Guzman, Leadership and Youn

So the NATS have a “healthy” Guzman but he admits that his shoulder is still a little shaky hence the reason they are holding him back a little this week. According to the NATS medical staff its not uncommon for players recovering from shoulder surgery to be held back a little. Like I mentioned before this I believe is the reason they signed Belliard and does not bode well for Guzman contributing this year. With the cool spring weather they essentially will have to manage him like a pitcher. Guzman was not a power to begin with so he will be even more of a slap hitter but one with little force so he’s not going to much of a contributor. Not to state the obvious but this looks like a bust, I know but at least there was a glimmer that he could become a productive member of the line-up. There is a story on the NATS site about the captains for this year and a couple of notables among are Kearns and Zimmerman. I find Kearns an interesting considering last year was really his first full year. I think this is a move by Acta to help Kearns focus and realize that he is to be a leader and perhaps the benefits will be an improvement on last years results,

Zimmerman is an interesting case because he asked for the leadership role and stated that he thinks last years clubhouse was too scared to say anything to anyone because of the potential repercussions. I sincerely hope this is a good move for Zimmerman. As a 2^nd year player there is going to be a lot of tape on him and an emphasis on not letting him beat you. Hopefully the increased responsibility and work he will need to do to stay ahead of the pitchers will not stretch him too thin. There is always a sophomore slump so lets hope that Zimmerman is every bit the special player he seems to be.

There’s a story on Dmitri Young on CBS Sportsline that sheds a little more light on Young’s experiences last year but federal baseball writes a great article about Young and his opportunity with the NATS .