THE BELTWAY BOYS: Injury Bug Continues To Attack Nationals

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Injury Bug Continues To Attack Nationals

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In my 40 years of following major league baseball, I have never seen anything like it. Oh, key players have gone down, and teams fortunes have been altered by the loss of a Tony Conigliaro, a Harmon Killebrew or a Nomar Garciaparra. No question about that. But never have I ever seen so many players lose so much playing time, all on one team.

As of this moment, the Nationals disabled list looks like this:

Henry Mateo - shoulder
Jose Vidro - ankle
Termel Sledge - hamstring
Joey Eischen - broken arm
Alex Escobar - arm
T.J. Tucker - arm
Antonia Osuna - arm
Francis Beltran - arm
Wil Cordero - knee

In addition, Jeffrey Hammonds will be placed on the disabled list Monday. Further, there is the walking wounded:

Jose Guillen - ribcage
Christian Guzman - hamstring
Vinny Castilla - sore knee - expected to miss the entire Reds series
Brad Wilkerson - forearm - expected to miss 5 - 7 games

The Nationals have done an exceptional job fighting through these injuries. My guess is they would have another 2-3 wins had they remained healthy. But that is in the past. The question becomes: How will the injuries efect the future of the team? For the next through weeks, games will have to be won with timely hitting, steady defense and quality pitching.

Fortunately, the Nationals are capable of all three. We'll just have to see.

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 10:04 PM

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Rasner Rocks For Yanks

What was it that Jim Bowden said when he lost Darrell Rasner to the Yankees through waivers last winter? Wasn't it something like, "C'mon, it wasn't like he was going to make an impact at the major league level?" Well Jimbo, it seems like some of your "minor" transactions are coming back to haunt you.

Rasner, a 6'3" righty from Carson City, Nevada, was waived February 11th by the Nationals, just a couple of weeks before the start of spring training. He was picked up and assigned to 'AAA' Columbus. He had some injuries this year, but it didn't effect his pitching. In 58 innings for the Clippers, Rasner went 4-0, 2.76. But wait. There's more.

Pitching on Sunday against the Twins, Rasner pitched 6 strong innings, allowing just 1 run on 6 hits. In two starts, he's now 1-0, 1.17.

What do you always like to say, Jim, something about "You can never have enough pitching?" Let's see, you waived Rasner, and he's starting for the Yankees. You waived Claudio Vargas, and he's starting for the Diamondbacks. You waived Byung Young Kim, and he's starting for the Rockies. You traded Tomo Ohka for a guy no longer in the major leagues, and he's starting for the Brewers.

Jim, if I were you, I'd stay away from the waiver wire. Seems like you haven't figured it that it's supposed to help the team, not hurt it.

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Big Changes, Little Names

Big happenings? Nah. Just happenings. Zach Day was designated for assignment by the Colorado Rockies and Capitol Punishment is reporting that the Nats have claimed him off the waiver wire. So we ended up getting Preston Wilson for nothing. That's nice. Billy Traber, he of the tight leash, was sent down to New Orleans and replaced by Mike O'Connor.

That's all well and good, but don't look to any of these moves making a difference in the play of the team. But hey, it's something to talk about. Right?