The Nationals have placed struggling reliever Trevor Rosenthal on the 10-day injured list. He’s said to be dealing with a viral infection.
Earlier today, president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo told reporters (including Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com; Twitter link) that Rosenthal has been dealing with a stomach malady that had spurred significant weight loss and muscle fatigue. After a trip to the doctor today, the decision was made to place him on the IL.
It’d be foolish to pretend that the 28-year-old’s issues on the mound aren’t a factor here, too. He has managed to secure only nine outs in seven appearances, coughing up a dozen earned runs on seven hits and nine walks while recording three strikeouts. Though he’s sitting just below 99 mph with his fastball, Rosenthal is missing the zone far more often than he’s accustomed to and is failing entirely to entice opposing hitters to chase his offspeed offerings.
The Nats have activated Justin Miller from his own IL stint to take the active roster spot. They’ll hope that he can sort things out after a rocky start to the year and help settle a tumultuous relief corps.
Having bought some breathing room for Rosenthal, the organization can then get to work on trying to straighten him out as well. He inked a $7MM deal before the season after missing all of 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery.
DarkSide830
i cant believe they gave him $7 million after a year on the shelf. I wouldnt have offered terribly less, but $7 million guarenteed in this market is not chump change.
solaris602
Must be the same “viral infection” Ervin Santana suffered before the White Sox tossed him overboard earlier today.
okbud
The infection is probably called “bad pitching disease”
jorge78
LOL!
gatewaytothebest
That sucks he is a great guy, helped the Cards out a bunch but they overused him.
Monkey’s Uncle
Coincidentally a lot of Nationals fans are getting upset stomachs watching Rosenthal pitch.
PieroBr
Worse than that … a player could actually die if he hit them with one of those pitches.
jorge78
Another LOL!
baseballhobo
At least he got some batters out before getting placed on the IL.
Briffle2
How does one suck so bad when you throw 99?
Papabueno
Sadly, it would appear that Trevor was contagious.