Washington Nationals: Looking ahead to the team’s 2019/20 free agents

Ryan Zimmerman – Club Option

While there are some doubts about the durability of Ryan Zimmerman, he’s been a very productive player when on the field in the last two seasons. He’s yet another player that the Washington Nationals must make a contractual decision about.

Zimmerman followed up his All-Star 2017 campaign with a sluggish start to the season after not playing a single inning in big league Spring Training. But just as he started to heat up at the plate, he was forced to spend about two months on the disabled list.

But when he has been playing, he’s had an impressive .289/.350/.542 slash line with 49 home runs in 229 games. Thankfully, now the team has reacquired Matt Adams, the Nats should be able to manage Zimmerman’s games a little bit better this year and allow him to thrive again.

A couple of seasons ago, it looked like Zimmerman was firmly on the downswing, but now the Nats have an interesting decision to make about his future. It would make sense to bring him back, but it would need to be at the right price given his status as a part-time player.

The first baseman told Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post that “I don’t think it’s any secret I’d like to finish here” and he also mentioned he’s not going to leave for a few extra bucks. So with that being said, the most likely outcome is that the team works out an extension for Zimmerman, or in failing that, he’s likely to return after the team buys out his option at the end of the year.

Prediction: Ryan Zimmerman signs an extension before the end of 2019