Washington Nationals: A personal year of lessons learned
By Ron Juckett
ITS OKAY TO BE WRONG
In trying to find content worth your attention, there must be a balance in telling stories. We focus on profiles, who is playing well and what you should keep an eye on. Sometimes, we must be honest and write pieces critical of your favorites.
Those pieces draw comments and that is fine. Although there is much that goes in the Nats favor, you need balance and point out what has to improve. The bullpen, obviously, drew a fair share of attention as Blake Treinen, Shawn Kelley and Koda Glover earned and lost the closers job early this season.
No one takes joy in writing not-so-flattering things about others. Reading comments calling you stupid does not make our days easier. Imagine how the bullpen felt when the focus turned in DC from the playoff failures of the Caps and Wizards to them.
For me, twice this year I wrote stories about Ryan Zimmerman suggesting his playing time might be in jeopardy. The first came in March after two terrible weeks in Spring Training. He could not elevate a ball off the ground and his timing at the plate was poor. Ol’ Ron coughed out 400 words on it may be time to give Adam Lind a look and Zimmerman crushed everything in sight for eight weeks. One had nothing to do with the other.
Again, I suggested Zimmerman get all the rest he needed around a month ago. Another down period followed the All-Star break, and the thought was maybe some platoon time would keep him fresh for October. As the late John McLaughlin would scream to his panelists, “WRONG!”
Yep, I was and happy to be wrong. Watching Zimmerman healthy is a pleasant surprise. He, and you, deserve it.