JUPITER, Fla. – Get your programs. The glossy team guide may come in handy for fans heading to Nationals Park next week.
The injury bug keeps biting, forcing new faces onto the field.
“How have I felt about them? I don’t like them,” Mike Rizzo, the general manager, says about the injuries. “How about that?”
The Nationals are balancing high expectations and early setbacks as the season approaches.
Reliever Drew Storen was the latest to have to come out of a game. He left during Monday’s exhibition against the Cardinals with an aggravated blister on a big toe. It’s unclear how long that will keep him out.
The front office is making plans to field a team without a third of its projected everyday starters, including Jayson Werth, Anthony Rendon and Denard Span.
Rendon went Monday to get a second opinion on a sprained ligament in his knee.
“We’re a week from opening day — we gotta play,” says Manager Matt Williams. “So, if we’re taking a little different team with us for opening day than we had anticipated, than that’s what it is.”
Werth got back in action Monday, playing in a minor league game. He’s recovering from shoulder surgery.
Williams says no one is feeling sorry for themselves.
“You start feeling those emotions, and you’re not the team you want to be,” he says.
“We have experience in that regard,” he says. “I’ve dealt with it as manager here, and we’ll do that again.
Ryan Zimmerman returned to the lineup Monday after resting a few days following a rough dive. He picked up a hit in three plate appearances and a walk.
The Nationals don’t have an exact timeline when they’ll be back at full strength.
“We think that we have the depth and talent level to weather these injuries until they get back,” Rizzo says.
