Ian Desmond will start at shortstop for Washington Nationals – The Post
Desmond will be starting shortstop – Nats Insider
Here we are a week before Opening Day (!) and we’re getting some good news. Ian Desmond has won the Washington Nationals shortstop job over incumbent Cristian Guzman. This is kind of surprising given Guzman’s final year of a bloated $8 million contract. Not holding back Desmond shows some hope for the Nats actually looking at the future. We know Guzman will hit about .300 and have an OBP that is barely better while having less range and suspect arm at short. Desmond has the potential to be a very good shortstop — at the plate and in the field. The time to find out what Desmond can do is now because he’s 24 and the Nats need to know if he is a part of the puzzle now before a playoff push comes. It isn’t hard to remember what a bad shortstop can do to a team’s playoff chances. Unfortunately, that shortstop was signed for another three years and then got a two years extension at twice his previous level of compensation. Thankfully, he’s finally lost his starting job and the general manager who signed him twice has been exiled to the media.