Results tagged ‘ Ryan Zimmerman ’

The Shifting Ground of Negotiations

Well, thankfully Ryan Zimmerman and the Nats reached a one-year deal yesterday, avoiding arbitration and letting the Nats move on to focus the whole Smiley Gonzalez fiasco. At least that is largely out of their hands now, as MLB and the FBI will probably lead the investigation now. Although I would expect the Nats to do some focused investigating of their own behind closed doors and away from the constant glare of fans.

Anyway, Boz has an online only column on the WaPo website today about Zim’s signing, and it’s almost like he’s getting in my head and writing columns based on what I’m thinking…if I could prove that, it’d be a nice second stream of income! At any rate, Boz points out that the recession has made negotiations between players and clubs very different from what they were a year ago. Adam Dunn and Pat Burrell are prime examples of that, as both took pay cuts to sign deals that can be considered lucrative when viewed relative to the economic landscape of today. Boz points out that probably the biggest obstacle to the Nats and Zim signing a long-term deal rather than a one-year placeholder was Nick Markakis’ monster 6-year $66M deal struck with the Orioles earlier in the offseason. That deal set a precadent for Zim’s pricetag that the Nats were probably unwilling to meet from the start.

However, in the long run, that could work in both sides’ favor, although the outcomes are mutually exclusive. In scenario 1, Zim plays well and stays healthy and has a 2006-07-like season thanks in large part to a much-improved lineup with more protection for him and more offensive production on the whole. That makes him better able to demand a higher price from the Nats as they negotiate a long-term deal this season. It also makes it more difficult for the Nats to turn him away, especially if this team performs much better than the media is projecting. This scenario obviously favors Zim.

Scenario 2 is that Zim’s shoulder still gives him trouble and he has a year similar to last season. The Nats have more wiggle room here in terms of getting a more reasonable (in their minds) price to lock Zim up for 6 years. However, any season where Zim doesn’t play well usually means the team doesn’t play as well, which could entice Zim not to return to the bargaining table at all and seek a new team. This scenario just barely favors the Nats, although it has more risks.

Check out Boz’s column here.

Git ‘Er Done

Figures that the Nationals would wait until the last possible minute to sign Zim and avoid arbitration. Zimmerman signed a one year $3.325M deal with incentives. It’s almost exactly halfway between what Zimmerman was asking ($3.9M) and what the Nationals were offering ($2.75M) so that’s a pretty good resolution for a year. 

Check out the post on Nationals Journal here. 
I’ll post arguably deeper thoughts on the signing later today. Right now, I unfortunately have work to do. 

Mid-Week Thoughts

Just a quick round up of things going through my head as we prepare for Nats pitchers and catchers to report on Saturday.


A-Rod: Everyone else is writing about it, so I guess I should just follow the herd on this one. I can’t say I was shocked when I saw the news that A-Rod had (at that point) allegedly used PEDs back in 2003. I was definitely disappointed, as I had hoped that one of the towering figures from that era would emerge untainted. But there was always that little nagging doubt in the back of my mind about A-Rod, given how obsessed he was and still is, on being the best player ever. It struck me as illogical that given a chance to get a leg up on the competition, A-Rod wouldn’t seize the opportunity. That’s not to say he’s a bad person for doing it, because I think that was a logical choice, given his ultimate purpose. A common thread among many of the known steroid users of the 1990′s and early 2000′s is that they put their own careers above the team and above the game. Whether that’s right or wrong is irrelevant. But certainly it creates a different calculus in one’s mind when you’re thinking about YOU versus THEM. 
Other players are focused totally on winning and their team, and that makes them fundamentally different from players like A-Rod. As we’ve all heard about a thousand times on MLB’s CNN-like special reporting on the story (that, by the way, interrupted my enjoyment of the Strike Out Marathon on Saturday!), A-Rod needs to be liked by fans, teammates, the press, etc. He has focused that need for attention through his performance on the field, so to me it’s not surprising that he was willing to take a substance that MLB wasn’t even testing for.   If you were loved principally for your play on the field, and you had a greater-than-normal need for praise and attention, I think you’d be surprised just how easily you could talk yourself into taking steroids. 
Does that excuse what he did? No. But I think looking at his actions in this framework might at least help us understand why he did it. Nonetheless, I like A-Rod and am conflicted as to how I feel about his status as a shoe-in for the HoF. Bonds is a dick, so I think that makes the call easier for many people, including me, but A-Rod seems like a nice guy caught up in a desperate need to be liked, which makes him act like a jerk…I don’t know. 
Enough with the Arbitration, Nats. I consider myself a patient person on the whole, but this is getting absurd. The Nats have resolved just one of the four possible arbitration cases pending, signing new pitcher Scott Olsen to a one year deal for $2.88M. Shawn Hill, surprisingly, won his arbitration hearing and got a nice fat raise for a largely mediocre last season that included an injury. That leaves John Willingham and Zim as the final two. I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. I think the Nats are playing the odds on this and believe that if they don’t get a deal made by the hearing date, the odds are that the board will rule in their favor, as it tends to do 65% of the time. However, Hill’s surprise result may light a fire under their butts now, as it would be hard for me to justify giving Hill his desired salary while denying the same to Ryan Zimmerman (I don’t enough about Willingham to have an educated opinion as to whether he’s worth his asking price). Not only that, but it’s a distraction going into Spring Training and you would think that the F.O. would want to minimize those going into the season. As a fan, it’s disheartening to see the F.O. dallying on this, but I respect that they have real reasons (mostly financial) for pushing for the best contract for the organization. I just hope it gets wrapped up soon!
| back to blog home |
Theme: MLB “fan” | Get a free blog at WordPress.com
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.