It could be a small point, but Monday night we might have actually witnessed where a still-young pitcher and his, um, more-experienced manager had a moment where they built a meaningful trust in one another.  Statheads like me have a tendency to minimize the human contact part of the game, but that type of influence is still strong in Major League clubhouses, especially with "old school" managers like the Nats' Davey Johnson.

In the sixth inning of last night's 4-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, starter Ross Detwiler of the Washington Nationals found himself in a situation.  Detwiler had been cruising to that point, allowing just two hits and no walks, looking very much like the guy the Nats figured he could be when they selected him with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2007 draft.

The first batter he faced in the inning was opposite pitcher Joe Saunders, and he greeted Detwiler with an infield single.  Detwiler got leadoff hitter Ryan Roberts to fly out to left and coaxed a ground ball from 2B Kelly Johnson to force Saunders at second.  All-Star Justin Upton then took a 0-1 pitch to left for a single, prompting a visit from pitching coach Steve McCatty.

Detwiler and Chris Young fought to a 3-2 count, but Detwiler missed low, loading the bases with the free pass.

It was at that point that manager Davey Johnson had a big decision to make.  With reliever Henry Rodriguez warmed up, should he leave his suddenly struggling starter in or go to the flame-throwing, but erratic, relief pitcher?

"I had a guy hot," Johnson said.

So it was an exercise it trust then, to let him work his way out of the jam he created?  Johnson replied, "No doubt about it."

"I wasn't real happy with the 3-2 pitch [to Young]," Johnson said. "It was... I don't know what it was.  I know it was 86 miles an hour.  But I have no idea what it was. I was thinking about going [to relieve Detwiler], but I said, 'No, I'm gonna see what he's made of right here.'"

Detwiler threw a ball to start off slugger Paul Goldschmidt, but the big first baseman hit the next offering, a 91-MPH sinker, on the ground to third where Ryan Zimmerman made a nice play to get a force out at second base to end the inning.

For his part, Detwiler played it off a little bit.  "I got myself into that jam by walking the guy with the changeup with a lead, so it's huge.  It was a tough hop for Zim. He made a good play on it."

It was a big spot for Detwiler to show Johnson and others in the Nats organization how far he's progressed as a pitcher.  But if Detwiler feels the opportunity he's had to get some starts in the waning part of the season gives him a leg up on any competition for the rotation next season, he isn't letting on.  "I'm just going out for every game now.  Next year is a long ways away.  I don't feel like I'm auditioning at all."

Detwiler may not feel like he's auditioning, but with roster expansion coming in a few days, it's expected that the Nationals will recall starting pitchers Tom Milone and Brad Peacock from AAA Syracuse.  And with several recent draftees pitching well in the minors, and two more high profile draft picks in Matt Purke and Alex Meyer under contract, the Nats are stockpiling young arms.

Detwiler is getting a chance to impress the Nats brass on the Major League level right now, with a spot in the opening day rotation being dangled in front of him.  Maybe wiggling out of a two out jam in the sixth inning Monday night helps him in that pursuit.  It sure showed his manager "what he's made of."

Early this season, Livan Hernandez was a revelation.  Brought in during spring training as an emergency option for the rotation, he was the staff leader, and through mid-June was pitching to a 2.28 ERA.

In his last six starts though, covering 38 2/3 innings, Livo is 1-2 with a 5.59 ERA and a .311/.352/.391 slash line.

Why do I bring this up?

Because those numbers fairly well mirror his season totals the last three seasons.  And for the simple fact that barring injury, Hernandez will spend the rest of the season in the Major League rotation.

Stephen Strasburg will most likely be shut down before Labor Day at this point.  Ross Detwiler and Jordan Zimmermann will ascend to the bigs at some point, but their performances will be monitored very closely as they return from injury.

Who knows if the Nats will ever see Chein-Ming Wang, Jason Marquis or Scott Olson on the hill this season?

John Lannan remains in exile.

The rest of the current rotation is performing at less-than-optimal levels such that the Nats haven't announced their rotation plans for this weekend's coming games past Strasburg starting Friday and Hernandez on Saturday.

For all the Nats talk about their inventory of pitchers, and how the cavalry is coming, one thing remains clear:  The Nats have to rely on Livan Hernandez the rest of the way out in the rotation -- for better or worse.

In his pre-game press conference, Manager Jim Riggleman addressed the possibilities for how the team will structure Stephen Strasburg's second half starts. 

While the plan is still in flux, Riggleman laid out some scenarios as to how the team will manage his innings, with the idea to limit the big right-handed rookie to roughly 160 innings for the entire season, including his minor league starts.

So far in 2010, Strasburg has thrown 36 2/3 innings in the Major Leagues, and another 55 1/3 in the minors between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse.  That would leave him about 68 innings for the rest of the season.

The team has stated in the past their desire to have him pitch into September, and in order to do so they will have to be somewhat clever in managing his workload.

Strasburg makes his final start of the first half Friday night against San Francisco.  Riggleman discussed two different scenarios, one where Strasburg would throw in the first series after the All-Star break in Florida against the Marlins, and one where his first start would come in the next series in Cincinnati.

"We feel like he's a good matchup against anybody, but we feel like there's a couple [matchups] we really wouldn't want him to miss," Riggleman said. "Depending on if he starts that first series or the second series, there's a matchup or two we would not have him in, where we feel like he's really got a chance to be successful against a couple particular ballclubs."

The break, and how the Nats line up their second-half rotation, could give Strasburg anywhere from seven to nine days off between starts.

Either way, the team will have to contemplate giving Strasburg an extra day of rest between some starts and perhaps skip a start or two for him to be able to pitch well into September.

If he averages seven innings per start with the 68 innings he has remaining to his target, that would give the phenom about 10 second half starts.  Riggleman mentioned the idea about "losing" a start due to rain, etc., but starting every fifth day with 10 starts gets Strasburg only to the first week of September, depending on when he makes his first post-All-Star game start.

The Nats would like to avoid the idea of shutting Strasburg down toward the end of the season.  Rather, they feel if they can manage his starts, and innings pitched, so that if they do have to shut him down it would just be for the final week or two of the season, and not most of the month of September.

The Nationals today sent J.D. Martin down to Triple-A, reducing the number of pitchers competing for the final spot in the rotation to two: Scott Olsen and Garrett Mock.

The spring training roster is down to 36.  Final cuts have to be made by Sunday evening.

Mock walked five yesterday in his latest appearance and was knocked around quite a bit, giving up seven hits and the five walks for six runs (five earned) over four and two-thirds innings. He struck out three.

Olsen is scheduled to start on Friday against Boston in his last chance to secure the roster spot. He was mildly effective in his last start, but still has not topped 86-87 MPH with his fastball. He may be "healthy", but also might not have enough arm strength built up to be a contributing member of a MLB rotation.

Today is the deadline the Nats have to release him or be on the hook for his entire 2010 salary of $1 million. So if the axe doesn't fall on Olsen today, he'll remain with the organization in some capacity.

So I was gone over the weekend.  Did I miss anything?

Of course I did.  Over the weekend, the Nats declared Ian Desmond the winner (sort of) of the starting shortstop job over incumbent Cristian Guzman, Justin Maxwell was sent to Triple-A, and the Nats re-opened a spot on the pitching staff we thought was previously closed.

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Let's start with the last idea above first.  Manager Jim Riggleman told reporters that John Lannan, Jason Marquis and Craig Stammen would start the first three games of the season.  With Livan Hernandez all but assured a spot, that leaves Garrett Mock, Scott Olsen and J.D. Martin in the running for the last spot.

Actually, they are probably fighting for the No. 4 spot, since Livo is on a minor league deal, he doesn't need to be activated until necessary, leaving a spot on both the active roster and the 40-man to another position player to start the season.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago Mock was penciled in at the No. 3, but all of the sudden, because Mock had some trouble in a minor league start and Olsen was semi-competent against a group of Florida Marlins, the spot is now up for grabs again.

Olsen has pitched 14.2 innings this spring.  He's surrendered 11 earned runs on 30 hits and a walk, striking out just six.

Olsen's given up more than two hits per inning.  His velocity hasn't been better than mid-80s.  He's due $1 million if he's in the organization on Wednesday.  These are all factors that should lead to his release, not inclusion in the pitching rotation.

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Justin Maxwell was demoted.  After the spring he's had (5-for 49), it's not shocking.  Of Maxwell, Riggleman said:

"I think that he's going to hit 25 home runs some day.  He's very aggressive on the bases. He's a guy who could hit 25 and steal 35. But he's just going to have to make more contact for that to really show itself. He knows he's going to do it. He's confident it's going to happen."

Nats fans need to take that with a grain of salt.  Maxwell had one minor league season (in 2007, split between low-A Hagerstown and high-A Potomac) where he put it all together to hit 27 homers and steal 35 on the nose.  But again, that was split between to A-level leagues, and he's always been advanced age-wise in the minors.

He's a career .257/.351/.442 in the minors.  He's 26.  The job was open.  He failed.

It leaves the right field situation in a great big mess.  Willie Harris is slated to play there opening day.  It's a position he's played exactly twice in a big league game.  Roger Bernadina, Willy Taveras and Mike Morse will probably all get looks there too.

Maxwell was the player the Nats hoped would win the job.  Now it's left up to three slap hitters and a corner infielder to man the spot.

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Finally, we get to the Great Shortstop Debate.

I wrote several times over the winter that the Nats should give the job to Desmond and let him sink or swim with it.  For a team like the Nats the decision should have been a no-brainer.  Desmond is 24, a six-year minor league veteran.  He blossomed last season after a couple of years toiling in the system. 

He showed in a September call-up that he wasn't going to be completely overmatched against big league pitching.  He has continued that into spring training, pacing the club in RBIs and getting on base consistently.

He posesses great athletic ability, speed, and acumen on defense.  He still has some issues on defense, though, and that gives the casual fan cause for concern.  It shouldn't.  Desmond has terrific range and a solid throwing arm, and he can work out his problems on the better fields of the major leagues.

Remember, the man that will stand 45 feet to Desmond's right on opening day had all sorts of throwing problems, clear up until the middle of the season last year.

Guzman is an old 32.  He has foot problems.  His on base percentage is terrible (zero walks this spring).  He has never had any power.  He's lost what speed he had at the beginning of his career.  His defensive range can be compared to a postage stamp.

To top it all off, off-season shoulder surgery has compromised his ability to make all the throws from his position.

All Guzman brings is an uncanny ability to get his bat on the ball; an empty batting average.

If Guzman wasn't due $8 million this year in the last of his reward contract given by former GM Jim Bowden, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

 

But now, the team has decided to make Guzman, who has played no other position in a regular season game, a super-utility, getting at bats at short, second and possibly even first base.  Riggleman even hedged his bets on Desmond, stating: 

"Desmond isn't going to be a 600 at-bat shortstop for us, because Guzman is going to play a lot of shortstop.  Guzman will get some games at second. Basically, there will be some days where I decide I want the right-handed bat of Guzman in there against certain left-handers. [Adam]Kennedy will get a day off on those days."

How about having some confidence in the kid?  His manager is already planning for his failure. 

"[Desmond] may not be playing good in May, so Guzman may be our shortstop. To open the season, we're going to give Dessie a shot there to hold that position down. We hope that works."

The Nats made the right decision, even if Desmond fails.  The point is to play him and find out if he's going to be a piece of the future.  They KNOW Guzman isn't.  But in order for this experiment to work, the Nats HAVE TO have a long leash with Desmond.

If Riggleman manages this team with the idea of winning ballgames this season, and benches a slumping Desmond for any period of time, then it's a waste of time and energy. 

Fans want to see wins this season, I understand that.  But good fans have to understand that to break this string of failure, desperate measures must be taken.  Desmond must be given every opportunity to succeed.  Not just into May, or even the all-star break.  They have to let the kid play.

While manager Jim Riggleman is saying all the right things (needs to face hitters with something "on the line", needs to pitch every fifth day, needs to pitch with adrenaline), the decision to have Stephen Strasburg start the season in the minors is based on one primary factor:  it will delay his arbitration eligiblity by a year and delay the date he can become a free agent.

This is not a new concept.  It happens all the time.  It's just particularly onerous in this instance because:

1. Strasburg is already the best pitcher the Nationals have.
2. Guys like Miguel Batista and Livan Hernandez are competing for rotation spots.
3. Scott Olsen has yet to prove that he's healthy.

In the long run, it doens't matter baseball-wise if Strasburg makes his MLB debut in April or June.  The Nats aren't going to contend for anything (including .500) this season anyway.  With a tough April-May schedule, and down two (or three) starters to begin the season, the team's record could get ugly quick, with a  long road to go to dig out from the results.

It matters more what the rotation looks like at the end of the season rather than the beginning.

At that point, we could see a rotation of Marquis, Lannan, Wang, Strasburg and "next best".  Substitute Jordan Zimmermann for "next best" at the start of 2011, and you might have something there.

It's just tough to look at the start of 2011 before the 2010 season even starts.

Posted by Cheryl Nichols

We hadn't even pulled out of the parking lot after the game when we heard Charlie and Dave say the words that we have been waiting to hear for weeks...."Alex Cintron has been designated for assignment." It is about time.

Roster changes were announced during press conference following game.

Elijah Dukes was placed on the 15-day DL with a left hamstring strain, retroactive to May 18th. Maybe someone can explain to me why this could not have been done earlier in the day so that Maxwell could have been in the dugout tonight. Justin Maxwell will be back tomorrow to share time in CF with Willie Harris.

For the first time in Nationals history, the team will carry thirteen pitchers. Jason Bergmann will join the bullpen in middle relief. In Syracuse Bergy is 1-0 with a 1.10 ERA and one save in 12 games. He has walked five and struck out 11 in 16 1/3 innings. This is Bergmann's second stint with the Nationals this season. The first time around he had a 3.60 ERA in three games while holding opponents to a .167 batting average.

Other News:

-Ross Detwiler earned another start. Detwiler will be on the mound on Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles instead of heading north to Syracuse. Congratulations Ross. We are happy to have you.

-Joel Hanrahan declared closer again. The closer by committee idea was not working. Now we just need Joel to be "mean" and throw strikes and make batters nervous to face him.

-Nats think they will draft Stephen Strasburg. This is what we all want and hopefully it will actually happen.

-Nick Johnson being scouted by Red Sox and Mets?