Williams on Treinen, Span, Barrett and concerns so far

The Nationals needed another fresh arm in the bullpen, so they sent hard-throwing right-hander Blake Treinen to Triple-A Syracuse and called up left-hander Xavier Cedeno. Treinen, 25, allowed one run in 2 2/3 innings in last night's 8-0 loss to the Cardinals and pitched to a 1.35 ERA over three appearances during his first career stint in the majors. Before Friday's game at Nationals Park, manager Matt Williams explained the roster move and detailed the plan for Treinen. "The plan for him outside of the major league team is for him to start and build his innings," Williams said. "Last night's an example of taking him to that limit certainly. I didn't want to do that, but for health of the remaining guys in the bullpen - he was one of our long guys. So what it means for him now is that he'd probably be shut down for two or three days at least and it also gives him an opportunity to get on normal rest and continue his progression starting. So that's why we made the move because he'd be unavailable for the next couple, three days anyway." The Nats do see Treinen as an option for the major league bullpen later on this season. "Of course. Yeah, he was starting before he came up. But starting translates to long relief if the need arises," Williams said. "But he's going to continue to start to build his innings down there and certainly work on his secondary pitches and all that. But it's a pretty electric fastball. It's a really good fastball. He pitched well. He just pitched really well for us." Williams said you don't usually see a starter possessing a hard-sinking fastball like the one belonging to Treinen. "The guys that have the ability to start, that's a heavy fastball," Williams said. "Not to put any pressure on anybody, but that's a Verlander-esque fastball at 97, 98 miles an hour. Certainly Justin Verlander is a polished pitcher and has other pitches to go along with it - changeup, curveball, slider. But that fastball plays. So it's more of the same for him. Make sure that he works on his secondary pitches and he's able to start for us if need be. And that's great depth to the organization. It's certainly good for him and he can fill multiple roles at any given time depending on need, which is good." Center fielder Denard Span, who began his rehab stint with five innings for Single-A Hagerstown on Thursday, will be playing for the Suns again tonight. If he gets through a second minor league game without a hitch, he should rejoin the Nationals on Saturday. "Yes, that would be the expectation," Williams said. "So he's going to play again tonight. He came out of yesterday great and he'll play again tonight and see where he's at. He made a tough play in center last night, got four at-bats, a couple of hits and felt fine. That's the biggest thing - he felt good about it. ... "I'd like him to get four at-bats (tonight). Last night, he got four at-bats in five-ish innings. So as long as he feels good about it and feels good about his swing, that's all I'm concerned about." Williams said Span's symptoms were a mild headache right after the collision last Friday, leading the team to place him on the seven-day disabled list for concussions. "You have to certainly be cautious of that first and foremost. That's the one that kind of presents itself immediately," Williams said. "But with all of the ramp in activity and everything, he's experienced no issues. He's taken subsequent tests post-activity and had no issues. So that's a good thing and the fact that he's playing in games and feeling good about it is, I think, the ultimate test and he hasn't felt any issues. So that's what we're looking for and that's what he's looking for." Williams also addressed the status of reliever Aaron Barrett, who started the season with the Nats but was sent to the minors the last time the team needed another arm in the bullpen. Barrett is eligible to be called back up Tuesday, but Williams isn't sure whether the right-hander will rejoin the club immediately. The manager said it depends on what happens the next few days. "But he's doing fine," Williams said. "He's competing. He's doing all the things that he needs to do, so we'll see once Tuesday comes what happens there. But for right now, certainly (Cedeno) is here and we need him." Even though the Nats are 9-7, concerns have been raised. Washington still leads the majors in errors and consistently has fallen behind. Offense has been lacking in the early innings and the team ranks 20th in the majors in ERA. What is Williams' biggest concern so far? "I'm not concerned," he said. "The only thing I'm apprehensive about is how they feel about themselves and it's frustrating. It's frustrating when you find yourself down early. It's frustrating when you make errors. It's frustrating when you don't get the guy in from second or move him to third or any of those things. "I want them to understand that they've got talent. This is a good team and things have not necessarily gone our way yet as I see it, but nonetheless, we're 9-7. And so they're fighting hard, their intensity level is there. So I just want them to realize that the ebbs and flows of the season are going to be this way sometimes. But that doesn't mean that you don't fight. That doesn't mean that you don't go out each day with intensity and have a very short memory, good, bad or indifferent the day before. "So am I concerned? No, I'm not concerned. I'm optimistic, as I think they are, and I have sleepless nights because I worry about how they're feeling about themselves and how they're going about it. So with all that's gone on with injuries and not playing the way we want to play the game yet, those are the things that concern me or make me think."