Big contract extension locks up third baseman
VIERA, Fla. — There were still two years left on Ryan Zimmerman’s contract, but the Nationals star third baseman was already hearing the questions and whispers.
Would he spend the majority of his career with Washington or would the team have to begin thinking about trading him as the clock began ticking toward free agency again? Thanks to a self-imposed negotiating deadline, talks to conclude a contract extension had to be finished by the start of spring training or wait until next winter for one last shot. There was urgency on both sides to finalize what became a six-year, $100 million contract.
To Zimmerman’s teammates, the deal, signed on Feb. 26, was a referendum on the organization itself. Would it find a way to hammer out a fair contract with a player who had been one of its lone marketable assets since moving to the District in 2005? Or would the uncertainty carry beyond the 2012 season? Everyone from right fielder Jayson Werth, inked to his own massive deal last winter, to future stars Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper, was watching and wondering, too.
“[Zimmerman] is a staple of the franchise. He’s our leader on and off the field. He does great things in the community. I think to picture him in another uniform would be really bizarre,” Nats reliever Tyler Clippard said. “And I think there was definitely a cloud over the organization’s head, his head. … Now, he can just focus on what he does now and be the leader and who we want him to be.”
And those duties will include helping Washington reach the playoffs for the first time. Those are lofty expectations for a team that has yet to put together a winning season. But with an extra postseason spot available in each league, it’s not out of the question, either. And that would go a long way toward making up for one miserable season after another early in Zimmerman’s career.
“Nobody enjoys losing. It’s hard to deal with. It makes you appreciate winning more once you go through all of it,” said Zimmerman, whose team lost 468 games combined in his first five seasons between 2006 and 2010. “It makes you appreciate having good teams, a good group of guys. There were times it wasn’t so fun to come to the field. You didn’t have a chance to win.”
Twice in the last four years Zimmerman has missed significant time — a shoulder injury cost him 56 games in 2008 and a torn abdominal muscle cost him 61 last season. His OPS dropped .100 points in 2011 as he struggled to regain his previous form. But healthy now and with a revamped throwing motion, the 27-year-old is confident he can rebound to his career norms. A 30 home run, 100 RBI season with Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards thrown in at third base are not out of the question, according to some in the organization.
But Zimmerman just wants to do his part on the field. His presence on the team for at least the next seven years will do as much as anything to attract one or two more top-tier free agents and send a message to its younger players — pitchers Jordan Zimmermann, Strasburg and, eventually, Harper — that Washington is the place to be. That wasn’t always the case.
“It’s changed a lot around here,” Zimmerman said. “We want to create an organization and an atmosphere here where people want to stay. They won’t want to leave and go somewhere. But winning helps with that a lot.”
