DENVER – Though he made it only two days into the season before landing on the injured list, Corey Dickerson is traveling with the Nationals and hoping his stint off the active roster is a short one.

Dickerson, who suffered a left calf strain Saturday against the Braves and was placed on the 10-day IL the following morning, flew with the Nats to Colorado and will spend this road trip rehabbing. The veteran left fielder is already taking light swings in the cage.

“I wanted him here,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s feeling better each and every day, which is a good sign.”

Though he’s able to swing a bat, Dickerson has not tested his leg yet. Martinez said that will probably happen first on an AlterG treadmill, after which a decision will be made if he can progress to the field.

Dickerson technically is eligible to return one week from today. Given how few at-bats he was able to take before suffering the injury, he may need to go on a minor league rehab assignment before coming off the IL.

In setting their Opening Day roster this morning, the Nationals officially placed six players on the injured list, including Stephen Strasburg.

Strasburg (thoracic outlet syndrome), Cade Cavalli (Tommy John surgery), Tanner Rainey (Tommy John surgery) and Victor Arano (right shoulder strain) all were placed on the 60-day IL. Those moves cleared up four spots on the 40-man roster, which went to the four players who made the club off minor-league deals: Chad Kuhl, Michael Chavis, Anthony Banda and Hobie Harris.

Carter Kieboom (right shoulder impingement) and Israel Pineda (right finger fracture) were placed on the 10-day IL, though neither is expected to be ready to return in such little time. Kieboom, who is still coming back from Tommy John surgery last year, has only been able to DH in minor league spring games. Pineda, who was struck by a foul ball in early March, has resumed throwing but was not yet hitting when camp concluded.

Though Strasburg’s inclusion on the 60-day IL was no surprise, the transaction does underscore the right-hander’s current predicament. Unable to throw off a mound without discomfort since making his one and only start last season, he is currently not participating in any baseball activities.

General manager Mike Rizzo said he met in person Wednesday with Strasburg, whose locker remains full of gear even though he was not present at spring training and won’t be at the ballpark for the season opener.

With just one more exhibition game against the Yankees this afternoon, eyes are starting to look ahead to the start of the regular season against the Braves on Thursday.

We’ve figured for some time how the Nationals rotation would be lined up to start the season: Patrick Corbin was officially announced as the Opening Day starter on Friday, with Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore, Trevor Williams and Chad Kuhl (replacing the injured Cade Cavalli) seemingly following suit.

Manager Davey Martinez, keeping his cards close to his chest, confirmed Corbin will get the ball for Opening Day on Thursday and Gray will start the second game of the season Saturday.

“I know who's going to start on Thursday,” Martinez said with a grin during his first pregame meeting with the media back in the press conference room at Nationals Park. “I can tell you Gray will start the second game.”

Williams and Gore are both scheduled to pitch three innings today, with the right-hander getting the start based solely on his veteran status. That means they will both be in line to pitch Sunday for the series finale against the Braves.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Matt Adams is going to fly home with the Nationals tonight, play in Tuesday’s exhibition finale against the Yankees and attend the team’s annual charity gala that evening. And then, if he doesn’t get a big league offer from another organization, the veteran slugger will report to Triple-A Rochester and hope he gets called up sometime this season.

Adams came to this conclusion Saturday night after consultation with his wife and his agent, hours after he was informed by manager Davey Martinez he wasn’t going to make the Opening Day roster despite a strong showing at the plate throughout spring training.

“It’s tough to hear, especially coming in and doing everything I possibly could to put myself in the position to possibly have my name called to be on the roster,” the 34-year-old said. “But I totally understand. I can walk away with my head held high. I’m very proud of the way I came in and handled myself, and the way I went about my business, the teammate that I was and all the knowledge I gave to the younger guys. That was a blast. It was a lot of fun. I’m going to just continue to put the uniform on and play the game that I love.”

A member of the Nationals’ 2019 World Series roster, Adams hasn’t been a regular in the big leagues since. He played in 16 games for the Braves in 2020, 22 games for the Rockies in 2021 and then spent the entire 2022 season playing independent ball in Kansas City.

After sending letters to all 30 clubs over the winter, Adams was given a chance to come back to the Nationals this spring as a non-roster invitee. With a new perspective on his career – he said he fell back in love with the game last season – he looked good at the plate, batting .333 (13-for-39) with five doubles and a home run.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – There are added responsibilities that come with a $50 million contract extension, and Keibert Ruiz knows what awaits him now that he has committed to the Nationals for at least eight more years.

But do those responsibilities include becoming a leadoff hitter?

No, despite what Davey Martinez’s lineup card looks like today.

Ruiz is indeed batting first for the Nats’ exhibition game against the Astros, but it’s not something anyone should expect to see in the regular season.

The simple answer is that Martinez wants to make sure Ruiz gets a chance to take as many at-bats as possible while catching the fewest number of innings possible before departing for the day.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – In his perfect world, Davey Martinez would have a left-hander in his Opening Day bullpen. Two of them, actually.

By now, though, the Nationals manager probably realizes there’s no such thing as a perfect world. Certainly not when it comes to this specific area.

It’s been a near-annual struggle since Martinez joined the organization to find consistently effective left-handed relievers. He’s had 10 lefties make at least 10 appearances since 2018. Only two have produced an ERA under 4.00: Sean Doolittle and Brad Hand.

Hand, of course, was only here for four months during the 2021 season before he was traded to the Blue Jays. And Doolittle, while dominant at times, has dealt with multiple injuries and is currently attempting to return from elbow surgery that limited him to five games last season.

The Nats, ideally, would love to develop guys from within their own farm system. And they believe they have two such candidates in big league camp this spring in Jose Ferrer and Matt Cronin. Each has shown promise through the first two weeks of exhibition play. Then each struggled mightily Thursday night during a 9-0 loss to Team Israel.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Sean Doolittle reported for spring training at full strength, and he joined his Nationals teammates as a full participant through the first week-plus of camp. He started thinking about making the Opening Day roster, completing his recovery from surgery to repair a torn elbow ligament in near-record time.

That’s when the team’s medical staff stepped in and questioned if the veteran left-hander should be pushing himself to that extent. And after some consultation, they came to the conclusion it wasn’t worth it.

That’s why Doolittle has been ramped down for the moment. He’s not throwing a ball this week, focusing instead on strengthening exercises. He doesn’t know exactly when he’ll start ramping up again, but he insists none of this was precipitated by any kind of setback.

“Nothing specifically happened,” he said. “I think when we started to look at what it was going to take to ramp up, and where I was at, I was ahead of schedule probably by almost a month. I did have some days when I was a little more sore than I had been throwing in the offseason. Nothing bad, but we started thinking about it. We’re so far ahead, let’s slow it down a little bit.”

The upshot of all that: Doolittle probably won’t be ready for Opening Day, a goal he initially set for himself when he underwent an internal brace procedure to repair his torn elbow ligament last summer. In the end, hitting that particular milestone wasn’t as important as making sure his arm is ready to handle the rigors of daily usage that comes during a long season.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The most newsworthy aspect of Sean Doolittle’s spring so far is perhaps the fact there hasn’t been anything all that newsworthy to report.

Doolittle has been throwing off a mound since Christmas. He’s faced live hitters. He’s talking about the importance of pitching back-to-back days before the end of camp.

This is all normal stuff for any reliever at this time of year. Whether he’s trying to come back from a still-fledgling elbow surgery or not.

“I feel really good about everything we’ve done, and it’s been a long time since I had any doubts going into any throwing that we’ve done,” Doolittle said. “I have built up a lot of trust with it.”

Though he wanted to believe this would be the case all along, Doolittle had to have at least a few doubts creeping through his mind after he made the decision in July to undergo an internal brace procedure, a less-invasive alternative to Tommy John surgery that repairs but doesn’t replace a torn ulnar collateral ligament in a pitcher’s elbow.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Sixty-seven players (27 of those non-roster invitees) will participate in big league camp for the Nationals this spring, a list that includes a combination of familiar names of the past and newcomers looking to make a name for themselves for the first time.

With the first official workout of spring training underway this afternoon, the Nats announced their full list of non-roster invitees to major league camp. Among those here are 11 players who have been in the majors with the team before: pitchers Sean Doolittle, Andres Machado, Evan Lee, Jackson Tetreault, Francisco Perez, Alberto Baldonado and Tommy Romero; first baseman Matt Adams; infielder Lucius Fox; and outfielders Yadiel Hernández and Donovan Casey.

Doolittle, who returns on a minor league deal after missing the majority of 2022 with an elbow injury, and Adams, who is back with the club three years after winning a World Series ring, are familiar veterans hoping to force their way onto the Opening Day roster.

The others all were in the big leagues at some point in the last two seasons but were designated for assignment and dropped off the 40-man roster. They’ll now attempt to make it back, albeit as non-roster invitees.

The Nationals added several veterans this winter with major league experience on minor league contracts, headlined by pitchers Wily Peralta, Alex Colomé and Chad Kuhl; plus infielder Michael Chavis.

We’ve reached the final countdown to spring training, so we’re counting down the biggest storylines facing the Nationals this spring in West Palm Beach. We continue today with a look at players not on the team’s 40-man roster who might still have a shot to make the Opening Day roster …

For a team coming off a miserable, 107-loss season, the Nationals don’t appear to have that many jobs up for grabs this spring. Assuming perfect health – it’s never a good idea to assume perfect health, by the way – we could probably pencil in nine everyday position players, five starting pitchers, at least four relievers and a couple bench guys before anyone has officially reported to West Palm Beach.

Which isn’t to suggest there can’t still be some surprises in store over the next six weeks. Or that everyone who heads north with the club has to come from the pre-existing 40-man roster.

The Nats haven’t formally announced how many players in total will be in big league camp, but we already know there will be a healthy number of players invited to compete who signed non-guaranteed, minor league deals over the winter. Some of them, actually, are very well-known players, including a couple with significant recent history with this organization.

None of these players is assured of a job come March 30, but all of them should have a legitimate chance to make their case to the coaching staff and front office this spring. And if anybody does enough to stand out from the crowd, there’s ample reason to believe a roster spot or two could be created for them.

When Sean Doolittle was traded to the Nationals on July 16, 2017, it was for sure a major change in his career. He was going from the last-place Athletics to the first-place Nats.

What he probably didn’t know at the time was that it was a major life change for him and his soon-to-be wife, Eireann Dolan.

Doolittle brought a lot of value to the Nationals in that trade with the Athletics in that he was under team control for three more seasons after the 2017 campaign ended. After recording a 2.40 ERA and 21 saves to help the Nats win the National League East in 2017, he pitched to a 3.20 ERA and 1.047 WHIP while striking out 132 and walking just 25 with 54 saves over the next three seasons.

Of course, he helped the Nationals win the 2019 World Series, and he was given the Good Guy Award as voted on by members of the local media in each of his first three full seasons with the club.

This offseason, he added some new hardware to his mantle. Doolittle and Dolan were both included in a group of 11 locals who were named Washingtonians of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine in December. It’s an annual honor the publication awards to people “who make our region an even better place.”

When he made the decision in July to have a relatively new and somewhat unproven procedure on his injured left elbow, Sean Doolittle was confident he’d be ready to pitch again come spring training. But because he was going to be a free agent at season’s end, he figured he’d still be unemployed in late-January, hoping he could show enough progress in his rehab to convince some club to sign him shortly before camps opened.

Instead, Doolittle found himself last week packing his things for an early departure to West Palm Beach, Fla. The left-hander and his wife, Eireen Dolan, are about to report to camp two weeks before pitchers and catchers are required to arrive, having known since early-November he was returning to the Nationals on a minor league deal with a good shot to make the Opening Day roster.

“It was a bit of a surprise,” Doolittle said in an interview for MASN’s Nationals Hot Stove Show. “I was mentally prepared to go through the offseason and then have to show teams I was ready for camp sometime in January or early-February. Maybe do like a showcase bullpen, or something like that. So it was best-case scenario when they reached out.”

Knowing he wouldn’t need to worry about where he was going to pitch in 2023, Doolittle instead spent all winter preparing himself to pitch again. After completing a five-month rehab program following the internal brace procedure he underwent in July, he began throwing off a bullpen mound just after Christmas. He has since thrown about 10 more, gradually increasing the volume and the intensity of his pitches.

All of which should leave Doolittle reporting for camp in shape no different than any other healthy pitcher on the roster.

For the first time in a long time, the bullpen was the Nationals’ biggest strength this season.

After so many years (in which they did win, I might add) of trusting unproven closers and acquiring top relief pitchers through trade deadline deals, general manager Mike Rizzo constructed a bullpen mostly through waiver claims and minor league deals that proved to be more than adequate for manager Davey Martinez.

Nine of the 11 relievers with at least 23 appearances out of the ‘pen produced a FanGraphs WAR of 0.1 or better. Only Andres Machado (51 appearances, -0.1 fWAR) and Steve Cishek (69 appearances, -0.3 fWAR) were left out of the bullpen’s top 10 in fWAR, which includes Sean Doolittle’s 0.3 in just six appearances.

Looking even further, they produced some impressive numbers.

Kyle Finnegan posted a 3.51 ERA and 1.140 WHIP with 11 saves in 66 ⅔ innings over 66 games. Carl Edwards Jr. had a 2.76 ERA and 1.226 WHIP in 62 innings over 57 games. Erasmo Ramirez recorded a 2.92 ERA and 1.077 WHIP in 80 ⅓ innings over 58 relief appearances en route to being named Nationals Pitcher of the Year. And Tanner Rainey had a 3.30 ERA, 1.300 WHIP and 12 saves before his season was cut short due to injury.

Can you believe a month has passed since the end of the Nationals' season? (Though, to be fair, it doesn't feel nearly as long as the last month of the Nats' season felt, am I right?)

Having stayed quiet throughout October as the baseball world was focused on the postseason, the Nationals now are getting to work on an offseason that could produce some dramatic changes to the organization on the ownership front while simultaneously producing very little change to a roster that still has plenty of needs. The moves so far (re-signing Sean Doolittle to a minor-league deal, declining Nelson Cruz's $16 million option) haven't come as much surprise. Perhaps there will be something unexpected as things progress.

Despite the lack of hard news, you surely have plenty of questions you'd like to ask. And I've got some time this morning to attempt to answer them to the best of my ability. As always, submit your questions in the comments section below, then check back for my replies throughout the morning ...

The Nationals are bringing back Sean Doolittle in 2023, re-signing the popular, rehabbing reliever only hours after he officially became a free agent.

Doolittle, who appeared in only five games last season before suffering a major elbow injury, agreed to terms on a minor league contract that includes an invitation to big league camp next spring. He’ll attempt to prove he’s healthy again and make the opening day bullpen.

The 36-year-old left-hander rejoined the Nationals on a $1.5 million major league contract this spring after spending 2021 with the Reds and Mariners. He immediately looked like the best version of himself from his first stint with the organization (2017-20), tossing 5 1/3 scoreless innings during the season’s first two weeks, not even allowing a batter to reach base until his sixth appearance.

But Doolittle experienced left elbow pain after that and landed on the 10-day injured list with a sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament. He was transferred to the 60-day IL a few weeks later but was hopeful he’d be able to return to pitch sometime during the season.

That didn’t happen. When the elbow pain returned as he attempted to start throwing off a mound again, Doolittle had to be shut down and make a decision. Ultimately, he opted to undergo an internal brace procedure that is less invasive than Tommy John surgery and typically allows a pitcher to return in about half the time it takes to rehab from a full ligament replacement.

First of all, it’s OK for Nationals fans to be sad. No one would blame them if they were also downright mad.

There’s no other way to put it: Yesterday was a dark day for the Nationals franchise, this fan base and this city.

How else do you describe a day in which a team trades away perhaps its best player ever with 2 ½ more years of contractual control at the age of 23 before the prime of his career?

That’s what happened Tuesday when Nats general manager Mike Rizzo traded Juan Soto and Josh Bell to the Padres for six players, including five highly touted prospects. An unprecedented move that sent shock waves through the baseball world and may end up being the biggest trade in the sport’s history.

Shock was indeed the initial reaction. How could the Nats do that? Why can’t they just re-sign Soto? Was the return good enough? Will it ever be good enough? How did we even get here?

Once word that Juan Soto turned down the Nationals’ 15-year, $440 million extension offer – prompting the club to explore the possibility of trading its 23-year-old superstar – became public 17 days ago, Mike Rizzo began the process of figuring out which other organizations might actually be in a position to make a trade happen.

The Nats general manager realized the list of candidates, essentially clubs that were both in a win-now mode while also having enough elite talent in their farm system, would be short. In recent days, it became clear there were only three serious suitors: the Padres, Cardinals and Dodgers. And by the time trade deadline day arrived, it was clear that if a deal was going to happen, it was going to be with the Padres.

“We had to get the right deal, or we weren’t going to do the deal,” Rizzo said. “We set the bar very, very high, and one team exceeded it and that’s the deal we made. Props to the San Diego Padres. They’re not afraid, and ownership’s not afraid and (general manager) A.J. Preller’s not afraid. They were aggressive, and we made a deal that you call historical. I call it a good deal for both the San Diego Padres and the Washington Nationals at this time in both our franchise’s history.”

It will be some time before anyone can say with certainty if it was a good deal for either franchise. The Padres must now actually win something in October with Soto and Josh Bell added to a roster that already features Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Yu Darvish and (just recently) Josh Hader. The Nationals must hope several of the five prospects they acquired today (along with veteran first baseman Luke Voit) become not only big leaguers but cornerstones who ultimately help them win a lot more games than they’re winning these days.

In the minutes and hours that came after today’s blockbuster news was reported, those who remained at Nationals Park were having a tough time thinking that far into the future. They were more concerned with the two cornerstones from the 2022 roster who are no longer here, not to mention wondering if anyone else from the room would be dealt.

For the fourth time in six games, Ehire Adrianza finds himself in the Nationals lineup tonight. And for the third time, he’s starting at third base in place of Maikel Franco.

If that development seems to have come out of nowhere, well, that’s true.

Adrianza started only 10 games at third base in his first six weeks since coming off the injured list, in addition to three games at second base, two in left field and one at shortstop. Now, though, he’s getting regular action, mostly at the hot corner.

What’s the impetus for that?

“I’ve just honestly been playing matchups with him,” manager Davey Martinez said before tonight’s series opener against the Cardinals. “He missed a lot (of time), as you know. I’m trying to keep him going. When you get hurt and miss that much time during the season, it takes you a little bit to get going. I think over the last few days, he’s been hitting the ball a lot better. So I didn’t want him to lose that by sitting him for a week or something. So I’ve been playing him quite a bit. Franco’s been playing quite a bit. They’ve just been sharing time.”

Sean Doolittle will have season-ending surgery to repair the partial tear of his elbow ligament that he hoped to return from this year, believing the operation will allow him to return healthy in time for spring training.

The surgery, an internal brace procedure in which a collagen-soaked wrap is placed around the ulnar collateral ligament, is less invasive than Tommy John surgery, with recovery expected to be five to seven months instead of 12 to 18 months. By having it done now, Doolittle sees a path to be ready for the start of the 2023 season.

“I feel really good about it,” the left-hander said. “I don’t feel good about getting surgery. I feel really good that this is the right course of action for me right now at this point in my career, at this point in this process with my elbow. As far as I’m looking at it, 2023 starts right now. I’m viewing this as a long, extended ramp-up into the season next year.”

Doolittle initially landed on the injured list in April after five consecutive scoreless appearances with what was deemed a partial tear of the UCL. With consultation from doctors, he attempted to avoid surgery with a rehab program that included a platelet-rich plasma injection. He began building up his arm strength again, and last week threw off a bullpen mound for the first time and was pleased with how he felt physically during it.

But as he continued to ramp up, he began experiencing the same elbow soreness he had in April, and that was a red flag to him. A new MRI was taken and sent to doctors, who found no more serious tear but not enough healing of the original tear to believe it was wise to continue pitching.

Because they had gone with a four-man rotation this week, the Nationals knew they were going to have to remove someone from their active bullpen today to make room for Aníbal Sánchez, who was officially activated off the 60-day injured list and will make his first big league start in two years tonight.

Trouble is, just about everyone in the current bullpen has pitched well in recent weeks, leaving no obvious candidate for demotion. In the end, the club decided to option Mason Thompson to Triple-A Rochester, even though the 24-year-old right-hander had retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced after returning from his own injury earlier this month.

The Nationals also transferred Stephen Strasburg to the 60-day IL, a procedural move that was needed to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Sánchez. That doesn’t change anything about Strasburg’s potential return from a stress reaction in his ribs, which already was going to sideline him for a considerable amount of time.

Thompson’s demotion certainly had nothing to do with his performance. He’s actually yet to allow a run in seven big league appearances this season. But with the team’s other optionable relievers (Andres Machado, Jordan Weems) also pitching well, someone had to draw the short straw.

Manager Davey Martinez explained the move to send Thompson down as one of caution for the right-hander, who missed three months with right biceps tendinitis.