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I was going to post this on the Nats board but it looks pretty much dead so...yeah. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.
I would love it if Rizzo could ship Zimmerman to the Cubs for Baez. Anyway curious how you guys feel about this. And the Sherzer move in general.

Zimmermann for Kimbrel.

Really only one reply? But I made sure to use extra exclamation points and question marks.

Being a DC sports, winning the offseason only means one thing- we are going to be average to terrible this year.

Sure it cost a lot, but the Nats got themselves one helluva setup man to replace Clippard.

Severn Hoos wrote:Zimmermann for Kimbrel.

Nats fans would get to watch Zimmermann beat them in the playoffs.

Nats are freaking loaded with starting pitching - even have 3 minor league studs who are just about ready for prime time. Somebody's got to go - maybe 2 or 3 somebodys. I figure they keep Zimmermann, because they want starters who can go 8 innings.

Ruzious wrote:

Severn Hoos wrote:Zimmermann for Kimbrel.

Nats fans would get to watch Zimmermann beat them in the playoffs.

Nats are freaking loaded with starting pitching - even have 3 minor league studs who are just about ready for prime time. Somebody's got to go - maybe 2 or 3 somebodys. I figure they keep Zimmermann, because they want starters who can go 8 innings.

Considering how many times Kimbrel has broken my heart, I'd take my chances.

The thing is they have Giolito coming down the pipe as you mentioned, And most commentators seem to think he's the best SP prospect in the majors. It seems to me like Zimmerman is planning to leave. The question is do you play this season out, give him the qualifier and cash in a first rounder when he signs elsewhere. Or do you see if you can get one of the Cubs infielders etc.

This is going to be really interesting. We're not even factoring how the whole Desmond situation is going to play out. The Nats could have a radically different looking team coming into next offseason. My Dad suggested trading Strass and getting a potential mother-load of prospects. I don't love the idea of giving up one of the best swing and miss pitchers in baseball though.

californiadude wrote:

Ruzious wrote:

Severn Hoos wrote:Zimmermann for Kimbrel.

Nats fans would get to watch Zimmermann beat them in the playoffs.

Nats are freaking loaded with starting pitching - even have 3 minor league studs who are just about ready for prime time. Somebody's got to go - maybe 2 or 3 somebodys. I figure they keep Zimmermann, because they want starters who can go 8 innings.

Considering how many times Kimbrel has broken my heart, I'd take my chances.

The thing is they have Giolito coming down the pipe as you mentioned, And most commentators seem to think he's the best SP prospect in the majors. It seems to me like Zimmerman is planning to leave. The question is do you play this season out, give him the qualifier and cash in a first rounder when he signs elsewhere. Or do you see if you can get one of the Cubs infielders etc.

This is going to be really interesting. We're not even factoring how the whole Desmond situation is going to play out. The Nats could have a radically different looking team coming into next offseason. My Dad suggested trading Strass and getting a potential mother-load of prospects. I don't love the idea of giving up one of the best swing and miss pitchers in baseball though.

I wish I was a Nats fan rather than an O's fan. It's amazing how different their payrolls seem to be. I haven't been following their MASN deal controversies, but I'm guessing the Nats are doing better from it.

I just talked to a Nats fanatic who also said he'd look to trade Strass. If it was me, I couldn't trade a guy that talented, young, and under team control. I think they pushed themselves into a corner where they almost have to trade Zimmermann - not that it's a bad corner, because they could get a haul for him.

Bye bye Stephen Strasburg?

Likely Zimmermann gets traded since he only has a year left on his deal while Stras has 2. Stras would probably net more in a trade though. Should be interesting to see what happens...

The Nats are going to have more revenue whenever the MASN thing gets resolved. As it stands, they still are likely to have room to add payroll next season, and going forward. Sherzer's deal contains a lot of deferred money that spreads his payments years into the future.

With what they did with Sherzer, the Nats are apparently around $145-150 million in payroll, which puts them in the top 10, but not at the absolute top of MLB payrolls. The MLB luxury tax line will be around $190 million this year, and will continue going up in future years. So, the Nats have another $40-45 million to play with before crossing that threshold.

I heard a national analyst this morning speculate that the Nats and Cubs may end up trade partners with the Cubs taking one of the Nats pitchers, and the Nats getting an apparent glut of middle infield talent in the Cubs' minor league system.

I don't follow baseball that close, but it doesn't hurt to have the richest owner in the league.

Yep, the Lerners are absolutely loaded. Nobody can match their in-pocket resources. Other teams may generate more revenue, but if/when the Lerners decide to spend out of pocket, forget it.

Not sure if the Cubs are good trade partners now since they acquired Jon Lester. I'm hearing the Red Sox would be good trade partners since they have a lot of minor league talent and need a staff ace.

They have a Ted as their owner just like the Wiz and Caps. We need a Ted to buy the Skins. Ted Lerner's right around 90. And he seems to be friendly with Boras. Boras may have appealed to Lerner wanting to see a WS champion in his lifetime. The younger Lerners will have to deal with the last 7 years of paying Sherzer $15 million a year while he's not playing - but with inflation, that might not end up being a big price to pay. Hopefully, the world as we know it is still here when that contract is paid off.

Apparently the Nats are open to trading Strasburg....stay tuned.

As for Scherzer himself, the bottom line is we added a truly elite pitcher and the contract was cleverly structured so that the annual money is good (assuming he doesn't out and out bust here). The guy is a hoss of a strike out pitcher with good power and terrific location on all his pitches. And he is good in the postseason. He could easily be our staff ace this season. With our pitching, the team has a great chance to win upper 90's games, way more than enough to make the playoffs in our lackluster division.

The only real worry about his deal is how it effects our ability to keep our own young talent coming up on FA.

As for that young talent, I'd listen to offers for Zimmermann and take a good deal (particularly if Boston is offering some of their top prospects) but I wouldn't be in a hurry to trade him.

I'd also probably trade Desmond before he walks because I wouldn't want to pay him over some other guys.

I like Desmond and I think he is legitimately one of the most valuable SS in the majors the past three years. He's also a pillar of the locker room. That makes letting him go a potential disaster. But I'd take the risk to save money for Rendon/Harper/Strasburg and hopefully get something good back in return.

The most valuable thing about Desmond is his power and ability to bad in the middle of the order and drive in a lot of runs. But we've already got Harper, Zimmerman, Werth, and Rendon. You can't keep Rendon batting second forever. Eventually he and Harper are going to be the mainstays batting third and fourth. Zim and Werth are your fifth and sixth hitters then. Really, we have good enough bats in the middle of the order without Desmond. The team could score more runs by sacrificing Desmond's power at the SS position and getting someone with a better approach at the plate that's a natural fit in the two hole.

Get a lesser individual player than Desmond, but one that's better at getting on base and better in the field and the team as a whole would be better.

No way I'd trade Strasburg. Too special. The chance of him getting it all put together on the mound and ripping off multiple Cy Young seasons is too high for me to ever give up on him.

And again, I wouldn't want to trade Zim unless there is just no way we can sign him and someone gives us an offer that actually has some quality in it. Worse comes to worst, I get a 2015 with four aces in the rotation and an extra first round draft pick in 2016.

Wizardspride wrote:Apparently the Nats are open to trading Strasburg....stay tuned.

I wouldn't do it. Not unless I'm getting a superstar of a position player back in return. We trade Strasburg and then he WILL have the lightbulb turn on and rip off three straight Cy Youngs on us.

Nivek wrote:Sure it cost a lot, but the Nats got themselves one helluva setup man to replace Clippard.

As for the move itself, I'm not against it - but I'm not sure I fully support it. I don't watch very many games, but I followed the chatter all last year and it seemed like a lack of explosive scoring was their biggest issues. Their pitchers all had fabulous ERAs, but the team still lost a lot of close, low-scoring games. Adding Sherzer doesn't seem to solve that problem.

stevemcqueen1 wrote:As for Scherzer himself, the bottom line is we added a truly elite pitcher and the contract was cleverly structured so that the annual money is good (assuming he doesn't out and out bust here). The guy is a hoss of a strike out pitcher with good power and terrific location on all his pitches. And he is good in the postseason. He could easily be our staff ace this season. With our pitching, the team has a great chance to win upper 90's games, way more than enough to make the playoffs in our lackluster division.

The only real worry about his deal is how it effects our ability to keep our own young talent coming up on FA.

As for that young talent, I'd listen to offers for Zimmermann and take a good deal (particularly if Boston is offering some of their top prospects) but I wouldn't be in a hurry to trade him.

I'd also probably trade Desmond before he walks because I wouldn't want to pay him over some other guys.

I like Desmond and I think he is legitimately one of the most valuable SS in the majors the past three years. He's also a pillar of the locker room. That makes letting him go a potential disaster. But I'd take the risk to save money for Rendon/Harper/Strasburg and hopefully get something good back in return.

The most valuable thing about Desmond is his power and ability to bad in the middle of the order and drive in a lot of runs. But we've already got Harper, Zimmerman, Werth, and Rendon. You can't keep Rendon batting second forever. Eventually he and Harper are going to be the mainstays batting third and fourth. Zim and Werth are your fifth and sixth hitters then. Really, we have good enough bats in the middle of the order without Desmond. The team could score more runs by sacrificing Desmond's power at the SS position and getting someone with a better approach at the plate that's a natural fit in the two hole.

Get a lesser individual player than Desmond, but one that's better at getting on base and better in the field and the team as a whole would be better.

No way I'd trade Strasburg. Too special. The chance of him getting it all put together on the mound and ripping off multiple Cy Young seasons is too high for me to ever give up on him.

And again, I wouldn't want to trade Zim unless there is just no way we can sign him and someone gives us an offer that actually has some quality in it. Worse comes to worst, I get a 2015 with four aces in the rotation and an extra first round draft pick in 2016.

Totally agree with what you said here.

Especially what you said about Desmond. He's a terrific player but he strikes out a lot and he wants a ton of money. Like you said we have quite a few of those. It's not like he's Andrelton Simmons defensively either.

Rendon does well batting second but you're right, eventually Werth and Zimmerman are going to have to move back in the order. Getting a high OBP guy at second or short would make the offense a heck of a lot less streaky.

Overall I'm much more in favor of trading Zimmermann over Strasburg. Zimmermann's good but he doesn't have near the stuff or potential that Strasburg does. More than anything though. I don't know how I feel about having two older pitchers on the roster that are locked up on high money, long term deals. I'm ok with getting the first if he walks but if we could get someone like Baez from the Cubs or one of the Red Sox prospects...I might take it.

I am a little worried that if Strasburg leaves he'll go full Harden on the Nats and kill the MLB.