David Huzzard: Pitching depth should be arranged for likely postseason trip

It is still a little early to start talking about the playoffs, but let's face it - despite a minor bump in the road in Colorado, the Nationals have the National League East division all but wrapped up. One of the main questions for the playoffs is who will be on the pitching staff. It can be said with almost near certainty that Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Tanner Roark will be the top three. Joe Ross is still working his way back from injury and Gio Gonzalez has been wildly inconsistent and has not had success for the Nationals in the playoffs. If it comes down to a choice of Gonzalez or Reynaldo Lopez, however, the nod likely goes to Gonzalez based on experience and Lopez's probable innings limit.

That doesn't mean that Lopez and even Ross, if he's healthy, won't be on the playoff roster. The Nationals' bullpen is not deep. Shawn Kelley has been great and Mark Melancon is going to be the closer. Yusmeiro Petit, Oliver Perez, and Koda Glover will very likely have a place on the playoff roster, too. Matt Belisle has excellent numbers, but there is still a nervous feeling whenever he's on the mound. No bullpen is going to be seven or even eight deep and that is why either Ross or Lopez are going to be important to the Nats' playoff success.

Lopez has had two bad starts and one excellent start and has the chance to be a very good, if not great, starting pitcher for the Washington Nationals. Right now, however, the best use for him in the playoffs is in the bullpen. Lopez throws hard and harnessing that type of energy in short bursts gives the Nationals a weapon they currently lack. Not only could Lopez come in and fire 100-mile-per-hour pitches, he could do so for multiple innings. That could make a big difference in a short series.

It isn't an uncommon thing for teams to use young starting pitching prospects as relievers in the playoffs. David Price did it in 2008 and Adam Wainwright did it in 2006 before that. Those were two of the higher profile examples, but more than a few have done it before and made a big difference for their teams. The Nationals need every edge they can get and deploying a weapon like Lopez could provide just that edge.

The playoffs are different than the regular season. It is about facing one team in a best-of-five or seven-game series. The starting pitchers aren't lined up by random chance but by their position in the rotation and bullpen matchups are exploited to their fullest. Having a young fireballer and strikeout pitcher like Lopez can only be a good thing and it would be nice to see the Nationals take their 25 most talented players into the playoffs. If that puts Lopez in the bullpen over Blake Treinen then that can only be a good thing.

It is too early to talk about the playoffs, but let's face it - it is fun to talk about these types of things. Everyone loves a good baseball discussion and right now for the Washington Nationals there isn't much to do but to wait for the season to run out and the playoffs to begin.

David Huzzard blogs about the Nationals at Citizens of Natstown. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidHuzzard. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our regular roster of writers.