Where is Ryan Zimmerman helping/hurting us? (2018)

[Ray D]

Harper blamed his 2016 off year on having Zimmerman bat behind him,

Where do you come up with your bullcrap?

[Natsinpwc]

ST 2017 Zimmerman played games regularly and could not hit the ball in those games to save his life. When the season started his bat was on fire.

Right now he is just in spring training mode. His decision was joined in by the manager and now the team pays for it. I am sure other vets would have liked to take the spring off. Managers who set double standards are starting trouble imho.

He took the spring off? Cmon. Any baseball fan knows most of the work in Florida is done outside the games. It's fair to knock him for not getting the at bats but don't make up stuff.  Do you have any facts to show he didn't participate in team workouts?

[LoveAngelos]

I only see the results nightly of a player who was left to his own devices all spring.
Who in the he'll but other players and coaches know what he was doing.
They want to tell us, fine  but otherwiSE we fans kept in the dark like mushrooms are only left to make assumptions based on performance.

[bluestreak]

I only see the results nightly of a player who was left to his own devices all spring.
Who in the he'll but other players and coaches know what he was doing.
They want to tell us, fine  but otherwiSE we fans kept in the dark like mushrooms are only left to make assumptions based on performance.

Or don’t make any assumptions and just watch the games...I know it’s crazy.

[tomterp]

I only see the results nightly of a player who was left to his own devices all spring.
Who in the he'll but other players and coaches know what he was doing.
They want to tell us, fine  but otherwiSE we fans kept in the dark like mushrooms are only left to make assumptions based on performance.

Please do not insert inappropriate punctuation into the middle of an otherwise appropriate word.   

(this is not the MLB board where censors focus on all the wrong things)

[UMDNats]

I only see the results nightly of a player who was left to his own devices all spring.
Who in the he'll but other players and coaches know what he was doing.
They want to tell us, fine  but otherwiSE we fans kept in the dark like mushrooms are only left to make assumptions based on performance.

there is no requirement that fans know everything going on or why everything is done. since when are fans entitled to that?

i'm going to believe there were discussions and reasons for why zimmerman did what he did in the spring. these are professionals and martinez wouldn't just let ryan take the spring off unilaterally.

[varoadking]

there is no requirement that fans know everything going on or why everything is done. since when are fans entitled to that?

i'm going to believe there were discussions and reasons for why zimmerman did what he did in the spring. these are professionals and martinez wouldn't just let ryan take the spring off unilaterally.

Zimm didn't want to be pestered by those little kids asking him for an autograph while walking from the practice fields to the stadium...

[MarquisDeSade]

This guy needs to retire.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

This guy needs to retire.

wait - given what you say about retirement and your planning, somebody could take this as a threat.

[Greg_SRT]

He still hits the ball hard. He just hasn't got hot yet.

Bat him 8th in the lineup, or 7th if pitcher is 8th.

He will get on base with walks. He will become more aggressive being in pitch around situations. He will get hot if he gets on base.

Guys 1 and 2 in the order will get RBI opportunities.

Smiles

[BuckyHarris]

Nothing new under the sun: WAPO, May 2016  (https://wapo.st/2JvMW1f)

Had Ryan Zimmerman gotten one more hit behind Harper, the Nationals would probably would have won the game much earlier....Zimmerman, of course, did not. He left 14 men on base, and left Nationals Manager Dusty Baker to analyze the middle of his order....Should he stick with Zimmerman, hitting well below his career average this season, trusting he will steady himself? Should everybody just take a deep breath, remember that teams have pitched around Harper since the beginning of last season and acknowledge that the Cubs just carried the strategy to a rare extreme? “I thought about it hard and long, but a few days doesn’t merit you switching it up,” Baker said. “If he had gotten one hit one of those times, you wouldn’t be asking me this today. Not yet.”

[LoveAngelos]

there is no requirement that fans know everything going on or why everything is done. since when are fans entitled to that?

i'm going to believe there were discussions and reasons for why zimmerman did what he did in the spring. these are professionals and martinez wouldn't just let ryan take the spring off unilaterally.

As long as I am paying good money to see them play I am not going to sit back and say "Thanks for the hat" while they crap on my head.

[Ray D]

there is no requirement that fans know everything going on or why everything is done. since when are fans entitled to that?

Of course there's no requirement and we're not "entitled".  However, the more facts we know, the better the fan experience, and isn't that what this is all about? So we certainly are entitled to complain, when information is not provided, for no apparent reason.

[Expos]

Someone find the doctor who gave him the PED's last year. He obviously needs a top up.

[bluestreak]

Of course there's no requirement and we're not "entitled".  However, the more facts we know, the better the fan experience, and isn't that what this is all about? So we certainly are entitled to complain, when information is not provided, for no apparent reason.

Does it really enhance to know the fan experience to know if RZ was a little hurt in ST, or his reasons for sitting out ST? All I really care to know is how he's performing in games that actually count and what he's doing to fix it. In fact constantly ruminating on what if any way the team has made mistakes actually decreases my fan experience.

I love baseball. I like the guys on this team. I love going to the park and listening to games on the radio. If the team wins, it's great, but if they don't it's not going to do anything to change all of those things. I will never for the life of me understand why so many people perseverate on finding something bad about the team or something to be upset about. It literally sucks all the fun out of the game.

[varoadking]

...perseverate...

Is that another one of them there fancy State school words?

[Expos]

Does it really enhance to know the fan experience to know if RZ was a little hurt in ST, or his reasons for sitting out ST? All I really care to know is how he's performing in games that actually count and what he's doing to fix it. In fact constantly ruminating on what if any way the team has made mistakes actually decreases my fan experience.

I love baseball. I like the guys on this team. I love going to the park and listening to games on the radio. If the team wins, it's great, but if they don't it's not going to do anything to change all of those things. I will never for the life of me understand why so many people perseverate on finding something bad about the team or something to be upset about. It literally sucks all the fun out of the game.

Last I checked the main reason to cheer for sports teams is for them to win and losing sucks???? Unless you are one of those types that hands out medals for kids coming in last place.

I don't know. I may be wrong.

[bluestreak]

Last I checked the main reason to cheer for sports teams is for them to win and losing sucks???? Unless you are one of those types that hands out medals for kids coming in last place.

I don't know. I may be wrong.

I mean maybe for you, but I enjoy baseball for baseball’s sake. I like a winning team just like anyone else, but if they don’t win it’s not going to ruin my day. I’m a fan because it’s fun. Once it stops being fun, I’ll stop watching. And looking for reasons to be upset at what the team does is definitely not fun for me.
I think it’s funny that when something like this someone always brings up something about “participation trophies” as if my attitude towards the Nationals winning has any effect on how the team does. Or is any reflection on my general views on success in life.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

I mean maybe for you, but I enjoy baseball for baseball’s sake. I like a winning team just like anyone else, but if they don’t win it’s not going to ruin my day. I’m a fan because it’s fun. Once it stops being fun, I’ll stop watching. And looking for reasons to be upset at what the team does is definitely not fun for me.
I think it’s funny that when something like this someone always brings up something about “participation trophies” as if my attitude towards winning has any effect on how the team does.

I'd be a little more forgiving if a life of rooting for DC sports teams since 1997 weren't such an endless barrage of suckitude, futility, and chokedom.  I get pissy about seeing the Nats lose because it feels like, of all of my teams, they've had by far the best chance to bring home so hardware in recent years and just keep spinning their wheels with this choke job bullcrap.

[UMDNats]

As long as I am paying good money to see them play I am not going to sit back and say "Thanks for the hat" while they crap on my head.

because that's exactly what's happening, yep. them not disclosing every little thing behind the scenes is a travesty!

[HalfSmokes]

[LoveAngelos]

Hell, (tomterp  please note the lack of inappropriate language marker) why bother even knowing their names? Waste of time putting them on the back of uniforms. For now on I'm just going to let them spoon feed and accept everything FP says and just be ignorant and happy to be kept so

[bluestreak]

Hell, (tomterp  please note the lack of inappropriate language marker) why bother even knowing their names? Waste of time putting them on the back of uniforms. For now on I'm just going to let them spoon feed and accept everything FP says and just be ignorant and happy to be kept so

You do whatever makes you happy...

[LoveAngelos]

Aye aye

[dcpatti]

some of y'all are nuts.

while good health can contribute to success, it doesn't guarantee it.
after memorial day or thereabouts, all the players are playing beat up and nursing various owies and bumps.
It doesn't really change my enjoyment of the game to know if Harper has another ingrown toenail or just a normal day off.
The best of medical information isn't gonna change my disappointment when Zim strikes out again.
And as a fan there is no difference to me if they reported Eaton's ankle injury when they reported his ACL tear; that ACL tear ended his season, period, and he was going to be out for a long time, whether or not he had ankle, toe, or random shoulder damage to go with it.

no one is lying to you. there is no sinister cover-up konspiracy on the part of the team.  go buy a roll of tinfoil for your hat.