On Harper, Strasburg and the 2012 Tigers

Last night on "The Baseball Show," Rob Carlin, Jim Duquette and I discussed the pending return of both Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg from the disabled list, and why all the panic over Harper's trip to see Dr. James Andrews probably was unwarranted.

We also made some interesting comparisons to this year's Nationals club and four pennant winners from the last decade who actually had worse records than this current Nats team through their first 65 games: the 2003 Marlins, 2005 Astros, 2007 Rockies and 2012 Tigers. I think last season's Detroit squad offers some very good parallels to this season's team in D.C., as you'll see in the above clip.

And in this week's Minor League Spotlight, Chase Hughes takes a look at Danny Rosenbaum, who has been perhaps the most consistent member of the rotation at Class AAA Syracuse and could put himself in line for a promotion to D.C. later this season

You can find the Harper/Strasburg and Rosenbaum clips below...

Catching up with Danny Rosenbaum

Photo by USA Today

With the Nationals experiencing an inordinate amount of injuries this season, a revolving door of opportunity has opened up for players in their minor league system. Through 62 games in 2013, they have already produced five major league debuts and needed eleven total call-ups.

Specifically with pitching, the Nationals have already needed more reinforcements for their starting rotation than they did all of last season. They have called on veteran Zach Duke out of the bullpen, rookie Nathan Karns from Harrisburg, and are expected to bring up Ross Ohlendorf from Triple-A for Wednesday in Colorado.

Still waiting for his own call-up is Syracuse lefty Danny Rosenbaum, who is as close to realizing his MLB dream as he’s ever been. In his fifth year as part of the Nationals’ minor league system, Rosenbaum is 5-3 with a 3.44 ERA for the Chiefs this season. He has succeeded at each of the Nats’ affiliates with a career 2.91 ERA in the minors.

Knowing it could happen any day now, Rosenbaum is trying to focus on the task at hand and taking care of business at Syracuse. He said it can be distracting to think about it too much and believes it affected his performance last year.

“It’s really good to see all these guys get called up,” he said. “But it’s something that I can’t really stress about or worry about. I think that’s what I did last year and that’s when I started getting in trouble. I was thinking about all the wrong things. I need to stay focused on what we’re doing and just keep pitching.” 

Nats get Rosenbaum back from Rockies

VIERA, Fla. -- The Nationals have received Rule 5 draft pick Daniel Rosenbaum back from the Rockies, re-acquiring a left-hander who could serve as rotation insurance this season.

Rosenbaum, 25, was selected by the Rockies in December's Rule 5 draft and was making a bid to crack their Opening Day roster. He allowed four runs in eight innings of work this spring, but Colorado's late signing of veteran right-hander Jon Garland ate up the last available spot on the pitching staff and made Rosenbaum expendable.

Per Rule 5 regulations, the Rockies were required to pass Rosenbaum through waivers and then offer him back to the Nationals for $25,000 (one-half of the original cost to draft him). The Nationals elected to re-acquire him and plan to have him join the rotation at Class AAA Syracuse to begin the season.

A 22nd-round pick in 2009 out of Xavier University, Rosenbaum

Nats lose Rosenbaum, Kobernus

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Having spent the better portion of their history swiping minor leaguers from other, more talent-laden organizations through the Rule 5 draft, the Nationals now are finding out what it's like to have their own prospects plucked away.

The Nationals lost two players this morning in the major-league portion of the annual event that closes the Winter Meetings: left-hander Danny Rosenbaum (who went to the Rockies) and second baseman Jeff Kobernus (who went to the Red Sox).

The Nationals then lost left-hander Jack McGeary (Red Sox) and right-hander Hector Nelo (Dodgers) during the Class AAA portion of the draft.

The club didn't select anyone in any of the draft's three rounds.

Though neither was expected to have a significant impact on the Nationals' big-league roster next season, Rosenbaum and Kobernus each were highly regarded in the organization and could have been needed for depth in the next year or two.

"You set your rosters and you know you're always taking chances on losing any of your prospects," assistant general manager Bryan

Who needs to be protected?

US Presswire photo

Mike Rizzo has some roster decisions to make today.

One of baseball's many obscure deadlines strikes tonight at midnight, when players eligible for the Rule 5 draft must be added to their club's 40-man rosters or else risk being snatched away by other organizations.

Rarely do these decisions result in total disaster for teams -- how many people even remember the Nationals lost Brad Meyers and Erik Komatsu in last year's Rule 5 draft, and how many of those remember both players were ultimately returned to the organization? -- but there's always a chance a team could make a major miscalculation and lose a top prospect.

So general manager Mike Rizzo and his player development folks have some important decisions to make before the end of the night.

For the uninitiated (or the confused) here's a quick refresher course on how this all works...

-- Any players in the Nationals' organization who signed at age 18 and have played in parts of at least five seasons, plus any who