Nationals have busy first day of spring training

Nationals manager Dave Martinez is used to spending the offseason in regular contact with his players — texting or chatting with each of them at least once a month.

Not being allowed to do that this offseason is what made Major League Baseball’s 99-day lockout especially difficult. 

“This day couldn’t come fast enough for me,” Martinez said about Sunday, the delayed and much-anticipated first day of spring training. “The hardest thing was not being able to communicate with the guys all winter. That was tough.”

The first day of spring training was a busy one for the Washington Nationals. The lockout, which ended Thursday, has caused teams to move quickly on signing free agents and getting their players ready for Opening Day on April 7.

The most welcome news for the Nationals on Sunday was about Stephen Strasburg — a player the team hasn’t received positive news about in quite some time. 

After signing Strasburg to a seven-year, $245 million contract after he led the National League in wins and innings in 2019, the three-time All-Star has only thrown a combined 26 2/3 innings in the last two seasons. The 33-year-old missed most of last season with thoracic outlet syndrome, for which he had surgery in July. That injury came after he pitched only five innings in 2020 due to a nerve issue in his wrist. 

But Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said Sunday that Strasburg is healthy, not in “rehab mode” and is preparing for the start of the season. 

“The circulatory problems are no longer with us, so that’s a good thing. That was the main reason for the surgery,” Rizzo said. “He looks in great shape. He feels good with his throwing program, and he’s on pace.”

Martinez said Strasburg, who is scheduled to throw live batting practice on Tuesday, looked “looser” when he played catch Sunday. 

“He wants to attack spring training as if it’s a normal spring training,” said Martinez, who is entering his fifth season as the club’s skipper. 

While Strasburg’s health is an early positive from West Palm Beach, Florida, he wasn’t the only Nationals pitcher rehabbing this offseason. 

Rizzo also said that 37-year-old reliever Will Harris, who also missed most of 2021 with thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, is healthy and preparing for the season. Harris, a once-reliable and sometimes dominant late-inning arm, has pitched only 23 2/3 innings with the Nationals since signing a three-year, $24 million contract prior to the 2020 season. 

But it wasn’t all good news.

Often-injured righty Joe Ross, who set career-highs in innings pitched and strikeout rate last season, had a setback when rehabbing his elbow injury earlier this month. Rizzo said Ross, 28, had “minor” elbow surgery on March 7 to remove a bone spur from his elbow and will be out six-to-eight weeks. He was working back from a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament that cut short his solid 2021 campaign in August. 

“We felt like instead of pitching through it or doing the anti-inflammatory/rest type of thing, we both figured that it was such a minor surgery, we knock it out and give him his best chance to perform for us for the majority of the season,” Rizzo said. 

After Rizzo said Sunday that Ross’ absence would result in the team relying more on its pitching depth, reports surfaced that the Nationals are bringing back veteran starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez on a minor-league contract. Sanchez, 38, reportedly impressed the team during a recent workout and will have a chance to earn $2 million —as well as $1.5 million in bonuses — if he makes the club. Sanchez, once a star pitcher with the Marlins and Tigers, didn’t pitch in the big leagues last season. His last MLB action came in 2019 and 2020 with the Nationals. He was a steady starter for Washington in its World Series-winning 2019 season, but he struggled in 2020 with a 6.62 earned-run average. 

Also over the weekend, the Nationals inked utility infielder Ehire Adrianza to a one-year, $1.5 million contract and sidearm reliever Steve Cishek to a one-year, $1.75 million deal. 

Adrianza, 32, has played 20-plus games at six different positions in his nine-year career with the Giants, Twins and Braves. Mainly an infielder, Adrianza, who hit .247 with the Braves last season, is another veteran for the Nationals’ infield, joining shortstop Alcides Escobar and second baseman Cesar Hernandez. 

Cishek, 35, is one of the game’s most consistent relief pitchers, tossing at least 44 innings with no worse than a 3.58 ERA in every season except the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign.

The Nationals have yet to announce the signings of Sanchez, Adrianza or Cishek as of Sunday evening. 

The inexpensive signings for veteran players align with the team’s rebuild. But they also free up the coffers for a potentially record-breaking extension for superstar right fielder Juan Soto. 

Rizzo said Sunday that reaching a deal with the on-base machine and 2021 NL MVP runner-up is the club’s “No. 1 priority.”

“We’re going to attack a deal with Juan Soto,” Rizzo said about the player who turned down a 13-year, $350 million extension before the lockout began. “This is his team. He’s the face of the franchise. I want him here for the long term. We’re going to continue to talk and try to make him a Nat for a long time.”