Scherzer's start may have made Nats' Sunday starter plan clearer

Every team is bound to run into this conundrum over the course of a 162-game season: The need for a replacement starting pitcher.

With off-days, rainouts and injuries - all while dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic this season and last - it happens more often than managers would like. But that comes with the job.

Nationals manager Davey Martinez has been dealing with this issue for the better part of the last week, trying to figure out a starter for Sunday's series finale against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park after Stephen Strasburg landed on the injured list Wednesday with a neck strain. Now we're a day away and the answer might be a little clearer.

Martinez has already mentioned the possibility of a bullpen game for Sunday, but that's dependent on how much the relievers are going to be needed before then. The Nationals had Max Scherzer starting last night and are sending Joe Ross to the mound tonight, looking for them both to eat up some innings.

"No. We're still working on it," Martinez replied when asked about his Sunday starter plans during his Friday pregame Zoom session with reporters. "We'll see how Max gets through the game today, see how the bullpen is. Like I said, it could be a bullpen day. Could do something else. So we'll see what happens these two days."

Luckily, the first day went according to plan, with Scherzer pitching 7 2/3 masterful innings of one-run ball while striking out nine last night. Only Daniel Hudson was needed for three outs on 16 pitches and Brad Hand for one out on four pitches out of the 'pen in the 2-1 win over the Phillies.

Now we have to wait and see if Ross' start tonight also goes according to plan.

The Nationals have always been good at having contingency plans in place for this very scenario. It just so happens that this time those plans were thrown into chaos by rainouts and the coronavirus.

Erick Fedde, who has already filled in for Strasburg this season and is the long-term solution for that rotation spot, is still working his way back from the COVID-19 injured list, and the Nationals want to give him time to ramp up his arm again.

Fedde was supposed to make a rehab start Thursday night for Single-A Wilmington, but that game was rained out, pushing his appearance to Friday night. Even with the rainout, the plan for Fedde remained the same.

"We're trying to get him through five (innings), possibly six, try to reach that 90-pitch mark," said Martinez.

But Fedde wasn't able to attempt to reach that mark as Friday night's game in Wilmington was also postponed due to wet grounds.

If Fedde had been able to pitch Thursday, he might have been a consideration to appear out of the bullpen on Sunday, as tomorrow would have been his regularly scheduled day to throw a bullpen session after a start. But with his rehab outing now pushed beyond Friday, he's certainly out the equation.

The next viable options on the roster would be Austin Voth and Paolo Espino.

Voth, of course, has experience starting, but has been used exclusively as a reliever this season with Ross winning the fifth starter's spot out of spring training and Fedde acting as Strasburg's replacement. Voth did, however, start a resumed game against the Reds on May 26, in which he essentially acted like a starter and threw 36 pitches. He threw 50 pitches on Tuesday over three innings in relief of Strasburg in Atlanta.

Espino has been in numerous roles already this season, mostly as a long-relief or late-inning arm out of the bullpen. Espino also pitched 4 1/3 innings in an emergency start on April 18 when Strasburg landed on the injured list for the first time with right shoulder inflammation.

Martinez likes the versatility that Espino brings to the pitching staff.

"Well, I can tell you now: I value him a lot," Martinez said. "(Pitching coach Jim) Hickey and I both, we talk about it a lot, the way we use him, I think we use him in great situations. But here's a guy, too, that we know if something happens, we can plop him to start in an emergency and put him in the games, late in games, if we need to. So he's very valuable to us and means a lot to me and this team."

Voth or Espino are not expected to both pitch in tonight's game, so it's probably safe to assume that one of them will at least open tomorrow's finale. But let's cover all of the bases just in case.

The Nationals do have a few other solutions sitting on the 40-man roster in Rogelio Armenteros, Ben Braymer and Seth Romero. But Armenteros started last night for Triple-A Rochester, Romero is rehabbing a rib injury at the team's spring training facility in West Palm Beach and Braymer is away from the Rochester squad due to "family issues," per Martinez.

There is an open spot on the 40-man roster that still leaves the possibility of adding another arm from the minor league system.

Does anyone remember Jefry Rodriguez?

The once former Nationals farmhand was sent to the Indians in 2018 as a part of the Yan Gomes trade only to return this offseason after signing a minor league deal with an invite to spring training in December.

Of his five appearances with Rochester this season, four were starts. In those starts, Rodriguez is 1-0 and has allowed nine runs while striking out 16 over 12 innings.

In his last start, Rodriguez allowed just one run and struck out eight over five innings while earning the victory on Tuesday. Which, ironically enough, would set up his next start to be, you guessed it, Sunday.

Rodriguez has made 16 starts in the major leagues, going 3-7 with a 5.68 ERA. So he might not be the ideal solution, but he might be the best available one.

But it's now unlikely that Rodriguez will have to be the solution, since it's unlikely Martinez will utilize both Voth and Espino tonight unless the totally unexpected and insane happens.

Another thing to keep in mind is Monday's scheduled off-day, which would give whatever relievers are needed on Sunday an extra day of rest before the Nationals next play Tuesday night at Tampa Bay.

"Plus, too, remember we got a scheduled day off on Monday, as well," Martinez said. "So we're taking all that into consideration."