Strasburg has flexor mass strain, ligament is "good"

An MRI taken of Stephen Strasburg's elbow today revealed what Nationals officials described as a best-case scenario given the circumstances, though an injury that still might prevent the right-hander from returning to pitch this season.

Strasburg has "a little strain in his flexor mass," according to Nationals head athletic trainer Paul Lessard, who added the pitcher's elbow ligament is "good."

The club isn't offering a timetable for Strasburg to return, but the immediate plan is for the right-hander to rest and get swelling out of his elbow over the next several days before starting a strengthening program.

Given the fact there are only 23 games remaining in the regular season, Strasburg faces an extremely tight window for rehab if he is going to try to pitch again in 2016.

"Normally, they come around very well with treatment and strengthening programs," Lessard said of pitchers who have this injury. "It's not a season-ending injury, but we still need to take time that he's nice and strong because of his past."

Given Strasburg's past - his well-documented Tommy John surgery in 2010 after he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow in his 12th career start - the level of concern was significant Wednesday night when he departed in the third inning after wincing upon throwing two pitches.

Strasburg told trainers and team officials at the time he felt "a pinch in the back of his elbow," manager Dusty Baker said after Wednesday's game. That area is different from where his reconstructed ligament resides, though it should be noted that strained flexor masses (the group of muscles that connects the forearm to the elbow) are sometimes a precursor to a ligament tear.

Today's MRI, however, showed an intact ligament, one that "looks basically the same as the last MRI that we did," Lessard said. That previous MRI came in May, when Strasburg signed his seven-year, $175 million contract extension with the club. No other MRIs to the elbow had been administered since.

Lessard described the strain as an "acute injury," meaning it happened as the result of one pitch, not a build-up over time. Strasburg had spent the previous three weeks on the disabled list with a sore elbow, a condition he said affected him in between (but not during) starts.

From the Nationals' perspective, this news was about as encouraging as could reasonably have been expected, considering everyone acknowledged something happened during Wednesday's game.

"Everybody's pretty satisfied of where we are at this point, and it's very good to know," Baker said. "Exactly the timetable, we don't know. But it's good to hear that it wasn't what everybody was speculating that it was."

Whether Strasburg (who hasn't been available to reporters in the last 24 hours) is able to return before the end of the regular season or during a potential postseason run or not until 2017, the Nationals recognize they need to proceed as though they won't have their No. 2 starter for at least some period of time.

Max Scherzer and Tanner Roark will continue to headline the front of the rotation. The remaining slots, however, are somewhat up in the air. Gio Gonzalez has been in the rotation all season, but has been erratic and had to be pulled in the fourth inning of Tuesday night's game against the Braves. Joe Ross is in the final stages of rehab from shoulder inflammation, but Baker said the right-hander won't be rushed back any sooner than planned in the wake of Strasburg's injury.

Rookies A.J. Cole (who starts tonight against the Phillies), Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez weren't expected to hold significant roles down the stretch and into October, but Baker mentioned all three as candidates to step up given the situation.

"(Ross) is important, but we can't rush him because we'd have two of them down," Baker said. "We still have to treat him as if Stephen's here. And I tell you who comes into play, big-time: Guys like Cole, Giolito, Lopez, and probably more importantly, Gio Gonzalez."