Rotation questions abound after Fedde blasted by Braves

As the focus has remained squarely on their bullpen, which has been in need of upgrades since opening day, lurking underneath the surface of the Nationals' red-hot summer has been the question of rotation depth. Would Mike Rizzo need to acquire a No. 5 starter before the July 31 trade deadline?

Rizzo last week insisted such a move wasn't necessary, that he liked his team's back-of-the-rotation options. Besides, the longtime general manager pointed out, starting pitchers usually are "difficult and often expensive type of adds at the trade deadline."

This was all well and good when Rizzo could point to his consistently excellent Nos. 1-4 starters and argue a quality fifth starter wasn't an urgent need. But since then Max Scherzer has returned to the injured list with an upper back strain that is unlike any physical ailment the three-time Cy Young Award winner has ever experienced.

Until Scherzer returns - and there's no firm timetable at this point for that to happen - the Nationals' No. 4 starter is Erick Fedde. Their No. 5 starter, presumably, is Joe Ross. For a team that can't afford to give away games as the season's final third arrives, that's an awfully big risk.

"One of these two guys has got to step up," manager Davey Martinez said. "They have to step up. I've said it before: We feel like they belong here, but they've got to start making pitches and keeping us in the ballgame."

Alas, performances like the one Fedde offered up tonight during an 11-8 loss to the Braves - it was completely lopsided until the Nationals scored seven late, unanswered runs - certainly don't help support Rizzo and Martinez's argument.

Pitching a critical game in the heat of a pennant race in place of the injured Scherzer, Fedde was rocked for nine runs in only 3 2/3 innings. He allowed 10 of the last 14 batters he faced to safely reach base, five of those via extra-base hit.

He needed a whopping 93 pitches to record 11 outs. He saw his ERA balloon from 3.40 when he took the mound to 4.67 when he departed.

"It's never fun to let your team down," Fedde said. "It's one of those ones where I look at it as: Don't let it happen again. Go back to the drawing board tomorrow and look at where I really struggled. But right now, I'm just trying to get past it."

Fedde may have let his team down, but his defense also let him down at times. Anthony Rendon and Adam Eaton each were charged with errors, and Yan Gomes couldn't get the ball back to his batterymate quickly enough on a wild pitch that could've resulted in an out recorded at the plate.

But the 26-year-old was responsible for more than enough damage on his own, especially during an agonizing stretch in the third and fourth innings in which Braves hitters went 8-for-12 with three doubles and two homers.

"Probably not pitching ahead," he said when asked why things unraveled for him. "Mostly getting into counts where guys were putting swings on balls that were able to do damage. Nothing really went my way today."

It was an ugly outing for a once-promising first-round pick who has shown flashes of success this season but has not been able to sustain it. And it now leaves the Nationals in a precarious position.

Rizzo isn't one to alter his trade-deadline plans based on one bad July 30 start, but the Nats GM does face a tricky dilemma before the clock strikes 4 p.m. Wednesday. With Scherzer's return date uncertain and no more August waiver trades permitted by Major League Baseball, the decision must come now.

Since June 1, the Nationals are 29-8 in games started by Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and Aníbal Sánchez. That's as successful a pitching quartet as there is in baseball this season. But they're now 4-9 in games started by anyone else.

Rizzo and Co. must now decide: Are there enough "anyone else" starts left on the schedule to derail the Nats' postseason hopes? And if so, how much are they willing to spend (in dollars and prospects) in search of someone better?