Photo by Brian Allen
Correction appended.
In signing a six-year contract extension worth at least $100 million yesterday, Ryan Zimmerman all but guaranteed he’ll be wearing a Nationals uniform through the end of the decade. The deal, signed yesterday morning, makes the 27-year-old third baseman from Virginia Beach the Nationals’ newest player with a nine-digit contract, but already this investment feels safer than the seven-year $126 million contract the club gave underwhelming right fielder Jayson Werth before the start of the 2011 season.
Zimmerman’s current five-year, $45 million deal he signed in 2009 lasts through the 2013 season. Beginning in 2014, he’ll average more than $16 million a year through 2019. But the deal is also quite creative in other ways to ensure that Zimmerman remains with the Nationals through the life of the extension. The Post’s Adam Kilgore reports that the if Zimmerman were to be traded before the extension comes into effect, its value would increase for the team acquiring him. Additionally, the Nationals can also exercise a $24 million option for the 2020 season, when Zimmerman would be 36.
All told, Zimmerman could make $150 million over the next nine seasons if the 2020 option is exercised. Kilgore notes that this extension will also make Zimmerman the second-highest paid third baseman in baseball, trailing only the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez. But Rodriguez is nearly a full decade older than Zimmerman, and coming off a disappointing and injury-plagued 2011 season that raised many questions about just how wise it is for the Yankees to pay him another $146 million over the next six years.
Zimmerman also missed time last year, but still managed to hit for a .289 batting average. But the extension isn’t just about locking down third base for the next decade; it cements more than ever Zimmerman’s place as the “face of the franchise,” Kilgore writes.
Zimmerman has only ever wanted to play for the Nationals, his father, Keith told the Post, and this deal makes it just about guaranteed he’ll spend his whole career here.
Correction: This article originally featured a photo of Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann. It has been replaced with an image of Ryan Zimmerman.
