Links Around the Natosphere: Strasburg vs. Harper, Extending Zimmerman, Ramos, Losing Prince

Just as we’re going to share some of the Nationals-related links from time to time that were written by our colleagues here at the FanSided Network, we’ll also start occasionally bringing you some of the more read-worthy links from other Nationals bloggers out there. There are no plans at the moment for this to be a regular feature here at DoD, but it’s safe to say that anytime we see something worth sharing we’ll pass it along.

Leading off, William Yoder at The Nats Blog brings out attention to just how different Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper are, at least from a personality standpoint. As William points out, Strasburg is striving to be the best pitcher in baseball and is far more reserved when it comes to being in the public spotlight. Harper, meanwhile, wants to be the best player in the sport and welcomes the public attention. William shares some quotes from Strasburg on the differences and some thoughtful insight on how the pair is perceived.

While we’ve made an argument in favor of extending Ryan Zimmerman, including some thoughts on what a possible extension may look like, Charlie over at The Nationals Review has some different ideas on the subject that he posted last week. First, he makes an argument in favor of an extension – largely citing his offensive accomplishments, importance to the organization, and age. Then, he presents his argument against the idea – comparing Zimmerman to former Oakland A’s third baseman Eric Chavez, who similarly signed a long term extension before seeing his career derailed by a serious of injuries.

Patrick Reddington at Federal Baseball checks in on Wilson Ramos and how he’s been hitting in the Venezuelan Winter League. It would seem that Ramos’ team, the Tigres de Aragua, won the league’s Championship Series this past weekend thanks in part to a third inning sacrifice fly by Ramos to drive in a run. The catcher hit .281/.373/.328 with 3 doubles and 3 RBI in 19 postseason games after struggling to a .218/.277/.276 line during the league’s regular season.

Over at Capital Baseball, Sean took an early look at who the first National may be to make his way into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. He runs through the expected choices and comes to an expected answer, but it’s still a fun thought to consider. Meanwhile, Sean and Craig started to make some early predictions for the upcoming season – including final Win-Loss records and who the keys to the season may be.

Finally, Harper at Nationals Baseball speculates further on what the non-signing of Prince Fielder really means for the team’s future, specifically that next winter the Nationals could focus on adding one of the young quality starting pitchers that will be available. Personally I think it’s far more likely the team spends that money on other needs, but it’s still another perspective worth reading.