Should The Nats Trade Ryan Zimmerman?

Zimmerman is the exact age of player you don't want to be trading if you are the Nats.

He's 25. Sure, he's likely to enjoy his career year on a team that wins 72 games. And no, he doesn't play a premium defensive position. But he plays third base incredibly well, and he's the kind of player who can accelerate the rebuilding process.

The problem with trading guys like Zimmerman for prospects is that you almost certainly are going to wait on a bunch of people to come up and pick up a fraction of the production. If he was three years older, well, yeah then you have to do something. But he's still improving, and his value isn't at it's highest point, so you hold on to him.


Very good point, as a suffering A's fan im used to seeing our best players traded or flat out not resigned. Hold onto Zimmerman a little longer and get more value, or maybe the team gets better in the time being.

Zimmerman is the exact age of player you don't want to be trading if you are the Nats.

You certainly make a point. He's the prime age to develope, problem is you need to start over so that makes Zimmerman the model to which the others will need to look up to. Do you think he's that kind of guy? Is he going to be the veteran leadership the team needs when they rebuild? I think he's worth more in a trade, than in keeping him cause I think his value is high right now after making the all star game even though he didn't deserve to be there. He was only there cause of the rule that every team needs 1. Nonetheless, he made it, therefore his price should be valuable...but maybe I am over estimating the market. Also, keep in mind his age is when most people come up in the majors to make their splash. He came up when he was 20. This is his 5th season.

He's 25.

Just an FYI, he's 24 until September 28th.

Sure, he's likely to enjoy his career year on a team that wins 72 games.

LOL. Are you referring to a future team he will be traded to or this year's team? Cause the Nats are on pace for only 48 wins.

And no, he doesn't play a premium defensive position. But he plays third base incredibly well, and he's the kind of player who can accelerate the rebuilding process.

I actually think a good young 3b is at a premium. Look at the Red Sox for instance, they have stayed with an aging veteran (Lowell) that gets hurt every year. The difference is, Lowell plays GREAT d (although not at his typical level this year) and is a gold glover, something Zimmerman has a lot to learn about, but could easily get there. Right now zim's career fielding % is .961, while the leage average for a 3b is .954. Lowell's vs Zimmerman's 162 game averages on offense are remarkably similar though. Zim has the age factor and would be a great addition to the Sox. He could easily get better if he had the right people around him to teach him. He COULD develope in Washington over time, but if he stays, he will likely be the same slightly above average player he is right now.

The problem with trading guys like Zimmerman for prospects is that you almost certainly are going to wait on a bunch of people to come up and pick up a fraction of the production.

I absolutely agree if your team was a couple peices away, problem is you need talent, and lots of it. The only way to get it is through proper free agent pick ups, the draft, and trades to get youngsters with potential and develope them into stars.

If he was three years older, well, yeah then you have to do something. But he's still improving, and his value isn't at it's highest point, so you hold on to him.

He's not really getting that much better though. He made slight improvements on his batting average. Last year .283, this year .288 (+.005), and his career high was .287, so he's 1 point higher there too. He's on pace for 26 homers, which would be only 2 more than his career high. (4 more than his 162 game average) He's on pace for 97 RBI's which would be 13 fewer than his career high. (only 2 more than his 162 game average) He has grounded into 16 double plays which leads the league, and is on pace for 30 which would be a career high. He also is having a career low in fielding percentage at .953 (which is below the league average for 3b.) Don't get me wrong, I think the kid has talent to develope further, but his minor improvements this year don't mean much to me. He'd benefit from a change of scenary and coaching. I don't think he's going to be much better than what he is right now if he remains in Washington.
Now, if he's traded, and becomes a perennial all star, you will think that nationals did a horrible trade, but it won't calculate the fact that he is not making huge strides while technically in his 5th year in the bigs. Even if you don't count the 20 games in his first year he made the show, this is his 4th season and not making sizable improvements. So sell high while you can. He would be MUCH more valuable to a team that is only a couple peices away than he is to you.
I think the Nationals fans are really big fans of Zimmerman...and rightfully so. He's one of the few bright spots the team has had. That makes it harder to make an objective view of trading him or not. Fact is, the only players that are trade proof are super studs, and excellent pitchers, but even they are not immune. See: Roy Halladay trade rumors, or A-Rod trades. You always do what is best for the orginization as a whole, if Zimmerman doesn't get good value in return, but all means build around him, cause he is a good player. If he does, thank him for his service and wish him the best.

Very good point, as a suffering A's fan im used to seeing our best players traded or flat out not resigned. Hold onto Zimmerman a little longer and get more value, or maybe the team gets better in the time being.

First, let me say GTRIPP I was not trying to pick on you in my last post, you just brought up points that opened up the door for comments I was thinking. I enjoy your posts and the discussion that occurs from them.

zerohero, as an A's fan, you would think you of all people would be OK with it since you traded away big guns and got better from it. Every year from 99-06 you came in 1st or 2nd in your division. Seemingly every year you lost someone. You would make great trades, that seemed bad cause they were big names (Mulder, Giambi, Hudson, Zito, Tejada, etc) but always they turned out OK cause you got good players in return. The A's management doesn't want to spend the money to get that last piece of the puzzle. They were so close for so many years, but didn't want to pull the trigger to put them over the top. I don't see the nationals as that type of team. I think they have been misguided for several years, and now are trying to right the ship. They need a lot of players. The A's had good leadership but a front office that were chicken or unwilling to spend over a certain amount.

Agreed on Dunn to the Nats not making very much sense. The good thing about him is, that he still comes with significant trade value, so you can flip him for prospects after the season.

Absolutely...he is worth a lot to teams that just need a bopper.

i dont see how you trade zimmerman for prospects at this point. i wouldnt want to trade a known young talent for some prospect players "with potential".

the nats need a GM, and a damn good one at that, before they start trading their franchise player for prospects or doing anything major at this point. the decision to draft and not sign crow really hurts, i dont care if they get some mid-1st round pick as compensation. then to go out and draft strasburg, knowing up front the signing money he was demanding, and now looks like they wont reach an agreement is a joke.

when weiters was avail in the draft everybody knew he wanted 5 mil signing bonus. he was the top prospect but fell to the Os at no. 5. the Os knew the money he wanted upfront, drafted him then signed him.

the Nats need a GM before they start making GM decisions.

go skins!!

i dont see how you trade zimmerman for prospects at this point. i wouldnt want to trade a known young talent for some prospect players "with potential".

the nats need a GM, and a damn good one at that, before they start trading their franchise player for prospects or doing anything major at this point. the decision to draft and not sign crow really hurts, i dont care if they get some mid-1st round pick as compensation. then to go out and draft strasburg, knowing up front the signing money he was demanding, and now looks like they wont reach an agreement is a joke.

when weiters was avail in the draft everybody knew he wanted 5 mil signing bonus. he was the top prospect but fell to the Os at no. 5. the Os knew the money he wanted upfront, drafted him then signed him.

the Nats need a GM before they start making GM decisions.

go skins!!

Nothing is guaranteed but I'm talking top prospects for RZ, like an organizations top 1 or 2 prospects. If they can get a couple-few top prospects they've got to listen. I'm no expert and i'm not sure they could get that for RZ but it's worth it to throw his name out there.

This guy Rizzo is supposed to be pretty decent as a scout. He might deserve a shot. Jim Bowden was horrible.

Maybe they could get a competent closer for him.

Maybe they could get a competent closer for him.
They just used the 10th or 11th overall pick on a closer. It'll probably take him a year or two to develope, but I think they'd rather see what he can do first.

Maybe they could get a competent closer for him.

A team should, in theory, never trade a position player for a closer. Just get good young arms, if one of them shows he can't go long, move him into the bullpen and see if he can close. It's never a good idea to go out and get a young guy with a "closer" label for the sake of getting a closer IMO.

If they traded they would need to take back the best talent they can, regardless of position. 3rd is the position they could be set at and if they trade him they have to explore every possible option. I think Zimmerman could probably 2-3 of an org's top 10 prospects, probably 3, but if I were an opposing GM, there's no way I give up my best prospect for Zimmerman.

To put it better, if I were the O's I wouldn't give up any of Matusz, Arrietta, Tillman. I might give up Patton. And if you want to extend "prospect" to young players (consider Markakis untouchable) I wouldn't give up Jones or Wieters and I would probably balk at Reimold unless someone was coming with Zimmerman.

Well the Nats have traded Nick Johnson and Joe Beimel.

I don't know the details. Johnson to the Marlins, Beimel to the Rockies. I believe they got a starting pitcher (AAA) from the Marlins and a couple other minor league prospects from the Rockies