The Washington Nationals will be without co-ace Stephen Strasburg the rest of the season. On Saturday, manager Dave Martinez told reporters, including Mark Zuckerman of MASN, that Strasburg has been diagnosed with carpal tunnel neuritis and he will undergo season-ending surgery.
A nerve issue in his hand/wrist has limited Strasburg to two ineffective starts this season. He did not make his season debut until Aug. 9th, the team’s 12th game of the season, and numbness in his fingers forced Strasburg to exit his second start after two-thirds of an inning and 14 pitches.
Washington rode its rotation to a World Series championship last season but it is not in good shape right now. The team’s rotation depth chart currently looks something like this:
- RHP Max Scherzer (has battled a nagging hamstring issue this year)
- RHP Stephen Strasburg (getting season-ending surgery for carpal tunnel neuritis)
- LHP Patrick Corbin
- RHP Anibal Sanchez (8.50 ERA)
- RHP Joe Ross (opted out of 2020 season)
- RHP Erick Fedde
- RHP Austin Voth (5.00 ERA)
The Aug, 31 trade deadline is less than 10 days away and the Nationals, despite being 9-13, are still very much in contention for a playoff spot. This is a win-now roster, they’re not going to tear it down and rebuild because Strasburg may be done for the season, so expect GM Mike Rizzo to scour the trade market for another starter prior to the deadline.
Strasburg, 32, is in the first season of a seven-year, $245 million contract. He had a 3.32 ERA in an NL-leading 209 innings last year, then was marvelous in the postseason (1.98 ERA in 36 1/3 innings) en route to being named World Series MVP.
