Gallo nearing rehab assignment, Cavalli still waiting to ramp up

The time has come and passed to trade Joey Gallo, who the Nationals signed to a one-year, $5 million contract before spring training in hopes the veteran slugger could be a chip by the deadline. Now the club is just hoping he can return to the field soon for the final stretch run of the season.

Gallo, 30, has been on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain since June 12. Although the former All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner was only batting .164 with a .606 OPS, five home runs, 11 RBIs and 71 strikeouts to 21 walks, the Nats would like him back as soon as possible to lengthen their lineup and play defense at multiple positions.

Although there were no real injury updates from manager Davey Martinez ahead of Friday’s opener against the Brewers, the closest thing was that Gallo hopefully could start a minor league rehab assignment as soon as next week.

“There's really nothing. Still nothing, no change. Everybody's still the same,” Martinez said of the team’s injury report to start his pregame session with the media. “I'm hoping, honestly, that Joey Gallo this weekend makes some progress and he'll go out on a rehab assignment sometime early next week. So right now that'll be the only change.”

While the slugger struggled at the plate, Gallo was playing solid defense for the Nats at first base, with 6 Defensive Runs Saved in 316 ⅓ innings. He also won both of his Gold Gloves earlier in his career while playing the outfield, so the Nats may have him play more out there over these next two months. Although Dylan Crews’ anticipated major league debut during that time would probably limit opportunities there.

“He's gonna do some defensive work,” Martinez said of Gallo. “I told him I want him to go out in right field as well and try to get some fly balls out there. He may end up playing out there a little bit. So once he's done that and he runs a couple of more days, we'll see where he's at and then hopefully we send him out.”

Gallo has been able to take part in some baseball activities while rehabbing his hamstring with the Nats, including taking batting practice and fielding grounders at first. He even spent some time in right field today while the Nats held a team workout before taking batting practice in the cages indoors because of the heat. But he hasn’t been able to run at full speed yet, though he has told the medical staff he’s feeling better.

“He said he feels good,” Martinez said. “I base it more on (executive director of medical services Harvey Sharman) because Harvey is really good at what he does. So Harvey says he's close. He said we'll see how he feels Sunday and then we'll go from there.”

Both Single-A Fredericksburg and High-A Wilmington return home next week, and Double-A Harrisburg will be in Bowie, so it will be easy to send Gallo on a rehab assignment if he’s indeed ready.

* On the other hand, Cade Cavalli is not near restarting his rehab assignment as he has yet to ramp up his arm while still recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery.

The original plan was for Cavalli, now 16 months removed from his surgery, to go to West Palm Beach, Fla., while the Nats were on the road last week to ramp up again after not going much over the last month following a case of the flu and “dead arm.” But he was back in the Nats clubhouse this afternoon after staying in D.C. with the Nats strength and conditioning staff here.

He had made four rehab starts, but was shut down in late June when he got sick.

“We wanted him to work here with our strength and conditioning guy that we have here,” Martinez said. “Then we're gonna get him back, but I think he's gonna leave soon here to go back to West Palm Beach and get ready. We gotta get him throwing again.”

The skipper didn’t have an idea of how soon Cavalli would start throwing again, but he insisted the 25-year-old right-hander did not suffer another setback.

“No, we just want to build him up,” Martinez said. “I mean, he pushed himself and he got really sick. So now we're just getting him back.”

Cavalli’s initial rehab assignment was a little more than a month long before he was shut down again. Following that timeline, the window for him to make his way back to start in the major leagues is shrinking. The Nats acknowledge that their main goal is to keep him healthy and get him some innings before the end of the season, even if it’s not at the big league level.

”One, we definitely want to make sure he's healthy,” Martinez said. “If he can make a start, whether it's here or even in Triple-A, going into the winter, that'll be great. Because then we can set him up for his regular winter activity. So we're hoping that we can get him throwing. I'm not gonna say we're gonna build him up to pitch seven, eight innings. But we want to get him back on the mound.”

* Trevor Williams threw off flat ground again from about 90 feet ahead of this afternoon’s workout. Another injured player the Nats missed out on trading before this week’s deadline, the right-hander has been on the 15-day IL since early June with a right flexor muscle strain.

“He's still throwing just to kind of build him up a little bit,” Martinez said. “Like I said, it might be a little bit before he really gets on that mound and starts cranking up again. But he is feeling better. It's just been a slow process.”

* Keibert Ruiz is back in the Nats lineup after exiting Wednesday’s finale in Arizona in the fifth, one inning after he took a foul ball to the groin. After he had to be hospitalized after a similar incident two years ago in St. Louis, Ruiz did fly back east with the team.

“He said he feels fine. I talked to him yesterday. He said he felt fine,” Martinez said. “I talked to him a little bit after the game, too, and he said he felt OK. Because he got hit like that and you're really concerned about flying cross-country. But he said he felt fine. So he's in there today. We'll keep an eye on him.”