Ryan Zimmerman Is Playing for the Urgency of Now
June 5, 2014 by Ted Leavengood · Leave a Comment
After Stephen Strasburg signed with the Nationals late in the summer of 2009, he was introduced to the Washington fan base in a ceremony at Nationals Park. There on stage to greet him was Ryan Zimmerman, the face of the team. As Zimmerman posed for pictures welcoming the young pitching phenom aboard, he was one of the few fixtures on a team of journeymen that lost 103 games that year to earn the signing rights to Bryce Harper the next June.
It was Zimmerman’s best year in baseball. He hit 33 home runs with a slash line of .292/.364/.525. He won a Gold Glove for his defense at third. It has been a slow unwinding from there, but make no mistake, Zimmerman is still the difference maker in Washington. Adam LaRoche and Jayson Werth are the veterans, but the team still revolves around Zimmerman and any idea that it feeds off anyone else was dispelled when the Nationals played sub-.500 baseball after he broke his thumb on April 12th.
He is back and the Nationals have won two against the Phillies since his return. Can he continue to rally the troops?
The Washington Post’s first beat writer to cover the Nationals back in 2005, Barry Svrluga, is also back and he wrote of Ryan Zimmerman for the first time in years. He noted yesterday that Zimmerman handled the transition from infield stalwart to outfielder far better than a former Washington left fielder, Alphonse Soriano, did back in 2006. The “Z-Man” took the move with characteristic class and appears relatively comfortable in the same spot manned by Josh Willingham and Michael Morse less efficiently.
Left field gives “Zim” the best view of Anthony Rendon who is replacing him at third base. He gets a front row seat to watch his replacement at the hot corner who is quickly making a case for becoming one of the best all-around third baseman in the National League. Rendon makes all of the plays that Zimmerman did in 2009 and is on pace to hit as many home runs as the young Z-Man. Any team would relish having both players in the lineup, but it is not certain how many veteran stars would get out of the way for the younger player as graciously as Zimmerman has in 2014.
What is more striking than just the willingness to make the move, is the veteran’s grasp of the strategic position his team is in.”We’re only going to be together this year and next year. I want to win and it might have to be now.”
Zimmerman is voicing a concern among many in the Washington clubhouse that Washington shortstop Ian Desmond and pitcher Jordan Zimmermann will depart as free agents at the end of the 2016 season. Desmond turned down an offer reputed to be in the neighborhood of $85 million for six years and Zimmermann the pitcher has made few noises as if he will commit to Washington either. Natural turnover also will phase out players like Jayson Werth, Denard Span and Adam LaRoche this year or next. Zimmerman is right to make the case that for many if not all of the players currently in the Washington clubhouse, this may be their best chance to make the playoffs now or in the future.
“This team is good enough to win a World Series, I think,” Zimmerman told Svrluga. Will that confidence rub off? Will it be enough to rally those whom he has welcomed aboard over the years to play the kind of baseball that has long been expected of them?
That is the $64 million dollar question.
The Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins are sitting atop the NL East, but no one has run off with anything yet. The Marlins just gave up their 39th pick in today’s draft for relief pitching, showing that they are “all-in” for 2014. The pennant race will begin to shape up in the coming months and Zimmerman’ is shouting a timely “Charge” like Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan Hill.
The future Nationals’ lineup will feature pitchers like A.J. Cole and Lucas Giolito, outfielders Michael Taylor, Stephen Souza and Destin Hood. Spark plug players like Tony Renda and Stephen Perez will join Rendon in the infield. By 2017 Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg will be the veterans. As a team they may wear the Curly W on their uniforms with even more success than this 2014 team.
But for now Ryan Zimmerman has cast the future as today, here and now. His veteran presence and that of Werth and LaRoche will have to guide the team down the stretch. This may be their best chance to win it all and the coming weeks will demonstrate whether the “fierce urgency of now” can unite the Washington team’s playoff run.
