Overnight, Jon Morosi tweeted out that the Washington Nationals could pursue Sonny Gray if Stephen Strasburg is out long-term. There were questions of whether Strasburg would even have an MRI and Strasburg just described his issue as some “achiness”.
“I think I wake up in the morning, it’s a little stiff,” Strasburg said. “Then I get throwing and stuff, and it feels OK. And then it’s like I really kind of reach back for it, and that’s where it starts to linger and start to feel a little achy.”
Strasburg has unfortunately dealt with injuries before from the minor to the major. Last season, he could not make it back for the post-season as he was dealing with a forearm issue described as a “flexor mass” strain.
“I’ve had so much stuff happen [in my career],” Strasburg said. “Just trying not to be selfish out there. I’m not really helping the team if I’m going out there and continually throwing through these things. I just want to be there at the end. That’s like the ultimate goal this year. And if getting pulled after a couple innings today, if that’s going to put me in a better position to be there, I’ll take it.”
Strasburg could only complete 2 innings on Sunday, and up to that point Strasburg had been a workhorse for the Nationals this season even though it had been questioned about whether he was pushed too far given his medical background. Strasburg had averaged 101.5 pitches per outing this year before Sunday with season high pitch counts of 119 and 118 pitches in May.
This was the pitch count chart from just a month ago where the Nationals occupied the top 3 spots and Strasburg in the 5th spot. Everyone has their own opinions on pitch counts. Clayton Kershaw was 9th on the list, and he is now on the DL.
The Nationals injury list is growing by the week unfortunately. We still don’t know the status of Enny Romero who also left Sunday’s game with an injured lower back. The Nationals also traded for Sean Doolittle who spent time this year on the DL, and Ryan Madson has his own injury history with a long battle back from a UCL injury.
Last week Joe Ross had “Tommy John” surgery to repair his torn UCL, and Shawn Kelley and Koda Glover remain on the DL with arm injuries and don’t appear on the list below.
“[Strasburg] couldn’t get loose,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. “We saw he kept shaking his arm. So we just took him out for precaution. He’s had a little stiffness, couldn’t really get loose even though he was throwing the ball well. So we’ll analyze it when we get back home. He’ll see our doctors, and hopefully we’ll have an answer on Tuesday.”
