Just when you think baseball is about veterans squeezing every last dollar they can out of the game, there is a story like this one. While the Washington Nationals have seemed intently focused on free agents Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg, some chatter shook out of Monday on the original National; Ryan Zimmerman.
Let’s not forget it was Zimmerman who homered off Gerrit Cole early in the World Series that made him seem human. Now, it’s Zimmerman who speaks about his baseball future. In particular, Zimmerman says he’s only going to play baseball again if it’s in a Nationals uniform.
Ryan Zimmerman just now on whether discussions about his future are all centered on the Nationals: “I think I’ve made my intentions pretty clear. It’s either play some more here or play some more golf.”
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) December 2, 2019
From Jesse Dougherty who covers the team, Zimmerman says the following.
“I think I’ve made my intentions pretty clear,” Zimmerman said Monday night, when he attended the premiere of a documentary about last season’s title. “It’s either play some more here or play more golf. Both sides want something to happen. So it’s just a matter of getting something done. We’ll see what happens, but I’m not too worried about it.”
Altogether, that’s a pretty noble approach by Zimmerman. Without question, he could catch on with a team somewhere and make a few more million. However it seems it’s only meaningful to him if he can finish things where he began them.
By all accounts, it seems like the Nationals will work something out with Zimmerman to give him a final send-off tour. After all, it would do some positive jingoism for the fan base if Strasburg and Rendon end up departing.
After the big World Series home run that culminated with a title – and given that he was the franchise’s first cornerstone – Zimmerman is a pretty good drawing card in the D.C. right now.
