He's making what? $1MM. That's more or less 1st year arb money. I'm a huge believer that there's always a glut of bats for first, and he's short side of the platoon, too, but that's still low free agent money. He hit a HR in less than every 20 PAs this year. That's pretty solid. Stopped walking, but a .230 ISO is nice. Even at 0.3 WAR, he provided surplus value this year. Is he blocking anyone? If yes, I'd say something different. Maybe if they are serious about Riley Adams picking up a second position and perhaps going with 3 catchers, then Zimmerman would be stealing PAs from someone. If they want to spend $5MM on Bell's backup, then fine, you could find better. Internally, it's basically him or Jake Noll. Maybe the right call is Noll, but I don't see Noll as a long term solution to anything, either.
Why would he accept $1 million for another full year. It's not like the team is contending and near the luxury tax line and needs help. I think he just did that as a favor for his last year. Give him a share of the team.
