After first workout, Williams on Scherzer, Espinosa, Roark and more

VIERA, Fla. - Nationals manager Matt Williams met the media today for the first time since Nationals pitchers and catchers began showing up at Space Coast Stadium on Thursday. Williams, in his second year at the helm, was fresh off the Nationals' announcement that they exercised its 2016 option on his contract. Some of the highlights from today included Williams explaining the plan for Danny Espinosa to hit only from the right side this spring, how he will slot the rotation and how Tanner Roark will prepare for opening day.

On Max Scherzer: "He looked good. It's the first bullpen. It's eight minutes. It's not all that taxing for him. But he was able to throw all of his pitches. He was able to work with Wilson, which is important. So that was good. He looked great. He said he felt fine after, so he'll go again in a couple of days."

On the plan for Espinosa to hit from the right side: "Well, the objective for Danny is to get comfortable. This is not an easy process, by any stretch of the imagination. So for him, I want him to be comfortable to get in there righty-righty. So what we'll do is we'll curtail his defensive work as much as need be, so he can concentrate on the offensive side of the game. You'll see him over the course of camp stand in on bullpens, just to get a feel for our guys, to get a feel for the right-on-right breaking ball, to see the ball coming from the other side. So he'll do a lot of that. He may be missing from some of the defensive drills, as we go through it, but we'll pick those up on the back side, we'll pick those up on extra work or early work. But it's really important for him to get as many reps and feel as comfortable as he can, right on right."

When he'll make decisions on slotting the rotation: "Well, health first and foremost. So we don't know how everything's going to shake. Last year, we had thoughts and Doug (Fister) hurt his side fielding a grounder. So you just don't know. So I haven't given thought to where they're slotting at this point. All I know is we're working through the process and getting them ready to start throwing in games. But we've got a long way to go. We've got 12 days before they even get a chance to get in a game. So we've got to get them through that first."

On improving offensive efficiency: "We want to pick up the RBIs that are given to us. As an example, we want to be really good at man on third and less than two out. We want to be really good at getting that guy over from second base to create that opportunity for us. The offensive efficiency in that regard is what I mean. We want to give ourselves more opportunity to score more runs on any given night. So those little things add up, they add up. There's going to be times where our guys slug the ball over the fence, too, but on an everyday basis for 162(games), if you do the little things, you give yourself a chance."

On the process for Roark this spring: "He's going to start. We'll evaluate how everything goes through this spring training season. But he is going to train as a starter and he'll start for us during the course of spring."

Did he make a point to talk to Roark about his change in roles? "Yeah. I can't tell him this is the plan because the plan can change. You just don't know. He's training as if he was going to start every fifth day. If we get to the point where we have to make an adjustment on that, he's aware that's a possibility and we'll make that adjustment. But right now, he's going to be one of our starters, one of our six or seven starters in spring training and we'll go from there."

About Roark's attitude: "He's phenomenal. It doesn't change, whether it's starting, relieving, where he pitches in that rotation. When I give him the ball and it's his day to pitch, he's excited and ready to pitch and he competes. And, boy, you can't ask for any more than that."

Could Roark be a late-inning guy? "Yeah, because he ticks up. He ticks up when he gets in the bullpen. He goes from 90 to 93 to 92 to 95. And so that's an opportunity. The fact that he can come in and he feels confident and we certainly feel confident, that when he comes in he throws strikes, he changes speeds, he holds baserunners, he fields his position. All of those things speak to both of them. But, again, it's a little bit of a different look, the bullpen this year and there's opportunity in that regard for him and everybody else to solidify those roles as we go."

Is it important to have specific bullpen roles? "You want to. You want to. There are times during spring training or during the course of the season where those things change. It happened to us last year in the ninth inning. So we have be able to adjust to it and at the same time try to establish those roles and get those guys prepared to pitch in those situations. But the game is what it is and it changes sometimes so we all have to be able to adapt to that to."