Ryan Zimmerman on electronic sign stealing: ‘It’s the greatest sin that you can do’

When the Nationals faced the Astros in the 2019 World Series, the public didn’t yet know Houston’s electronic sign-stealing scheme helped propel the club to its first championship just two years prior.

But less than two weeks after Washington beat the AL West champs in seven games and claimed a World Series title of their own, The Athletic reported that Houston had in fact been using a live camera feed to steal opposing catchers’ signs and report them back to their hitters in real time by banging on a trash can behind the dugout.

Although Houston was only found to have used the scheme in 2017 and not against Washington this past October, the Nationals changed up their signs frequently and used plastic cards to create intricate sets of signals that could be alternated from inning to inning or batter to batter.

Recently re-signed first baseman Ryan Zimmerman spoke with reporters on a conference call Tuesday just a few hours after the team made his new one-year deal official. When asked about his thoughts on the Astros scandal—one that has also stretched to Boston, where the Red Sox are being investigated for an alleged scheme they carried out in 2018—Zimmerman took a definitive stance against people within the game who use technology to steal signs.

I’d be inclined to find consorting with gamblers worse- but MLB has chosen to go all-in on that…..

He’s ‘Nat’ done yet: Virginia Beach’s Ryan Zimmerman reportedly signs one-year deal with Washington

WASHINGTON – Mr. National is not giving up his title – at least not in 2020.

In a story first reported by the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga, Virginia Beach’s Ryan Zimmerman has agreed to a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals. Howard Fendrich of the The Associated Press reports Zimmerman, the UVA Baseball Hall of Famer, will receive a $2 million base salary. Incentives, based upon the number of games played and plate appearances, could bring the figure to as high as $5 million. The AP reports the deal includes a full no-trade clause.

Zimmerman, who will turn 36 years-old this season, became an unrestricted free agent after the Nationals’ 2019 World Series championship season.

Zimmerman holds Washington’s franchise records for hits, doubles, home runs and runs batted in. The Kellam High School product has spent his entire 15-year career with the Nationals. He’d stated, on multiple occasions, he wanted to continue playing past last season – a season that saw him win his first World Series

Sentimental of me, I suspect, but I’m inclined to think that for symbolic purposes it’s best to let Zimmerman stay with the team until he’s ready to retire.

Ryan Zimmerman trading his baseball glove for a much bigger glove today

“That was the most nervous I have ever been coming into something. I was terrified”

Nats 1B Zimmerman plans to be back with champs _ or retired

WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman figures he’ll either find himself back with the World Series champions next season — or out of baseball.

“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.”

The 35-year-old Zimmerman is the only player who has appeared for the Nationals in all 15 of their seasons since the franchise moved to the nation’s capital from Montreal in 2005. He was the team’s first pick in the amateur draft that year.

The club declined its $18 million option for next season on Zimmerman, who received a $2 million buyout and became a free agent. But he expects to return to Washington.

Something to watch for when the new season begins.

Zimmerman full circle with HR trot for Nats in World Series

HOUSTON (AP) — Ryan Zimmerman has come full circle, with a trot around the bases for the Washington Nationals.

The first amateur player ever drafted by the Nationals in 2005, and the only person to wear their jersey during all 15 seasons the team has existed, Zimmerman hit their first World Series home run.

With his deep blast to center field with two outs in the second inning Tuesday night — with Houston Astros starter Gerrit Cole immediately throwing his right arm up knowing the ball was long gone — the 35-year-old Zimmerman also scored the team’s first-ever run in the World Series.

Washington trailed when Zimmerman homered but 20-year-old Juan Soto tied the game with an impressive homer of his own leading off the fourth and added a two-run double an inning later and the Nationals held on for a 5-4 victory.

Feels symbolic, doesn’t it?

Los Viejos—The Old Guys—help Nationals make Series

WASHINGTON —  NL MVP candidate Anthony Rendon surveyed his teammates scattered around the Nationals Park diamond, whoopin’ it up after clinching a World Series berth.

There were starting pitchers Max Scherzer and Aníbal Sánchez, each 35 — and each responsible for taking a no-hit bid into at least the seventh inning as Washington won Games 1 and 2 of the NL Championship Series. So was Howie Kendrick, 36, the second baseman who earned NLCS MVP honors with four doubles and four RBIs in the sweep. And Ryan Zimmerman, 35, the first baseman slugging .484 this postseason.

“A lot of old guys on the team,” Rendon observed. “They call themselves ‘Viejos.’”

Indeed, they do, and “Los Viejos” — Spanish for “The Old Guys” — are a big part of why the Nationals are getting ready to face the Astros in the Fall Classic, which opens Tuesday night in Houston.

So, does this make players in their mid-thirties the new market inefficiency, or not, or…..