Nationals' Zimmerman Breaks Bone In Wrist

Nationals' star third-baseman Ryan Zimmerman broke the hamate bone in his left wrist last weekend after swinging a bat. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks, but as Rotoworld points out "hamate injures are notorious for sapping a player's power for a length of time. It could potentially be an issue for him next year."

This could hurt Zimmerman's 30HR threat, limiting his power for probably the first month or two in the season. If the Nationals indeed sign some big free-agents, it could hurt their chances of at least being over .500 next season.

Nationals To Attempt To Sign Zimmerman Long Term Once Again

Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post posted a great article on the state of the Washington Nationals. Seems like the owning family, the Lerners, are "committed to raise payroll". Washington's payroll sat at a cool $38M last season.

GM Jim Bowden has already communicated with agents for Aaron Rowand and Torii Hunter, but made it clear that he would much rather aquire young players through trade than signing big name free-agents.

Svrluga also believes that the Nationals are set to once again offer third-baseman Ryan Zimmerman a multi-year contract to remain the face of the franchise. Talks stalled last year, as Bowden believes that "there's no urgency" in signing Ryan. "We don't have interest in doing a long-term deal that is going to cost us more money than going through the [arbitration] process."