Fans of the Nationals received positive injury news today, as their Triple-A affiliate in Rochester announced that left fielder Corey Dickerson is set to begin a rehab assignment. Dickerson signed in Washington on a one-year deal this past offseason, but appeared in just two games for the club prior to the club placing Dickerson on the 10-day injured list with a calf strain. Dickerson, who will celebrate his 34th birthday later this month, is in his eleventh season as a major league player, with a career 112 wRC+.
That solid production would be a boon to a Nationals club that has mostly used 28-year-old outfielder Alex Call in left field while Dickerson has been on the shelf. Call has struggled so far in 143 trips to the plate for the Nationals this season, with a .230/.329/.336 slash line (86 wRC+) so far this season. That being said, Dickerson is not without flaws himself: his wRC+ has declined to a mark of just 97 since the beginning of the 2020 season, and he has hampered by a significant platoon split that has seen him post just a .693 OPS against left-handed pitchers throughout his career.
Fortunately for the Nationals, however, they have a seemingly perfect platoon partner for Dickerson in the form of Stone Garrett, a 27-year-old slugger who has slashed .344/.368/.594 against left-handers in 72 career plate appearances in the majors. Platooning Dickerson with Garrett upon his return to the lineup could help the Nationals solve their offensive woes in left field, where the club’s 85 wRC+ ranks seventh worst in the majors.
Dickerson may not be the only reinforcements on the horizon from the injured list, however. MLB.com’s injury tracker notes that right-hander Chad Kuhl, who signed with the Nationals on a minor league deal during the offseason, threw a simulated game of over 60 pitches earlier this week. Kuhl, who has been on the IL with sprained toe since the beginning of the month, could threaten the spot of right-hander Jake Irvin in the rotation going forward. While Irvin is expected to make his next start, the Nationals figure to reevaluate their rotation after that, with Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post noting that Kuhl’s return could give the Nationals the opportunity to manage the 26-year-old Irvin’s innings going forward.
More from around the National League…
- Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggests that the Mets, while not concerned about the neck issue that caused veteran right-hander Max Scherzer to be scratched from his start earlier in the week, are worried that the 38-year-old’s ailment near the scapula, which caused the club to push back one of his starts in mid-April, could be an issue that Scherzer will need to manage all year. It’s been a difficult start to the 2023 campaign for Scherzer, who has posted a 5.56 ERA in 22 2/3 innings amid multiple injury concerns and a 10-game suspension for violating the league’s policy on foreign substances.
- As noted by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, budding ace Zac Gallen has expressed interest in staying with the Diamondbacks long term, though he noted a preference for avoiding in-season extension negotiations. Gallen, 27, has emerged as one of the game’s best pitchers in recent years, including a breakout campaign last season that saw him post a 2.54 ERA in 184 innings en route to a top 5 finish in NL Cy Young award voting. Fortunately for Arizona, they have plenty of time to discuss a long term deal with their young ace, who is set to hit free agency after the 2025 campaign.
Wonder how many years Scherzer has been cheating?
With who’s wife?
whose*
Now that he’s in NY, Scherzer should be looking out for Zach Wilson. Scherzer’s wife is probably right in Wilson’s wheelhouse.
Idiotic comment.
Not only is it terrible form for a person to swear on his kids’ lives (like Scherzer did about cheating), but it looks more and more like he was lying while swearing on his kids’ lives.
Don’t think he was lying. I’m sure it was just sweat and rosin. Problem is, it’s TOO much sweat and rosin. Rosin use is legal but only to a point which he obviously went over. Scherzer has always been a stand up guy so to start lying now makes no sense. That said, it does appear that he probably feels the need for the extra rosin to spin the ball.
Scherzer is going to have to control his sweating if he is to please the umpires. An over all body deodorant, perhaps?
A pore excuse if I ever heard one.
);80
Should they ban roll-on deodorant?
@DCartrow 10/10
What is too much? Define it! The rules sure don’t!
Just like many things in sports, it’s a judgement call. Every ump will have a different opinion, like the balk. He’s just gonna have to deal with it.
When the pitcher’s cap is so wet it turns a darker color, or when sweat is running down their body until there’s a significant puddle on the mound.
The problem wasn’t the sweat or the rosin. It was where he applied the rosin. He never touched the bag on the mound after washing his hands with alcohol and yet he had rosin on them.
THAT is the problem. When they checked his hands coming out of the dugout for the inning and before he got to the mound his hands should have had no stickiness on them. To get rosin on there he should have had to go to the bag on the mound. Instead they were sticky as heck.
Later he admitted he applied rosin in the dugout tunnel right after washing with alcohol. That is against the rules. So he got suspended for breaking the rules.
German did the same thing. He should also have been suspennded.
Possibly. When the umpires asked German to wash his hands he did so and then went to the rosin bag on the mound when he came back into the game. That is legal.
By his own admission Scherzer applied rosin in the dugout tunnel before coming back out for the 4th inning. That is against the rules.
Yeah, looks to be at the very end of a HOF career. Tough season ahead.
I’m guessing none of you saw the experiment that David Cone did on live TV during the broadcast that showed it was actually the washing of his hands with alcohol, which he did in front of an MLB official I might add, that actually activated the rosin and made it even more sticky. So he was following the rules to the letter. Apparently, no one from MLB had tested that before making the rule to wash w/ alcohol.
Knuckler, that is incorrect. The rules state that you can apply rosin from the bag supplied by MLB. Unless there is a torrential downpour, and there wasn’t during that game, the rosin bag that is legal to use is on the mound.
Scherzer never touched that rosin bag on the mound at any point during the game and said himself that he re-applied rosin in the dugout tunnel after washing his hands with alcohol and before taking the field.
He broke the rules. There is no question about that. Its why he didn’t appeal.
@#8 how did it look like he was cheating?? The alleges sticky substance was under his glove. The entire time he was on mound there is footage and he never removed glove and rubbed one hand to the other or any motion that could transfer a substance. So again I ask how does it look like he was cheating? Did he use a 6th sense to telaport the substance from one location to another? Or did he discover some other option outside of the laws of physics to do so???
He cheated because he applied the rosin in the dugout. Scherzer SAID he applied it in the dugout. That is against the rules.
Isn’t Scherzer the guy who woke up one day during the WS and could hardly move. It was so bad his wife had to get him dressed.
Dead arm. Not that uncommon for pitchers. Of course, it was an inopportune time.
Koufax woke up one time with his left arm as thick as his leg.
If he woke up in bed with Jill St. John, that wasn’t his arm.
Hey now!
):^)
Sounds like Mark McGwire syndrome to me.
Do I need to look up who this Jill St John is ??
For those that don’t see much of the Dbacks, and therefore haven’t seen Gallen, check him out sometime. He continues to look good and is nearly unhittable when he’s on.
He and Merrill Kelly are an enviable rotational one and two.
Right there with McLanahan and Rassmussen.
Never mind about Rassmussen now.
If they ever stop showing Yankee games on national TV, maybe we can see teams like the Dbacks. I think tonight’s game on MLB network is the Yankees against the Yankees.
You’re so jelly!
Yankeeographies … Should be part of the national public school curriculum.
I’m listening to Dbacks right now. They’re on FM radio now that the Denver Nuggets showed the Phoenix Suns the Rocky Mountain Way.
If I was the Mets I would be concerned about Scherzer and all of there starters besides Verlander. They aren’t pitching well, the hitting has been very inconsistent.. the owner thought he bought a championship, not a below .500 underachieving mess… Especially after they blew division last year and folded in playoffs to Padres..
As much criticism as the Mets and Padres have taken because they spent so much money to acquire top talent, at least they tried to bring a championship to their fans. That’s one of the biggest gripes I have with the White Sox. They didn’t even try.
But Benintendi and Clevinger!!!
And Marisnick and Gonzalez and Colas and Sosa and every dfa’d player they could find. That’s who the Sox are relying on, a bunch of minor leaguers instead of signing actual major league players. That’s what I mean about the Padres and Mets at least trying to win while the Sox are not.
I totally agree. As long as the team comes by their revenue legally, why not?
I was expecting the Nats to lose about 104-105 games this season and they are on a pace to only lose 92-03, so they are exceeding my expectations.
It’s early. There’s still time to reach that 104 loss mark. Never give up on your dreams.
That is a scary-a$$ picture of Scherzer, keeping me up at night.