-- Jason Marquis had successful surgery today in Cincinnati to remove bone chips from his right elbow. The team is now saying it will be eight weeks before he's ready to pitch in a major-league game again. General manager Mike Rizzo remains confident Marquis will come back and pitch the way the club expected when it signed him to a two-year, $15 million contract, insisting the right-hander's struggles in his three April starts were strictly a product of the injury. "I'm a big track record guy," Rizzo said. "I always believed he was going to revert back to what he's always been. And this has kind of verified it." Based on the eight-week timeframe, Marquis would be due to rejoin the Nationals' rotation in mid-July. "It's like making a trade," Rizzo said. "You get an All-Star at the trade deadline, a guy who pitched in the All-Star Game last year. You get him two months from now, and I think it will be a big boost for the club."
-- John Lannan said his elbow emerged from last night's start feeling "fine." He played catch, just as he would the day after any start. He'll throw a bullpen session tomorrow and is scheduled to start Tuesday in St. Louis. Lannan believes the only reason his elbow/forearm tightened up in the fifth inning last night was due to the combination of the cold weather and the Nats' long top of the fifth while scoring four runs. "It just feels better today than it did last night, which is good," he said. "It sucks that it had to happen. But hopefully with the warmer weather, it won't happen again." Lannan is confident this won't be a lingering issue, that once he pitches in better conditions again, this will all be forgotten: "If it's 90 degrees and this thing flares up again, then we need to talk."-- Josh Willingham was not in tonight's original lineup after "tweaking" his groin running to first base during last night's game. Manager Jim Riggleman said the left fielder should be able to play one of tomorrow's two games.
-- Ivan Rodriguez also was not in the original lineup tonight as Riggleman sought to give his catcher a break after a long game last night in nasty conditions. Pudge will probably catch tomorrow's opener, though, with Wil Nieves catching the nightcap. Either way, Riggleman plans to make a concerted effort to give Rodriguez a few more games off moving forward. He's on pace at the moment to play in 128 games by season's end, far more than the team prefers. Riggleman would like him to finish more in the 112-115 range.
-- Mike Morse is down to his final days on rehab at Class AAA Syracuse. The outfielder must be activated off the 15-day DL by Tuesday. Rizzo said Morse (who is hitting .261 with two homers and seven RBI in 13 games on his rehab assignment) will rejoin the Nationals' roster, meaning someone else has to go. Willy Taveras: All eyes are on you.
10 comments:
Mark,
How's Jesus Flores rehabbing? I much prefer his bat in the line-up over Nieves.
Spike: Flores is just starting to face live pitching for the first time down in Viera. Still has a ways to go.
Is the offer to Jermaine Dye still on the table? Just wondering if he'd reconsider since the Nats are playing better than expected.
In other news, MLB Network is featuring the Phillies/Brewers game. Philadelphia is featuring the powder blue throwback unis and, in another nod to old times, their bullpen catcher will be using a spyglass rather than binoculars. Let's see, it's one if by fastball; two if by changeup. No, wait...
HAHA LOL @ natsfan1a.... thanks for putting a smile on my face after finding out no game tonight :)
Rizzo can try to make the Marquis situation into something good, but the fact is that Marquis already had bone chips in his arm when he signed. Someone (Rizzo?) didn't have a problem with that! Since GMs are using someone else's money that disposition is understandable, if not inexcusable.
Do we really know that someone knew he had bone chips? I don't remember reading that anywhere but maybe I missed it. Cdn't it have developed after his pre-contract medical exam? BTW, when I saw my orthopedist a couple of weeks ago, I asked him if Marquis cd really hope to pitch w/o surgery (this was before they decided to go ahead with it). He said he thought the team was hoping he cd last through the season (or part of it)& have the surgery later. He said that sometimes chips go into some sort of pocket thing under (?) the triceps and don't cause much trouble if they stay there. Swear to God, that's what he said, at least as I remember it.
Of course, we're missing the true news here that everyone in Natstown wants to know: why didn't Zim get to where the Elvis wig in any interviews after hitting two dingers and getting a career high in RBI?
I can't imagine Zim putting up with the silver Elvis wig...
Considering the way Marquis pitched at the end of last season and in spring training, I would say the floating bodies were already there. He had been pitching poorly before he had any medical exam or signed any contract.
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