As spring training wraps up, Nats itching to head north

Ballplayers have long since learned how to compartmentalize spring training, how to focus on what needs to be accomplished on an individual day and not start thinking too far ahead. It's a six-week camp, remember. The last thing you want to catch yourself doing on Feb. 21 is counting down how many days are left.

There comes a point late in every spring, though, when it becomes perfectly acceptable to acknowledge the finish line. Once it's truly within reach, everyone knows it and everyone's willing to say it.

"The last couple days here have been ..." Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin said Sunday during a Zoom session with reporters, pausing to decide if it was OK to complete the thought. "Guys have been itching to get out of here, start playing some real games."

Yes, indeed. Cabin fever has set in down in West Palm Beach, Fla. Boxes have been packed. Lockers have been cleaned out. Cars have been shipped north. And after today's Grapefruit League finale against the Astros, the Nats will finally board their charter and head north for the 2021 season.

"Everything is shaping up the way we like it to," manager Davey Martinez said. "One more day, and then we'll jump on a plane and go up to D.C."

The Nationals have accomplished pretty much everything they needed to accomplish over the last month and a half. They've all but finalized the 26-man roster, even if it does include a few surprises. They've watched several newcomers blend in well, and in some cases show off some serious skill. They've seen returning stars who were hurt last year prove themselves to be healthy.

The biggest question entering camp - is Stephen Strasburg back to 100 percent following carpal tunnel surgery? - has been answered. The right-hander's wrist is perfectly fine, and though he gave everyone a brief scare two weeks ago when he landed awkwardly on his left foot delivering a pitch, the injury didn't force him to miss any time.

Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber look more than ready to bolster the heart of a lineup that needed more thump behind Trea Turner and Juan Soto. Bell (.391, six homers, 14 RBIs, 1.346 OPS) has looked every bit like the All-Star cleanup hitter the Nationals thought he could be when they acquired him from the Pirates. And he's been topped only by the man who he'll share the first base job with: Ryan Zimmerman.

After opting out of the 2020 season, Zimmerman was a huge question mark entering camp. But the 36-year-old wasted no time quelling any doubts about his ability to pick up where he left off. He enters the final day of the spring batting a cool .480 (12-for-25) with six homers, 15 RBIs and a 1.799 OPS that is best among all major leaguers with at least as many at-bats this spring.

"When I'm healthy, I still feel like I can produce and do things to help us win," Zimmerman said. "And I think that's sort of what's happening this spring. ... I think health for me is the key."

Victor Robles has done everything asked of him by the coaching staff and shown he deserves a chance to lead off to open the season. Starlin Castro has returned strong from his broken wrist last summer, though he's now trying to overcome a minor hamstring strain that prevented him playing in the last five exhibition games.

Castro, of course, will start the season at third base, an unexpected twist after Carter Kieboom struggled mightily at the plate and merited a demotion to the minors over the weekend. That was easily the biggest disappointment of camp, and it could come back to haunt a Nationals club that had ample opportunity all winter to find another alternative if Kieboom didn't prove up to the job.

The other biggest concern as camp wraps up is a bullpen that, on paper, looked exceptionally deep one month ago, but looks quite different now. Will Harris has been sidelined by a mysterious ailment that initially was diagnosed as a blood clot in his arm, but was then proven inaccurate by a St. Louis vascular surgeon. Harris won't open the season on the active roster, but he may not miss much time after all.

Jeremy Jeffress, signed after camp opened, never pitched in a game because the veteran reliever was released for non-baseball reasons that have not yet been unearthed. The remaining high-leverage arms in camp have either struggled this spring (Brad Hand, Daniel Hudson) or been slowed by injuries (Tanner Rainey).

As a group, it's hard to know what to expect from this bullpen right now.

But there's not much else that can be done about it now. This is the team the Nationals will trot out along the first base line Thursday night when they're introduced to a crowd of 5,000 that has waited 17 months to see the 2019 World Series champions in person in their home ballpark.

They are not a perfect team. But neither was that 2019 squad, especially in April and May. The story of the 2021 club will be written over six (or seven) months. This is merely the first chapter.

All that's left to do now is play one more exhibition, get out of Florida and head home.

"My thing about spring training is getting out of here with everybody healthy," Martinez said Sunday. "We got one more day. ... Once tomorrow's over, I'll feel a lot better."