4:58pm: An MRI cleared Strasburg of any structural damage in his shoulder, tweets MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman. He’s also set to be evaluated by a neurologist.
8:48am: Strasburg is dealing with a pinched nerve in his neck, Janes tweets. In its announcement, the team labeled it a “cervical nerve impingement.”
8:05am: The Nationals have placed righty Stephen Strasburg on the 10-day DL, MLB.com’s Jamal Collier tweets (and as the MLB.com transactions page reflected). The placement, which will keep him from taking the ball for a scheduled start tonight, is retroactive to July 22nd.
Needless to say, this is quite unwelcome news for a club that is still struggling to find its footing. The Nats already profiled as a potential buyer of rotation depth, even after recently welcoming Strasburg back from a six-week stint on the DL.
Details on the injury are not yet available, but Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post tweets that it appears to be related to the shoulder inflammation that put him on the shelf previously. Strasburg threw with customary velocity in his first start back from the DL, though he also labored through 4 2/3 innings of six-run ball.
Strasburg must’ve got hurt by Scherzers words
Great point! This guy is really something.
so much talent
so much injury prone
You are right!
If Rizzo’s smart, he’ll trade Harper. With Strasburg out, their current record, and two strong teams ahead of them, they should focus on 2019.
that’s right!
Harper has barely been above replacement level this year and is a rental. They might be better off with the comp pick.
Harper, Murphy, Gio, Hellickson are all gone in ’19.
Adams, Madson & Herrera too though… (shrug)
Rendon & Roark will be in their final year of Arb
Paying Scherzer & Strassburg 75 mil
Zim on the hook for 18 + a buyout or 20m in ’20
Scherzer will be 35
’18 is kinda their window
Agreed. Are they a team who can be dangerous in the playoffs? Yes, but they have to get there first, and they’ve showed no signs of clicking on all cylinders lately. As I said over the weekend, the Nats are THE best mediocre team in the majors. The sum of their parts is greater than the whole. They SHOULD trade Harper, but I don’t see Rizzo risking the fan backlash. He’ll field enough blame for not re-signing him this winter (even though to do so would be pure insanity).
Yep my thoughts exactly.
My Grandma is 95 and is tougher than Strasburg.
“My Grandma is 95 and is tougher than Strasbourg.”
Idiocy.
only if you spell the name wrong.
“Only if you spell the name wrong.”
Damn auto-correct.
lseems like that was a majorflaw.
You got owned.
“You got owned”
By auto-correct which added a single letter to the correct spelling? Um, OK, whatever you say, Chief. What a stupid and self-destructive place to declare your antipathy. Thanks for the heads-up, though. We’ll continue this down the road a bit.
Narcissism anyone???
Agree with major flaw. Seems ever since they pulled him in 2012 he’s been hurt. Looking back that was probably their best chance to win. Should have let him pitch.
“Agree with major flaw.””
You may be agreeing with someone but I don’t think it’s me as I supported shutting Strasburg down in 2012. It’s why he’s having a better post-surgery career than Matt Harvey.
RIP Nationals. U all had a good run but there’s many 3rd and 4th place NL East finishes in your future
When did they have a good run?
Hey they had all those successful runs to the NLDS….that’s it
All those years storing up #1 picks and that’s it? Montreal’s getting lonely.
They had a good run when they dominated the division for what, half a decade? The playoffs are a crapshoot, and they just got really unlucky.
Also screw Drew storen. I’m not a Nats fan but that game really pissed me off
Always helps when the Mets were the Mets (WS appearance hat-tip), Marlins had Loria, Phillies and Braves were deciding to rebuild.
NL East has been a crapshoot during the Nats “dominance”. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they didn’t go very far in the playoffs after winning a crapshoot division-year. But keep waving those flags. We’re certainly proud of division titles in ATL (14 straight titles and 1 WS ring…).
Interesting read but I’m definitely going to need more than a blogpost to change my mind. If they aren’t a crapshoot, the Royals never would’ve won a World Series in 2015 and the Indians wouldn’t have got to one with a rotation that featured Josh Tomlin, Ryan Merrit, and a crappy Trevor Bauer.
I wrote last week that Rizzo has not been good developing pitchers. (Got sarcastic comments back.) He’s had multiple managers and pitching coaches. Always the same – a few headliners, no depth. The past year he finally bought a bullpen, now the starting pitching is falling apart.
Where pitching is concerned, the Nationals are not the Indians – who develop most of their pitchers and have a pipeline of arms coming from AAA and AA.
The Nationals are the quintessential aging contender that keeps throwing big money at a few veterans each year to plug a hole, but then something goes haywire elsewhere. Today’s Nationals are the Phillies and Tigers of 2-3 years ago. They need to take a step back and get younger, else they will continue to regress as the payroll continues to rise, and will be facing a total rebuild.
In terms of pitching development, it is hard to argue, but position players, I disagree. They still have a young nucleus to build around that is strong. Turner, Soto, Robles and Rendon are a good foundation. Even Difo and Taylor are good reserves. Eaton has hit when he is healthy, as well.
Yes!
And that is why they need to take a step back. Build on Turner, Soto, Robles, Difo, and Taylor. Let Harper go – if he signs he’ll only sulk and become a distraction as the team regresses. Love Rendon, but he’ll leave in free agency – he can bring back a haul now (Padres? Braves?). Eaton should be traded while healthy – he is a complete butcher in the field. Gio will leave in FA, not worth a big contract at his age…and regressing. I’d even look to trade Scherzer and Strasburg, as well as Doolitle and Kintzler – their value will never be higher.
I said 4 years ago when the White Sox were overpaying aging vets in FA that they needed to rebuild and dump Sale and others. They did it a year-and-a-half too late, and got less then they could have gotten back. And I’m not at all impressed with their haul. To tie this together, the Sox got a couple of “major league ready” / highly-rated pitchers from the Nats that are projects today. Add that the Yankees picked up AJ Cole for cash, and Rothschild is (successfully) reworking him. That is the tip-off on the Nats not developing pitching. The flaw in a rebuild with the Nats is that even if they bring back a boatload of pitching prospects, they’ll probably ruin them.
How is it Harper is gonna sulk?
Really?
Have you seen him over the years? Watched him not run to first? As the team continues to fall behind the Braves, Phils, and yes….Marlins, he will not be a guy you want in the clubhouse around the young, developing players.
When the Braves signed Nick Markakis, MLBTR people had dozens of comments quoting stats and stating what an awful signing it was. Not only has Markakis produced, but he became the veteran presence / leader /role model for the youngsters. Markakis is the epitome of a professional team player. Harper is the epitome of a me-first player.
Harper-Boras want an 8-10 year contract with staggered opt outs. They want Harper to be on a contending team with leadership in place for the rest of his career. He’s not going to play for teams like today’s Mets or Twins. He just wants to stand up at bat and hack. He’s a fantasy league guy. Not a winning player on the field or in the clubhouse. If he played in the NBA, he’d be Carmelo Anthony.
Man that’s way too harsh, but everyone gets to voice an opinion right or wrong.
The only guy on the team not worth his salary is Wieters. Injury time, and poor situational hitting has created this .500 record, not the talent level .At a certain point, you can’t keep decent starters in AAA if they can play in the majors someplace else. Fedde is legit depth, along with Milone. The issue is Roark and Gio falling apart lately. They’ve mostly been handling Hellickson correctly by holding him to two times through the order. Cole was the major mistake Rizzo made in thinking he could be the fifth starter, then the dominoes fall after that.
The Nats can continue to spend money on pitching while they have very good OF and position prospects They traded three of their top-5 pitching prospects to get Eaton, so it’s naturally going to look bare. Also, since they’ve been picking at the end of the round since 2012, Rizzo opts for damaged upside, which is much riskier than having a bunch of meh 3/4 potential starters. He dumped the overrated Giolito before he turned into a pumpkin. He’s been a very shrewd trader, who will probably prioritize getting a controllable front=end starter next. A risky guy like Cordero could still pan out, if he ever gets serious about the game. The pitching depth is in A ball though, and that’s a problem right now, but not insurmountable.
“Man that’s way too harsh, but everyone gets to voice an opinion right or wrong.”
You need a safe space.
“The only guy on the team not worth his salary is Wieters.”
Gio Gonzalez, making $12M for pitching to a WHIP slightly south of 1.5 disagrees.
“You need a safe space” kinda sounds like you could use infinity, cause Harper’s future seems to be effecting you way to much.
Cherry picking much dude? Gio is at 1.3 fWAR.. Zim is the guy you should have picked.
Totally agree! I hope they right the ship.
I’d hate to see DC lose another franchise.
“I’d hate to see DC lose another franchise.”
You are confusing on-field results with financial viability. The Nationals have been very successful at building a franchise in DC. They aren’t going anywhere. And they will be better able to compete when the issue of their teevee revenue has been resolved.
The Orioles mediocrity is spilling into the Potomac.
The Orioles are not mediocre
I think he was just being generous…
There is plenty of time for the Nets to right the ship. I’m a Phillies guy but a team with the Nats’ talent has a big run left in August and September.
He doesn’t need a neurologist. He needs a psychiatrist.
In 2011 I was working at an office with tons of baseball fans. In the postseason when the Nationals kept Stras off the roster, I made a bold claim to my coworkers, who all laughed at me, when I said “the Nats would never win a World Series with Stephen Strasburg, and they’ll regret not using him that postseason.”
So far I’ve been right.
Not sure if it’s that bold betting against a team NOT winning a World Series – they haven’t even played for one. All those years sandbagging and overpaying Jayson Werth to prove they weren’t the Expos seem all for naught.
Maybe it wasn’t bold, but everyone thought I was nuts. I recall the Nats being heavily favored at the time to become the next powerhouse dynasty with Harper as their centerpiece, and a young elite pitching staff (people forget how good Zimmerman and Gonzalez were 2011-2014).
The consensus was they would absolutely get a title in the next few years, or come very close.
As history has shown, he probably would have gone on the DL that postseason if they did use him.
It’s got to be the most frustrating thing in the world to be a Nats fan. Look, Rizzo’s a good baseball guy. Martinez is a good baseball guy. There’s a ton of talent on the roster. But for some reason, it just never happens.
I’m no smart guy; I don’t know WHY it doesn’t happen. But I think it’s time to rework the whole mess, get some new people in there (roster AND Front Office) and try to salvage what SHOULD be a dynamite baseball team.
It’s arguably the greatest team that never was, and I’m with you in that it makes no sense. Aside from maybe a starting pitcher, what exactly does this roster need? Bullpen help? No. Infielders? No. Outfielders? No. Catcher? OK, they need a catcher, but would any available C besides Realmuto be the magical ingredient that makes them start clicking? We’re left to assume that maybe they just don’t have chemistry. When you hold this team up against the 1988 Dodgers, the Nats are far superior, but the results don’t reflect that. Serious mystery going on in DC.
Mark Pryor
Agreed. And let’s face it, who doesn’t need another starting pitcher? Teams are knocking themselves out for the Cole Hammel-s (ship has sailed) and Chris Archer-s (ship never left port) of the world. And ya, they’re weak at catcher…so are the Red Sox.
Again, I really don’t know. But given the developmental arc the Braves and the Phils are on, they need some quick reaction.
Retire already.
Do the Phillies or any other team make a play for Harper this year ?