Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Werth, LaRoche, Tracy limited in workout

US Presswire photo
Jayson Werth has been hampered by back spasms the last few days.
VIERA, Fla. -- Though they've been fortunate not to suffer any injuries of consequence so far in big-league camp this spring, the Nationals are dealing with several nagging issues that have thinned the ranks at workouts the last few days.

Four players did not participate fully during today's session: outfielder Jayson Werth (back), first baseman Adam LaRoche (ankle), utilityman Chad Tracy (knee) and right-hander Yunesky Maya (flu-like symptoms).

The Nationals consider none of the ailments significant at this point and all were held out more for precautionary reasons than anything, according to manager Davey Johnson, who said he made the decisions to hold them out.

"I would just rather [take one] step back, [then] take two steps forward rather than keep plodding along," Johnson said. "And that was strictly on me. That was not anything from the training room. They all had the green light."

Werth missed yesterday's workout entirely with back spasms. He was still dealing with the issue this morning, though he did take an early round of batting practice on his own, shagged flies later and ran conditioning drills with his teammates.

Even so, it's possible the veteran right fielder won't begin appearing in exhibition games until the middle of next week.

"I got the impression from the way he went about it last year that he didn't feel an urgent need to jump right in and get it going," Johnson said. "He had his own schedule in mind. And with the injury, I was going to give him a couple of at-bats in the home game here [Sunday against the Astros], but I might postpone that upon further review and discussions with him."

Though he's coming back from major shoulder surgery, LaRoche at the moment is actually dealing with a minor ankle sprain suffered during a baserunning drill yesterday. Not wanting to push the veteran first baseman too fast too soon, Johnson held him out of all drills today.

That said, Johnson has been pleased with what he's seen so far this spring from LaRoche and has no overarching concerns about the state of his surgically repaired shoulder.

"He looks fine," the manager said. "And he feels good. He feels real good hitting."

Tracy, the 31-year-old corner infielder trying to make the roster off a minor-league contract, received a cortisone shot in his knee, according to Johnson. That would likely keep him sidelined for at least a couple of days.

Maya, meanwhile, has been sick for several days with flu-like symptoms and has been held out as a result.

As a general rule of thumb, Johnson doesn't like to take any chances with players dealing with these kind of nagging ailments.

"I don't get in people's chests and say: 'You've got to play today through injury or whatever,'" he said. "I've always, if they had a problem ... I want to nip it in the bud. And I also want to tell the other guys I have all the confidence in the world that they can do it. It just carries over in the spring."

27 comments:

Tcostant said...

The Nationals playoff chance just got a lot better:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/29/report-expanded-playoffs-will-be-a-go-for-2012/

89 or 90 wins should be enough for last playoff spot.

Rob Wilfong said...

I'd rather have Jesus Colome's boil-ridden butt cheek on the roster than Yunesky Maya.

Sunderland said...

Rob Wilfong makes me laugh, a lot, out loud even. There oughtta be an acronym...

Anonymous said...

Nice, how scary are $126M back spasms?

Zuckerman seems to have a new post rolling out whenever the comments start to get negative (and relaistic) on Desmond's inadequacies, btw. No wodner Mark's been so active lately.

Soul Possession, PFB Sofa said...

Rob Wilfong, you have to pray harder.

Anonymous said...

Anybody wishing for Jesus Colome's return must not have been to many games in person. He pitched like he was trying to snare the title 'Human Rain Delay' away from Mike Hargrove. Having seen both of them play in person, I can attest to the fact that there wasn't much difference. We used to time Colome from pitch-to-pitch, there wasn't much else to do.

Soul Possession, PFB Sofa said...

You know you're not just a bandwagon newbie fan if you see that picture of Werth and the second thing you think (after "OMG") is "House of David."

Soul Possession, PFB Sofa said...

No points if you thought of ZZ Top instead.

Soul Possession, PFB Sofa said...

And can I just mention here how much I'm enjoying the non-gatekeeper version here, for as long as it lasts?

N. Cognito said...

Anonymous said...
"We used to time Colome from pitch-to-pitch, there wasn't much else to do."

Who the heck brings a calendar to the ballpark?

Soul Possession, PFB Sofa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SFNats said...

Only a couple days until ST games start and maybe we can stop worrying about who sat out practice for a hangnail and who missed because of a hangover.

UnkyD said...

@3:26: lmao!!! The schedule you describe would resemble "Every hour, on the hour".... Everybody saying its make or break, for Desi this year, is absolutely right! Even as Lead Desi Booster, I have to admit that. If he's not playing well O&D by ASB, we'll prolly see Lombo. If he's not one of the better SSs in the league, by season's end, it'll be a little the Rendon picture will look a little clearer. The thing is, even if he plays his hiney off, it may just serve to enhance his ultimate trade value. THAT'S how much infield talent we have on the verge, in the next couple of years. After all, Werth, Zim, Stras, Zimnn, Gio, Rendon, Harper... It won't be possible to extend EVERYbody for big $$ 5 years from now...

I'm getting high, just thinking about it.....mmmmmm....

MicheleS said...

You know what is really going to stink for us (not for Mrs Z or Brian)? When Mark has to come back to DC next week.

UnkyD said...

To be clear: I absolutely expect My Boy to make it excruciating to let him go!!

GoYouFreakingDesiGuy!!!!!

James Bjork said...

I suspect Mark will "bank" a series of one or two "human interest" pieces to roll out each day he's back in the DC area.

N. Cognito said...

"It won't be possible to extend EVERYbody for big $$ 5 years from now..."

Desmond is a turnover guy - one of those middle of the roadish talent-wise players that you eventually trade to bring in fresh meat. He's not good enough for a large or long contract extension and not bad enough to simply release. Teams get into trouble by keeping guys like Desmond too long.

I. M. Weisenheimer said...

"...boil-ridden butt cheek..."

Were you a close friend of Jesus Colome's?

I never saw that from where I was sitting.

Sunderland said...

Headline - "Jim Bowden Is Really Concerned About Jesus Colome's Bum"
Link - http://tinyurl.com/8xx5hbp

Soul Possession, PFB Sofa said...

I never saw that from where I was sitting.

The pictures were all over Twitter...

Sunderland said...

Sec 3, what's the deal with the shuffling avatar picture thingys?
I hate to ask to have things explained and force you to make me feel like a moron, but I'll take that risk for both of us.
FWIW - I miss the typing monkey.

FYI - I killed my logo picture thing in a paranoid attempt to keep Google from controlling my every thought.

Anonymous said...

Werth, Zim, Stras, Zimnn, Gio, Rendon, Harper...

Hague, Kobernus, and Hood are in that "wave" with Rendon.

Next wave has Freitas, Taylor, Keyes, and Skole.

But with the Solis surgery the pitching situation could get kind of dire. They may have to send Lannan with Maya to Syracuse as veteran depth. Lannan will likely ask to be traded though ... hopefully, Bradley Meyers gets returned to the Nats and Rosenbaum replaces Milone in Syracuse.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully Laroche and Werth are alright, but it seems that every single major injury begins with assurances that it's "just a minor ailment" and/or "we're holding him out of workouts as a precaution; if this was a regular season game he'd be on the field". Patterson, Hill, Laroche (last year), Zimmerman, etc.

Anonymous said...

Which wave is bringing in Brian Goodwin?

Bozo said...

Perhaps all that hair has caused Werth to pull a muscle in his back.

natsfan1a said...

fwiw2, I also miss the typing monkey. And I don't think you're paranoid, Sunderland.

Sunderland said...

Sec 3, what's the deal with the shuffling avatar picture thingys?
I hate to ask to have things explained and force you to make me feel like a moron, but I'll take that risk for both of us.
FWIW - I miss the typing monkey.

FYI - I killed my logo picture thing in a paranoid attempt to keep Google from controlling my every thought.
February 29, 2012 4:30 PM

natsfan1a said...

In other news, was waiting for my husband to finish at the gym, so I picked up a copy of ESPN (the magazine) that was lying around. Very interesting piece on A's pitcher Brandon McCarthy and sabermetrics.

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