Werth nearing return, while Span heads back to Florida (game starts after delay)

Left fielder Jayson Werth is closing in on a return to the Nationals after recovering from right shoulder surgery, which took place in January. Manager Matt Williams brought over a right-hander and a left-hander from Single-A Potomac to throw five innings of simulated at-bats for Werth and center fielder Denard Span the past two days at Nationals Park.

"It's not like playing in a game, but at least we get a chance to give them some live pitches where they don't know what's coming," said Williams.

Werth will head to Potomac to begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment on Thursday night. Williams indicated that Werth will play seven innings tomorrow before ramping it up to a full game on Friday.

"We want him to play back-to-back days (because) he's going to be asked to do that when he returns," said Williams. "And he's done that, he played four in a row and could have played five in a row (in Florida) just before getting here. He's accomplished that goal. The most he's played is seven (innings), so we want to make sure he gets nine innings in and responds the next day. We'll see how it goes. He's excited about it. He's excited about getting back out there."

Werth's 15-day stint on the disabled list was retroactive to March 17, meaning he's eligible to return on Saturday. Williams seemed to feel like that date might be a bit too optimistic.

"I think Saturday is probably stretching it," he said. "We want to make sure he gets at least nine innings and he won't get that tomorrow. That would push him certainly to Friday and we'll see where he's at after that. That date (Saturday) would probably be stretching it a little bit."

Werth has maintained since his surgery that if he couldn't make it back for the start of the season. Then he was aiming to return Monday at Fenway when the Red Sox have their home opener against the Nats.

Meanwhile, Span is not ready for full action yet, so he'll head back to Viera, Fla., to participate in some simulated games with minor leaguers that have stayed behind at the Nats' spring training complex.

"He'll start three innings, then five innings, then seven innings and have a day off in there and we'll get him going, too. So good news," said Williams.

The 31-year-old had right core muscle surgery three days after playing in the Nats' Grapefruit League opener. Speaking before Monday's game, Span pointed to a potential return in three weeks.

"We're gonna go according to him," said Williams. "It depends on how he feels. Nobody can feel the injury like he feels the injury. So if he feels good about his swing and he feels good about being able to do what he wants to on the baseball field, then we don't have any issue with saying, 'OK, let's go.' But we're gonna listen to him and it's important to listen to him because he's the one that feels it every day."

Right-hander Casey Janssen has not begun his throwing program yet while he continues to deal with tendinitis in his throwing shoulder. He's on the 15-day DL.

"When he's feeling good about it, then he can start that progression," said Williams. "It's an everyday thing, depending on how he's feeling."

Update: The start of tonight's game has been delayed due to approaching inclement weather. Rain is in the forecast throughout the region for the remainder of the night.

Update II: The Nationals have announced that tonight's game will start at approximately 8 p.m.

Update III: Tonight's first pitch came at 8:01 p.m. after a 56-minute delay.