i was prepared to dismiss this out of hand as another duncan-for-cain proposal. by including wallace, perez, and two others, however, you’ve made what i think is at least a reasonable offer.

that said, i still don’t think the nats would do this. in addition to just the talent differential, the key difference between he and mclouth is that mclouth is at his peak – the pirates are trying to sell high, and i think they did ok, though not great. zimmerman, as you point out, is only 24, and is going to keep getting better. not only is he the face of the nationals franchise (unless you’re the dugout, where it’s clearly SteakGrowsOnDmitri, or one year in the future, where it’s clearly strasburg), he’s the position player they want to build around, and rightly so.

i think the package you’ve suggested is fair, but i still think they wouldn’t go for it.

but man, i’d take.

and i’d give up wallace in a heartbeat for him

I’d love to go get Zimmerman but I’m not sure he’s the one the Nats will be shopping. He’s the type that you build around. I just posted an idea about going after Dunn instead. He can’t be a part of the long term for DC. He’s a one dimensional player that just happens to provide the on dimension that we need this year. If Mo could get a Zimmerman deal done, I’d be willing to give up Wallace without thinking about it

He is already a 5-6 WAR player and is under contract for 5 more years. Any prospects they get back (unless maybe Wallace, Rasmus and someone else) would justify them giving that up.

There is NO WAY that Washington will trade him, especially since he’s the team’s biggest star (other than Dunn). We’ll only have to wish that we had him.

I just don’t think the Nats would be interested.

Forgive me while I dream of

Rasmus
Pujols
Ludwick
ZImmerman

How do you lose with that core in the lineup? Add to that the Defense. Man that would be amazing.

He’s eligible for trade next week, right? I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him moved for the right deal if it presents itself. I would guess it will all depend on how the team evaluates his play at 3rd. It’s still pretty inconclusive to me. Problem is that if it becomes apparent he won’t stick we can find ourselves backed in a corner where it becomes difficult to get full value in return. If teams become increasing confident we don’t have a place to put him but first, we may end up getting 75 cents on the dollar with him.

I will not be surprised at all if he’s this years Matt Laporta.

and the offer you put on the table is fairly solid, but it’s just impossible for the Nats to fathom giving up what he brings. He gives that franchise some sort of identity. When you think of the Nats, and Zimmerman goes away, who do you think of, Dunn? You can’t build around him. Johnson? Perhaps he is a late bloomer, but he basically brings an aura of identity that Pujols brings, if that makes some sense.

I love the idea of Holliday, especially now, since he is now used to his ballpark and has been mashing it the past month. We won’t be able to deal from our Pitching depth however, as the A’s seem to have plenty. So who would we make the centerpiece of that deal?

Another option? Zimmermann’s happy old sidekick, Adam Dunn. The dude can straight up hit, and can play the outfield at an above Manny level(official baseball term). He may have a ton of strikeouts, but he always will produce 40 homers, and 100 RBI.

Also, Boston has expressed an interest in moving Lowell and move Youkilis to 3rd, and perhaps put someone like V-Mart at first, maybe even their top prospect Lars Anderson, but the drawback here is that he is sort of a clone of Glaus, in the fact that he is a constant injury risk. He is in the 2nd year in a 3 year 36 million dollar contract(I think?), so he is basically what Glaus is being paid. The more I think about it, I think that Glaus IS Mike Lowell!

With those facts in mind, let me say the Nationals are VERY unlikely to trade Zimmerman. Yes, they need to rebuild. Yes, they need pitching. Yes, they are salary conscious. But they just made Zimmerman a multi-year deal. They consider him the franchise’s cornerstone.

As a baseball move, this trade might make sense. But the odds this deal ever happens is almost zero.