Waiting on Strasburg’s season debut and Lee’s next outing

CINCINNATI – It’s coming. It might be as soon as next week.

Just like the holidays sometimes sneak up on you, Strasmas could be closer than you think after Stephen Strasburg’s dominant performance last night with Triple-A Rochester.

After struggling in his first rehab start with low Single-A Fredericksburg and then coming back in his second pitching how a World Series MVP should against low minor leaguers, Strasburg shoved against Triple-A hitters to the tune of six shutout innings on one hit and one walk with four strikeouts on 83 pitches Friday night.

“He did well, six innings, 83 pitches, one hit, four strikeouts," Nationals manager Davey Martinez said after last night’s 8-5 win over the Reds. "So he threw the ball well.”

So is that it? Is Strasburg’s next start coming at the major league level?

Let’s not jump to any conclusions just yet, as the Nationals will continue to be very cautious with their star pitcher as he recovers from last summer’s thoracic outlet surgery. Also keep in mind he has only pitched 26 ⅔ innings over seven starts since the World Series. But it’s hard to imagine he needs one more tune-up. Strasburg will join the Nationals in Cincinnati today and he’ll meet with Martinez to discuss next steps. We’ll know more this afternoon.

“We're gonna try to get him back here tomorrow and re-evaluate,” Martinez said. “He's got a routine he does. He'll throw his bullpen and then we'll see where he's at. I'm gonna have a conversation with him when he comes back. And we'll see. But that's great news for us, that he's reached that pinnacle where he's up at six innings, 83 pitches. So we'll see what happens next.”

That might sound like it’s almost a sure thing Strasburg is going to start next with the Nats. But he just did this same routine this past week. After his second rehab start with Fredericksburg on Sunday, Strasburg joined the Nationals on their charter train to New York and threw his bullpen session at Citi Field before heading out to Rochester. So it’s not inconceivable that he’ll make one more rehab start.

Looking at the schedules, however, one could make a logical assumption Strasburg will make his next start with the Nats.

After this homestand, the Red Wings go to St. Paul for a six-game series against the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate. The Nationals, after wrapping up this series against the Reds and Monday’s off-day, head to Miami for three games before returning for an 11-game homestand over 10 days. While it is easier to get to St. Paul from Cincinnati instead of Washington or Miami, it might not make sense to send Strasburg that far for a rehab start.

And with the off-day Monday, the Nationals won’t need a fifth starter until next Saturday’s home game against the Brewers. Joan Adon, Josiah Gray, Erick Fedde and Patrick Corbin can all make their next starts on normal rest, skipping over rookie Evan Lee’s spot in the rotation.

Which takes us to Lee, who impressed over 3 ⅔ innings in his major league debut on Wednesday in New York and has stayed with the team for another chance to pitch in the big leagues.

Martinez has committed to the left-hander getting another chance to pitch. He’s just not sure if that will come in the form of a start, out of the bullpen or possibly both. The manager said Lee could be used out of the ‘pen on his bullpen day when he usually throws 30-35 pitches in between starts. And then he could be used to start a bullpen game if the Nats needed to use one.

Lee’s bullpen day will be today after starting Wednesday. And with Josh Rogers landing on the 15-day injured list with a left shoulder impingement yesterday, the Nationals don’t have a left-hander in the bullpen.

“I still feel like we got guys that can get lefties out,” Martinez said of his bullpen yesterday after the loss of Rogers.

Fedde takes the ball this afternoon against the Reds and he should be plenty fresh. The Nationals are hoping for a much longer start than the 1 ⅓ innings on 52 pitches outing he put together Monday in New York. And the Reds don’t have too many left-handed hitters in their lineup. Only sluggers Joey Votto (who has a three-run home run in each of this series’ first two games) and Mike Moustakas pose a serious threat from the left side of the plate.

If they add Lee, they’ll have a matchup option against those Reds lefties.

How does Lee prepare for his next outing when he’s not sure whether it’ll be as a starter or reliever?

“The biggest thing with me is just to understand that I gotta do whatever I can to help his ballclub win games,” he said yesterday afternoon. “And with that, that helps with preparation knowing, hey, you gotta be ready for anything. You gotta be ready for any day to help this ballclub. And so the lifting schedule has just kind of just been a little bit more light than what I usually do on a normal starter routine just to be prepared for anything. And when my name is called, just to go out there and try and help them win.”

With some limited relieving experience earlier in his career, Lee is confident he can manage his mindset no matter the role.

“Just in terms of just coming out of the bullpen, I know I had some (experience.) Early in my career, I was a reliever. In college, I was a reliever. In the Arizona Fall League, I was a reliever as well. So just the mentality instead of keeping your team in the game is to shut the door and to guarantee the win. So just gotta go out there and make pitches just like if it was the first inning or the seventh inning. And so as a reliever, your job is to shut the door. And so that's what I'd be trying to do.”

So with Strasburg’s potential season debut looming next week, and as long as nothing freaky happens to the pitching staff over the next couple of days, Lee could see his next couple of major league outings come out of the bullpen. And he’s fine with whatever opportunity he gets.

“Oh, absolutely,” Lee said. “It's just next man up mentality. And being a left-handed pitcher, there's not many. And so I have to hold up my end for this ballclub to win games. And if I need to go get left-handers out or I need to start or I need to do whatever I need to do for this team to win and do it the Nationals way, I'm going to do it.”