Soto back, but limited to pinch-hitting; Harris ready to pitch

Soto back, but limited to pinch-hitting; Harris ready to pitch
Juan Soto is back on the Nationals roster, just not in their lineup. Will Harris is back in their bullpen, and hoping he will remain available as much as he's needed. With a pair of mid-afternoon transactions today, the Nats moved closer to full strength. They're still missing Stephen Strasburg and Wander Suero, but for now, this is a significant step in the right direction. Soto, of course, is the biggest addition. The star slugger was activated off the 10-day injured list in time for...

Game 25 lineups: Nats vs. Braves (Soto, Harris activated)

Game 25 lineups: Nats vs. Braves (Soto, Harris activated)
The Nationals have clawed their way back to the .500 mark, sweeping the Marlins over the weekend. Their next challenge is climbing over that mark and staying there, against some stiffer competition: the Braves. The three-time defending National League East champs are back in town for their second visit of the season already. They took two of three in the season-opening series on South Capitol Street, sweeping a 14-inning doubleheader after the Nats won in dramatic fashion on opening day. Things...

Could Soto be ready to return Tuesday vs. Braves?

Could Soto be ready to return Tuesday vs. Braves?
Juan Soto isn't in the Nationals lineup for today's series finale against the Marlins, but there's a chance he could be back for Tuesday's series opener against the Braves. Soto, on the 10-day injured list since April 20 with a strained left shoulder, continued to ramp up his throwing program before today's game at Nationals Park, throwing from 120 feet. "We'll see how he gets through today, and then we'll go from there. Hopefully it won't be that much longer," manager Davey Martinez...

April by the numbers

April by the numbers
April has come and gone for the Nationals, and nobody can say they saw the season's first month playing out the way it did. A COVID-19 outbreak sidelining nine players? Injuries to Juan Soto and Stephen Strasburg? An implosion by Patrick Corbin? A complete lack of production from Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber? There were, of course, surprisingly positive developments as well. Who expected Joe Ross and Erick Fedde to become consistently dominant pitchers? Josh Harrison and Yadiel Hernandez to...

Strasburg throws off mound, Soto throws in outfield

Strasburg throws off mound, Soto throws in outfield
Stephen Strasburg and Juan Soto each took another step toward returning to the Nationals roster prior to today's game, Strasburg throwing off the bullpen mound for the first time since he landed on the 10-day injured list and Soto continuing to throw in right field to test out his strained left shoulder. Both players are now eligible to be activated off the IL, but both still have additional steps they need to take before the club makes the move, especially in Strasburg's case. Strasburg, who...

Soto, Strasburg still need to pass throwing tests before return

Soto, Strasburg still need to pass throwing tests before return
The Nationals are getting Jon Lester back from the injured list tonight. They'll have to wait a while longer to get Juan Soto and Stephen Strasburg. Though both superstars are now eligible to come off the 10-day IL, neither has been able to pass the throwing tests necessary to be activated. Soto, out since April 20 with a left shoulder strain, did begin some light tossing Thursday for the first time, manager Davey Martinez said in today's pregame Zoom session with reporters. He was due to...

Lester still waiting for decision, Soto still waiting to throw

Lester still waiting for decision, Soto still waiting to throw
The Nationals haven't yet figured out their pitching plans for the weekend. And it doesn't appear they will until they've decided if Jon Lester truly is ready to make his long-awaited season debut. Lester, who opened the season on the COVID-19 injured list, has made three rehab starts at the club's alternate training site in Fredericksburg. On Sunday, he threw 90 pitches over six innings, which would typically be as much as a pitcher needed before he was activated. And the Nats may indeed...

Bell recalls struggles in minors to help battle current slump

Bell recalls struggles in minors to help battle current slump
It's no secret that the Nationals need Josh Bell to have a good year in order to reach the levels of success they aspire for this season. That's what general manager Mike Rizzo was banking on when he acquired the slugging first baseman from the Pirates for two pitching prospects on Christmas Eve, the first big move of the offseason. And after he tore through Grapefruit League action by hitting .383 with a 1.328 OPS, six home runs and 15 RBIs, that's what the Nationals thought they were going...

How do Nats find ways to score runs while Soto's out?

How do Nats find ways to score runs while Soto's out?
You can talk about the reasons the Nationals are currently 8-11 and point out that Juan Soto and Stephen Strasburg are currently on the injured list, that nobody in their rotation outside of Max Scherzer owns an ERA under 4.64 or that nine members of the opening day roster were in quarantine on opening day. And all of those are indeed among the reasons the Nats are 8-11 as they spend this off-day on the Florida Gulf Coast in advance of a two-game interleague series versus the Blue Jays at their...

Nats hope healthy Zimmerman doesn't go cold after week off

Nats hope healthy Zimmerman doesn't go cold after week off
It's not uncommon for Ryan Zimmerman to go an entire week without appearing in a major league game. This is a player, after all, who has dealt with every manner of injury throughout his 16-year career, and has required time off both in the short and long term to get his body right. But never before has Zimmerman missed an entire week while on the Nationals' active roster and, by all accounts, healthy enough to play. Until this week. It's been seven days since the face of the franchise showed...

Soto stays positive, Strasburg is throwing, weekend rotation set

Soto stays positive, Strasburg is throwing, weekend rotation set
Juan Soto can't pinpoint any precise moment when he thinks he hurt his left shoulder. It just started bothering him in recent days, especially when throwing, so he let the Nationals training staff know and they had him undergo an MRI on Tuesday morning. Little could the 22-year-old slugger have imagined he'd wind up on the 10-day injured list several hours later with a diagnosed shoulder strain. Since that moment, Soto has tried not to stress over this development and instead think about the...

Nats prepare to proceed for a while without Soto in lineup

Nats prepare to proceed for a while without Soto in lineup
Uplifting as the Nationals' 3-2 victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday night was, it could not erase the fact Juan Soto is now on the injured list and a ballclub already dealing with more issues than it ever thought possible in late April has another one to contend with. The transaction to place Soto on the 10-day IL with a left shoulder strain caught everyone off guard. It came about 45 minutes before first pitch of the game, about three hours after the Nats announced a lineup that originally...

Nats emerge victorious at end of eventful evening (updated)

Nats emerge victorious at end of eventful evening (updated)
Davey Martinez and his players have been insisting for several days now that the mood inside the Nationals clubhouse remains upbeat, that nobody is feeling a sense of dread two weeks into a season that has seen all manner of calamity befall this team. From a roster-ravaging COVID-19 outbreak to an ineffective string of pitching performances to a lineup that has been hit-or-miss to yet another injury for one of the staff's most-important stalwarts, there has been plenty of valid reasons for...

Soto surprisingly lands on IL with shoulder strain

Soto surprisingly lands on IL with shoulder strain
A Nationals club already beset with major pitching issues now has a major lineup problem: Juan Soto is injured. The Nats placed Soto on the 10-day injured list this evening with a left shoulder strain, an out-of-nowhere announcement less than an hour before they face the Cardinals on South Capitol Street, one that leaves this 5-9 club in further disarray at a moment when it couldn't afford any more bad news. There hadn't been any obvious indication Soto was dealing with any ailment in recent...

The positives and the negatives after two weeks

The positives and the negatives after two weeks
The Nationals' 2021 season is only two weeks old, but boy does it feel like a lot has happened already or what? It's been an eventful 13 days since they took the field to face the Braves after seeing their first four scheduled games of the year postponed due to their COVID-19 outbreak. Prominent players have gone on the injured list, prominent players have come off it. There have been two walk-off wins and there have been two blowout losses. There have been lights-out pitching performances...

Fedde fans nine over five frames, Nats win second in row (updated)

Fedde fans nine over five frames, Nats win second in row (updated)
Erick Fedde has struggled through outings where he couldn't seem to harness any confidence. He'd get behind hitters, have to throw a hittable fastball and pay the price. But in the early going of Saturday's start against the Diamondbacks, he got the feel for his changeup and used it masterfully. He also mixed his pitches to keep Arizona hitters off-balance and got on a roll. Fedde matched a career high with nine strikeouts in a five-inning stint and the Nationals beat the Diamondbacks 6-2 on...

Game 11 lineups: Nats vs. Diamondbacks

Game 11 lineups: Nats vs. Diamondbacks
The Nationals have slogged their way through a few clunkers in the last week. The good news: They've bounced back in each case to play well the following day and win. So perhaps that portends better things tonight when they face the Diamondbacks and try to erase all memory of Thursday night's fiasco. It starts, of course, with Max Scherzer, who is desperately needed tonight not only to pitch well but to pitch as deep into the game as possible after Patrick Corbin was knocked out two innings...

Another ragged start by Corbin leaves Nats in a lurch (updated)

Another ragged start by Corbin leaves Nats in a lurch (updated)
Once was perhaps cause for concern but potentially forgivable. Twice is cause for alarm and potentially disastrous for a Nationals club that is built to win behind a dominant rotation but has now seen two of its top three starters get rocked in the last week, one of them twice. Stephen Strasburg, for the moment, isn't the Nats' greatest concern. Patrick Corbin is after another cringe-inducing start tonight in which the left-hander was battered for 10 runs in only two innings during a 11-6...

Nats survived roller coaster to begin season, now can settle in

Nats survived roller coaster to begin season, now can settle in
The Nationals flew home from St. Louis on Wednesday night, owners of a 3-6 record. It's not a record anyone is going to brag about, nor should it be, but neither is it a record anyone should be afraid to acknowledge. Given all they've been through already during a roller coaster couple of weeks to begin the season, 3-6 hardly feels like a disaster. The Nats were missing nine major league players during their opening three-game series against the Braves. And perhaps the three most important...

Nats ride Ross' zeros, Zimmerman's homer to victory (updated)

Nats ride Ross' zeros, Zimmerman's homer to victory (updated)
Nine games into a season that already has featured a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows, the Nationals have plenty of questions that still need answering, particularly within a rotation that was built to carry this team. Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin did not look good during this just-completed road trip. Jon Lester is still trying to build his arm back up after landing on the COVID-19-related injured list. Here, though, is one starter nobody in a Nats uniform needs to be worried...