Strange-Gordon on IL with unspecified illness, Casey recalled

PITTSBURGH – The Nationals placed Dee Strange-Gordon, who remains in the team’s downtown hotel with an illness, on the injured list today. The club did not specify which IL the utilityman was placed on, nor divulged what his ailment is, which is how they handled situations the last two seasons when a player tested positive for COVID-19.

Asked this afternoon how Strange-Gordon was doing, manager Davey Martinez said only: “I can’t really talk about much, but he’s doing better.”

Martinez added that no other players were unable to report to the clubhouse. Three players were seen this afternoon wearing masks while indoors, a protocol this season for vaccinated team members who have been deemed close contacts to someone who tests positive. Any unvaccinated players who are determined to be close contacts would have to quarantine for five days.

Strange-Gordon initially was announced as part of the Nationals lineup for Thursday’s series opener against the Pirates, though he never did appear at the ballpark. About 30 minutes before first pitch, the club announced he had been scratched for unspecified reasons.

Players on the COVID-19 IL are removed from the 40-man roster, and the Nats moved quickly today to acquire someone else to take Strange-Gordon’s spot, claiming outfielder Joshua Palacios off waivers from the Blue Jays.

Palacios, 26, appeared in 13 games for Toronto last season, hitting .200 with four RBIs and a .493 OPS. He played all three outfield positions, something Martinez said was appealing about him.

“Good kid, really good kid,” the manager said. “Knows how to play the game. Left-handed hitter, plays all three outfield positions. I know he had a good spring training, and when he became available, we picked him up.”

Strange-Gordon’s spot on the active roster was filled by outfielder Donovan Casey, who was called up from Triple-A Rochester and will be making his major league debut once he appears in a game. The 26-year-old was 6-for-24 with two doubles, two triples, a homer, six RBIs and a .905 OPS in six games with the Red Wings, appearing in both right and center fields.

“He’s done well,” Martinez said. “He’s got a few extra-base hits down there. He can play defense, he can run, he can steal a base, he can play all three outfield positions. Right now, that’s somebody we need.”

Casey, one of the four prospects acquired from the Dodgers in last summer’s trade for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, was in a team nutrition meeting Thursday afternoon in Rochester when manager Matt LeCroy surprisingly announced to the entire club the Nats were calling him up.

“I was shocked, as I was shoveling food down my throat getting ready to play,” Casey said. “I’m very excited to be here. My family’s coming. My wife’s here. I’m just taking it all in, just enjoying it right now.”

Casey, who grew up in the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia, said 11 hometown friends of his are on the way to Pittsburgh to attend tonight’s game, as well as his parents.