About 27 hours earlier than Stephen Strasburg was set to take the Nationals Park mound once more, Dave Martinez introduced Monday afternoon that the right-hander quickly will return on the injured record. Because the supervisor addressed reporters earlier than a sequence opener with the Atlanta Braves, Strasburg was present process an MRI examination, the outcomes of which is able to decide simply how important his newest setback is.
Washington
Stephen Strasburg will return to the injured list after just one start
For sure, this was the alternative of how the Washington Nationals wished to begin a tricky week towards divisional opponents.
“We’ll know extra concerning the harm and all that stuff after the sport,” Martinez mentioned of Strasburg, who returned to begin Thursday on the Miami Marlins after an extended restoration following surgical procedure for thoracic outlet syndrome. “However … this surgical procedure, this thoracic outlet factor, you simply don’t know. We don’t know if this is identical problem or not but, however we’ll know extra as … quickly as we get the MRI and the medical doctors learn the picture. Nevertheless it stinks as a result of he was all excited to be again.”
In that Marlins begin, Strasburg yielded seven runs on eight hits in 4⅔ innings. What mattered extra, although, was that he threw 83 pitches and felt nothing greater than normal fatigue. That modified following his between-starts bullpen session Saturday. Strasburg “didn’t really feel proper, some discomfort,” Martinez informed reporters, however he didn’t specify an space of Strasburg’s physique that was bothering him.
After back-to-back season-ending surgical procedures, the 33-year-old has missed many of the previous three years. But he’s not even midway by means of a seven-year, $245 million contract he signed after he was named World Sequence MVP in 2019. The deal thus far has included 31⅓ innings, a quantity prone to freeze for the foreseeable future. Earlier than pitching Thursday, Strasburg made three minor league rehab appearances. His earlier begin within the majors was June 1, 2021.
“We’re going to be as cautious as doable with him and attempt to do all the things proper for Stephen and for this group transferring ahead,” Martinez mentioned. “Proper now, we’re at these bumpy roads, and we’ll see what occurs.”
For now, Tuesday’s starter towards the Braves and Max Fried is to be decided. Strasburg will go to the IL earlier than that recreation, making house for a recent arm. One possibility is Jackson Tetreault, who’s scheduled to pitch for Class AAA Rochester and would want a 40-man roster spot. The 26-year-old right-hander had a robust Could for the Pink Wings and has a 4.19 ERA in 12 begins. However whereas the pitching plans matter — the Nationals additionally must cowl a doubleheader towards the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday — Strasburg’s profession outlook is a far larger concern.
In August 2020, it was surgical procedure for carpal tunnel in his proper hand. In July 2021, it was surgical procedure for thoracic outlet syndrome, a significant process that has stored some pitchers from being the identical. However at this level, Strasburg can’t keep wholesome sufficient for the Nationals to see what’s left. He has missed the prime years of his megadeal. Quickly the query of subsequent steps will likely be reframed, if it hasn’t been already, as to whether Strasburg can ever be a relentless of any type in Washington’s rotation.
On one hand, he nonetheless has some time to get there, particularly as a result of the Nationals are rebuilding and never making any type of push this yr. However on the opposite, every of Strasburg’s steps appears to go within the flawed course.
“Stephen is right here — he’s going to be right here,” Martinez mentioned. “So we wish to make sure that we care for him now. Hopefully we get him again and once we do that will go.”