as good a fielder as he's hyped to be. His WAR per 162 over the last 3 years is a good but not great 3.4. He's still good, not Zimmerman though.

Adrian Beltre only had 1 extremely good season when he signed his deal and his contract is still similar to Zimmermans. Him and Youklis are in Zimmermans class, but they are in their 30's now.

The Jason Werth contract was a disaster, couldn't believe the did something that stupid, but you need to keep great players, 16 million for a guy who plays at all star levels is what you have to do. And he'll only be 35 at the end of the deal, thats right at the end of your prime.

The Astros fell apart because of their farm, not the big contracts. All great team have big money tied up in top players.

 

Zimmerman is one of the most underrated players in the majors. He should live up to this deal if he can stay a bit healthier. He was as good as Evan Longoria in 2009-2010, with Longoria obviously being the best 3B in the majors.