WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – As we inch closer to Opening Day, teams start having more regulars in the lineup. And that’s going to be even more the case as various World Baseball Classic teams get eliminated.

For the Nationals, the elimination of the powerhouse Dominican Republic team means the return of Jeimer Candelario, who is right back in there and starting at third base today against the Astros. We should also see Erasmo Ramirez (who pitched for Nicaragua) pitching in a game soon.

The Astros also have a decent number of regulars in their lineup today, including Jeremy Peña, Jose Abreu and Alex Bregman. So this should be a good test for MacKenzie Gore, who makes his fifth start of the spring.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. HOUSTON ASTROS
Where: The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: None
Radio: nationals.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 79 degrees, wind 15 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
CF Alex Call
2B Luis García
C Keibert Ruiz
LF Corey Dickerson
3B Jeimer Candelario
1B Matt Adams
RF Stone Garrett
DH Victor Robles
SS Leonel Valera

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The loss of Cade Cavalli to Tommy John surgery is a crushing blow to the 24-year-old right-hander and to the Nationals, who were hoping their top pitching prospect would enjoy a healthy run of success in his first big league season.

Cavalli may still enjoy a long run of success in 2024 and beyond. But in the meantime, the Nats have to figure out who’s going to cover the starts and innings that suddenly opened up with this injury diagnosis.

Manager Davey Martinez said Wednesday he didn’t expect to look outside the organization for help, believing enough fallback options are already in place to fill the void. General manager Mike Rizzo echoed that sentiment Thursday but left the door ajar enough to consider the possibility of outside help.

“We like the depth we have here, but we’re not against looking outside the organization,” Rizzo said. “If something makes sense to us, of course, we’ll certainly look outside and inside.”

The Nationals actually did go outside this winter and added some veteran pitching depth, signing right-handers Chad Kuhl and Wily Peralta to minor league contracts. Both have extensive big league starting experience and seem to have been brought in exactly for this kind of scenario.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Wily Peralta has been doing this long enough to know not to stress over a couple of rough outings early in spring training. The veteran right-hander debuted with the Brewers in 2012 as a 23-year-old, and more than a decade later he’s trying to crack the Nationals’ Opening Day roster off a minor league contract.

So when Peralta struggled in his first two appearances of camp, allowing four runs in two innings, others might’ve thought that doomed his chances of making the team. Peralta didn’t worry.

“The main thing for me early in spring training is just how my body feels, and how my arm feels,” he said. “I think it’s been feeling great through the whole spring training. And I’m feeling better lately throwing.”

Peralta certainly looked the part tonight during a 3-0 victory over the Mets, tossing three scoreless innings against an opponent that hit only one ball out of the infield against him. Getting a chance to make his first start because Josiah Gray got his work in earlier in the morning on a back field, Peralta made the most of it, inducing seven ground balls and one popup while striking out two.

The prevalence of balls on the ground was perhaps the best sign of success for Peralta, who relies on a sinker to induce weak contact.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Cade Cavalli sat down in Davey Martinez’s office Wednesday evening, with Mike Rizzo also in attendance, and braced for the news from his manager and general manager. What they told him about the MRI taken of his elbow earlier that morning – a full tear of the ulnar collateral ligament, requiring Tommy John surgery – stung like few pieces of news the right-hander has ever received, and it took the Nationals’ 24-year-old pitching prospect a little while to come to grips with it before he was ready to pivot to the challenge now facing him.

“I gave myself a little bit of time to cry and to hurt,” Cavalli said. “But during that meeting with them, it was just like: It is what it is, and it’s time. It was a little flip switch, and I’m ready. I am. I’m ready to rock. I’m going to be back, and I’m going to be better, I promise.”

Speaking with reporters this afternoon, roughly 48 hours since he injured himself throwing a pitch against the Mets and 24 hours since he got the official diagnosis, Cavalli detailed the emotions he’s experienced since and the determination he now has to return healthy in 2024.

Cavalli will fly to Dallas on Monday and undergo ligament replacement surgery Wednesday, performed by renowned orthopedist Keith Meister. He faces a rehab process of at least 12 months, with the possibility he’ll be ready to open the 2024 season on time but the understanding it may take longer than that.

“It’s frustrating for him,” Rizzo said. “He’s a competitor. And he was on the verge of his first major league Opening Day and being a big part of what we’re doing here, and now he’s got to take a step back and rehab, and the isolation and the loneliness that that entails. The strong survive it and come out the other end better for it. I believe he’s one of that group, and I’m looking forward to watching him progress through his rehab and watching him come out the other side of it and really get after it again.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s not exactly a happy day at Nationals camp, where news of Cade Cavalli’s upcoming Tommy John surgery has cast a pall over everything. But there’s a game to play tonight, and a season to continue to prepare for. That process will continue with a 6:05 p.m. contest against the Mets.

This was Josiah Gray’s day to throw, but he already went ahead and got his work in on a back field this morning. Davey Martinez said Gray went five innings and 82 pitches, and he specifically focused on his changeup, which he threw 10-11 times. They felt that controlled situation provided a better opportunity for the right-hander to work on such things than a Grapefruit League game.

So that means it’s going to be Wily Peralta starting tonight against the Mets. The veteran right-hander has been trying to make the Opening Day roster off a minor league deal, most likely as a long reliever. He hasn’t been stretched out all that much; perhaps tonight he can give them two or three innings and make his case to head north with the club.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS
Where: The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches
Gametime: 6:05 p.m. EDT
TV: None
Radio: MLB.com (Mets broadcast)
Weather: Partly cloudy, 73 degrees, wind 10 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
1B Dominic Smith
LF Alex Call
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Luis García
3B Ildemaro Vargas
CF Victor Robles
DH Michael Chavis
SS Jeter Downs

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Cade Cavalli will require season-ending Tommy John surgery, a crushing blow to the Nationals and their top pitching prospect two weeks before Opening Day.

An MRI of Cavalli’s right elbow revealed a Grade 3 sprain, which is a complete tear, of the ulnar collateral ligament. Had it been a lesser-grade sprain, it’s possible Cavalli could have avoided surgery and attempted to return sooner via rest and rehab. The complete tear requires surgery to replace the ligament.

“While Cade will not pitch in 2023, he continues to be a very important part of our franchise’s future,” general manager Mike Rizzo said in a statement released by the team, “and we look forward to having him back on the mound.”

The Nationals’ first-round pick in the 2020 draft, Cavalli was making his fourth appearance of the spring Tuesday afternoon and looked dominant through his first 2 2/3 innings, allowing only one of the nine Mets batters he faced to reach base. But then he threw an 87 mph changeup to Brandon Nimmo that sailed high and away of the New York leadoff man, began shaking his right arm and paced around the mound, hunching over in pain.

Manager Davey Martinez, head athletic trainer Paul Lessard and catcher Keibert Ruiz converged around Cavalli, and though the pitcher wanted to try to throw a warmup toss, he was told he needed to depart the game alongside Lessard.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Two weeks from today, the Nationals will be taking the field in D.C. to face the Braves in the 2023 season opener.

That means there’s still two weeks for things to happen, two weeks for things to change and two weeks for club officials to make decisions on which 26 players will take the field March 30.

But with a full month of spring training now complete, some matters have begun to come into focus. Between the cuts that have already taken place and a few unfortunate injuries that have occurred, we have some clarity at some positions.

With a night game on tap this evening against the Mets, let’s take the opportunity this morning to look at who’s still in big league camp, with a position-by-position breakdown of the players who appear to be locks to make the team, those who are unlikely to head north and those whose fates are still up in the air. …

CATCHERS
Locks: Keibert Ruiz, Riley Adams
Unlikely: Israel Pineda
Comment: This one is pretty much locked up, barring some kind of late-camp injury. Pineda actually is dealing with an injury, still recovering from getting hit by a pitch on his right hand two weeks ago. Ruiz is the established No. 1 catcher with the big contract to match now. Adams is the established backup, though he’ll need to start hitting a little more consistently to hold that job long-term.

JUPITER, Fla. – Though they won’t know results of the MRI on Cade Cavalli’s elbow until later today or Thursday, the Nationals are already making plans to proceed without the rookie right-hander, with a veteran starter in line to take his place for the time being.

“Chad Kuhl, right now, is going to get an opportunity to probably start if Cade can’t do it,” manager Davey Martinez said this morning, before the Nats' game against the Marlins was canceled due to rain.

Kuhl, a 30-year-old right-hander in camp on a minor league deal, has made one Grapefruit League start this spring, tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings March 5 against the Tigers. He’s also made three relief appearances, including a three-inning stint Monday against the Astros.

A veteran of six big league seasons, the first five of which came with the Pirates, Kuhl owns a career 31-41 record, 4.74 ERA and 1.451 WHIP. He missed the entire 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery but returned healthy in 2020. The Delaware native joined the Rockies last year and made 27 starts, going 6-11 with a 5.72 ERA that was more than a run higher than his career mark to that point.

The final numbers don’t tell the full story of Kuhl’s 2022 season. Through his first 10 starts, he was 4-2 with a 3.17 ERA. Then over his final 17 starts – with a brief stint on the injured list due to a strained hip flexor – he was 2-9 with a 7.37 ERA, inflating his season totals.

JUPITER, Fla. – It’s an unusually chilly morning here in South Florida, with cloudy skies, a steady wind from the north and a chance of some rain this afternoon. Doesn’t seem like anything that will impact the Nationals’ game against the Marlins, but it does have guys wearing pullovers on top of their jerseys despite the fact it’s mid-March in South Florida.

The Nats are still waiting for news on Cade Cavalli’s MRI, so in the meantime they’ll focus their attention on this afternoon’s contest. It’s Patrick Corbin taking the mound for his fourth start of the spring, potentially able to go five full innings if he can keep his pitch count down. A quality outing today would be nice for Corbin, who, as we’ve stated, is currently lined up to pitch Opening Day against the Braves.

Miami is starting 19-year-old prospect Eury Pérez, not to be confused with the outfielder of the same name who played in 22 games for the Nationals in 2012-13. Davey Martinez’s lineup includes five regulars: Lane Thomas, Dominic Smith, Corey Dickerson, Luis García and Victor Robles (who is DHing today after making his return to center field on Tuesday).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. MIAMI MARLINS
Where: Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: None
Radio: MLB.com (Marlins broadcast)
Weather: Cloudy, 70 degrees, wind 13 mph in from left field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
1B Dominic Smith
CF Alex Call
LF Corey Dickerson
SS Ildemaro Vargas
2B Luis García
3B Michael Chavis
DH Victor Robles
C Riley Adams

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – For 43 minutes Tuesday afternoon, the Nationals watched Cade Cavalli mow down the Mets and allowed themselves to dream a bit. The organization’s top pitching prospect was as electric as he’s been all spring, maybe the best he’s looked anytime he’s worn a major league uniform.

With an upper-90s fastball, two different types of sharp breaking balls and an occasional changeup, the 24-year-old right-hander looked every bit the part of a future ace, one of the cornerstones of the organization’s rebuilding efforts.

“The thing is, you saw what he can possibly be,” manager Davey Martinez said. “But we’ve got to get him healthy.”

Martinez said this a few minutes after the Nationals’ 5-0 exhibition victory was over, roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes after Cavalli threw an 87-mph changeup in the bottom of the third that landed way off target and left him shaking his right arm in discomfort.

All the positive vibes from those first 43 minutes went up in flames as club officials watched the young hurler’s reaction to that pitch and feared the worst. Cavalli is set to undergo an MRI today on his right elbow, and it may take a day or two and multiple views by multiple doctors before a final diagnosis is revealed. But make no mistake: The Nationals are worried he tore his ulnar collateral ligament, which would require season-ending Tommy John surgery.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – The first 42 pitches of Cade Cavalli’s afternoon were some of the best he’s thrown this spring. The rookie right-hander was pumping out 97 mph fastballs and mixing in curveballs, sliders and a couple of changeups, retiring eight of the first nine Mets hitter he faced and surrendering zero hard contact.

"I think that's the best I've seen him since I've known him," catcher Keibert Ruiz remarked.

And then Cavalli threw his 43rd pitch of the afternoon, an 87-mph changeup that veered way high and away from left-handed batter Brandon Nimmo, and "felt something behind his throwing elbow," according to manager Davey Martinez, who made his way from the dugout alongside head athletic trainer Paul Lessard to have the kind of conversation no pitcher ever wants to have in that moment.

Cavalli, who was not made available to reporters, would depart the game a few moments later with Lessard by his side, a look of dejection on his face.

It may be awhile until official word comes down on Cavalli's status - he's scheduled to have an MRI on his elbow Wednesday, with results perhaps to be read by multiple doctors - but it's not inappropriate to fear the organization’s top pitching prospect suffered a significant injury a little more than two weeks away from Opening Day, perhaps tearing his elbow ligament.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – The Nationals made another round of cuts this morning, sending six players down to leave 37 healthy players in big league camp with 12 days to go before the team heads north.

Four pitchers were optioned to Triple-A Rochester (right-handers Cory Abbott, Jake Irvin and Jordan Weems, left-hander Matt Cronin), one pitcher was optioned to Double-A Harrisburg (right-hander Jackson Rutledge) and one player (catcher Drew Millas) was reassigned to minor league camp.

Abbott and Irvin will open the season in Rochester’s rotation, according to manager Davey Martinez, and there’s ample reason to believe both will get a chance to start for the Nationals at some point this season. Abbott, 27, started nine games and made seven relief appearances in the majors last year, going 0-5 with a 5.65 ERA and 1.438 WHIP. Irvin, 26, will be pitching at Triple-A for the first time after producing a 3.83 ERA and 1.142 WHIP in 24 combined starts at Single-A Wilmington and Double-A Harrisburg in 2022.

Rutledge, 23, will be making his Double-A debut after going 8-6 with a 4.90 ERA and 1.387 WHIP in 20 starts for low Single-A Fredericksburg last season. Though he’s skipping high Single-A, the Nationals believe the 2019 first round pick is ready.

“He’s matured a lot,” Martinez said. “His control of the fastball is a lot better. Secondary pitches are a lot better. I think the bump to Double-A will be good for him. He needs to start getting challenged a little bit, but I saw a really big improvement this spring with his command, his ability to throw strikes. Why not? Let’s push these guys a little bit.”

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – After a stretch of five straight games played in Palm Beach County, the Nationals hit the road for a bit of a longer drive today. Not that 45 minutes up I-95 is that bad, but it’s actually the only trip they’ve got left that will be longer than 15 minutes.

Cade Cavalli gets the start, and it would be nice to see the rookie have some success over multiple innings, even if he’s not facing the entire Mets’ A lineup today. Cavalli should be able to complete four innings, provided he keeps his pitch count in check. At this point, he’s scheduled to be the No. 5 starter when the season begins, so the time has come for him to step up and get himself into regular season mode.

Keibert Ruiz is leading off for the second straight day, an attempt to get some extra at-bats without having to catch too many innings and also perhaps see more pitches. (Though of course he swung at the first pitch Monday afternoon and grounded out to third, not exactly what Davey Martinez had in mind.)

Victor Robles returns to the lineup after missing five days with a bruised left knee. The center fielder was able to fully participate in drills Monday with no issues, so he should be good to go and get three at-bats today.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS
Where: Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Gametime: 1:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MLB Network, MLB.tv (Mets broadcast)
Radio: None
Weather: Partly cloudy, 74 degrees, wind 12 mph in from left field

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The bulletin board inside the Nationals’ clubhouse had the usual sheets of paper on display Monday morning. The lineup card for the upcoming game against the Astros. A schedule for morning workouts, broken down by position groups.

Not that anyone’s eye was drawn to any of that at first glance. Not when the photo was right there alongside everything else.

The photo was unmistakable. It was Joey Meneses, being interviewed by MLB Network, talking about the two home runs he launched to lead Mexico to a resounding victory over the United States in the World Baseball Classic, wearing a giant sombrero.

Some 2,300 miles from Chase Field, back at Nationals spring training, Meneses was first and foremost on everybody’s minds. And the Nats weren’t alone. Meneses was on the mind of the entire baseball world.

“I got all these text messages this morning, with just his name on it: Joey!” manager Davey Martinez said. “It was pretty cool.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – At an earlier point in his career, Trevor Williams might have viewed the top of the third this afternoon at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in a much different light. The Astros had just scored three runs off him, one via homer but the rest via groundball singles in which Nationals infielders were unable to make the plays necessary to record three outs.

That left Williams with the kind of unsightly final line – three earned runs, seven hits in 4 2/3 innings – that would’ve bothered him in the past. At this stage of his career, with a two-year contract and a secured spot in the Nats’ Opening Day rotation, he understood the process of that inning (a bunch of ground balls) mattered more than the results.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “I executed the pitches I wanted to execute. … Results are results. Thankfully, I have a spot on the team, so I don’t have to necessarily read too much into results. It’s more making sure I’m ready to go once the season starts.”

Williams believes he took an important step toward that ultimate goal this afternoon when he became the first member of the Nationals rotation this spring to reach the fifth inning. He did so despite an elevated pitch count that stood at 60 after the third, retiring the last five Astros batters he faced on a mere 14 pitches.

It was a strong finish to what briefly looked like a rough outing, even if it wasn’t all Williams’ fault. He did serve up a leadoff homer to Houston minor leaguer Grae Kessinger to open the third, but then induced six consecutive ground balls, the first four of which did not result in any outs, the fifth of which resulted in only one out, the last of which finally resulted in an inning-ending double play.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – There are added responsibilities that come with a $50 million contract extension, and Keibert Ruiz knows what awaits him now that he has committed to the Nationals for at least eight more years.

But do those responsibilities include becoming a leadoff hitter?

No, despite what Davey Martinez’s lineup card looks like today.

Ruiz is indeed batting first for the Nats’ exhibition game against the Astros, but it’s not something anyone should expect to see in the regular season.

The simple answer is that Martinez wants to make sure Ruiz gets a chance to take as many at-bats as possible while catching the fewest number of innings possible before departing for the day.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s been a beautiful spring here from a weather standpoint, warm with abundant sunshine every day for the last month. That may finally change today, with a line of storms supposed to sweep through the state of Florida later this afternoon. We’ll see if it impacts the Nationals’ game against the Astros. Might be a good day to really take advantage of that pitch clock.

Trevor Williams gets the ball for his third start of the spring. The right-hander has yet to allow a run in three innings to date; he also has yet to issue a walk. We’ll see how he handles an Astros lineup that doesn’t exactly have the big names in there today.

Houston does have a big-name pitcher on the mound in Framber Valdez, so this will be a nice challenge for a Nats lineup that has an unfamiliar face in the No. 1 spot: Keibert Ruiz. Don’t worry, Davey Martinez isn’t suddenly thinking about making his $50 million catcher a leadoff man. It’s just a way to get him an extra at-bat without having to catch too many innings on a hot, muggy afternoon.

James Wood gets another chance to start a big league game, batting ninth and playing center field. Fellow prospect Elijah Green is slated to replace him later on.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. HOUSTON ASTROS
Where: The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: None
Radio: MLB.com (Astros broadcast)
Weather: Chance of storms late, 87 degrees, wind 17 mph out to center field

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Ildemaro Vargas walks into the clubhouse, wide smile on his face, and offers the same, one-word declaration to anyone within shouting vicinity.

“¡Campeón!”

It matters not if the Nationals won or lost the previous night, if the team is in contention or rebuilding, if it’s 8 a.m. prior to a day game or 4 p.m. prior to a night game. Vargas wants everyone to know what he thinks of them.

“Playing at this level, and knowing all sides of the business, it’s very hard to stay yourself and keep yourself up here at this level,” the utility infielder said last week, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “So to me, just the fact these guys are here and playing at this level, we’re all champions. That why I say it to everybody.”

Vargas has been doing this practically since the day he joined the Nats last summer. A 31-year-old journeyman who had spent the previous five seasons bouncing from the Diamondbacks to the Twins to the Cubs to the Pirates back to the Diamondbacks and back to the Cubs, he walked into Nationals Park as if he had as much organizational tenure as Ryan Zimmerman.

JUPITER, Fla. – MacKenzie Gore walked around the mound during the bottom of the second at Roger Dean Stadium with little reason to be excited about the way this start was going. Five of the first eight Cardinals batters he faced in today’s exhibition had reached base, three via extra-base hit, with all kinds of loud contact off him.

On the heels of another disappointing spring outing in this same ballpark, this was shaping up to be a particularly frustrating afternoon for the Nationals left-hander.

By the time he walked off the mound at the end of the fourth inning, Gore’s mood had dramatically changed. After retiring eight of the last nine batters he faced, there was at last reason to be encouraged by the manner in which he salvaged this start.

“In the past, I’ve let games like that balloon into six, eight runs. So that was good,” he said. “We came back, and the last two innings were much better than the first two.”

Not that this was an overwhelmingly positive day for Gore, or for the Nationals, who lost 5-1 to a St. Louis team with 17 absent players right now because of the World Baseball Classic. Only two of the nine Cardinals batters who faced Gore today are likely to make the Opening Day roster: backup catcher Andrew Knizner and outfielder Alec Burleson.

JUPITER, Fla. – Alex Call probably reported to spring training with a bit of a leg up for a spot on the Nationals’ bench, based if nothing else on the six weeks he spent with them to close out the 2022 season. The Nats liked his ability to play all three outfield positions and were impressed with the surprising pop he displayed (a .441 slugging percentage) in 115 plate appearances.

That Call has proceeded to perform well this spring has only bolstered his case to make the Opening Day roster. He enters today’s game against the Cardinals with a robust .417 batting average (10-for-24), four doubles and two stolen bases in Grapefruit League play.

“He’s staying on the ball really well,” manager Davey Martinez said. “What I like about Alex right now: He’s on time. His swing looks really easy, really smooth. But he’s getting himself on time every pitch, and I love that.”

Call ostensibly entered camp in competition with two newcomers, Stone Garrett and Derek Hill, for the fourth outfielder’s job. Hill pulled his hamstring earlier this month and will likely open the season on the injured list. Garrett showed off his power stroke Friday night when he launched his first homer of the spring, but overall he’s 5-for-23 with eight strikeouts.

Call, meanwhile, has done just about everything in his power to make the decision an easy one. He added to the ledger Saturday night with two hits, a walk and a run scored in the Nationals’ 10-7 win over the Mets.