Wieters' return to D.C., Murphy's return to spring games delayed

This week's terrible weather in Washington hasn't just prevented the Nationals from playing baseball, it has prevented them from seeing Matt Wieters in person in the wake of his major hamstring surgery.

Wieters, who had the surgery Wednesday in Fort Worth, Texas, was unable to make it back to town today due to flight delays caused by the storms that have limited the Nationals to 5 1/2 innings of baseball over the last five days.

Because of that, team doctors have yet to meet with the veteran catcher and come up with a firm rehab program and timetable for his recovery from the procedure on his left leg.

At this point, the Nationals are saying only that Wieters will miss significant time.

"There's no timetable," manager Davey Martinez said. "He's going to get back here and meet with the doctor. We don't know how long it's going to take, but I'm sure he's going to be down for a while. We'll see after he talks to the doctor when he gets back."

Upon injuring himself while rounding first base Thursday night in Arizona, Wieters feared he had suffered damage to his left knee in addition to his hamstring. The club has said nothing to this point about the state of his knee.

"The only thing I've heard is: It was his hamstring," Martinez said. "Like I said, until our doctors see him and go through all the medical reports, they're treating it as, right now after surgery they say it's just a strained hamstring now. We'll see where it goes from there."

With Wieters out for an extended period of time, Pedro Severino takes over as the Nationals' No. 1 catcher, with 27-year-old rookie Spencer Kieboom as his backup. Martinez has been expressing confidence in Severino throughout, and the manager heaped praise upon the 24-year-old again today.

"He's our future, and we told him that," Martinez said. "You're going to be able to play here for a very long time. And now he's getting an opportunity to play every day and has done well. He's stepped up and is doing well. He's taken the whole catching thing to a whole new level with communication with the pitchers, going over everything in detail with (catching instructor Henry Blanco). It's good to see. Obviously he's learned a lot, and moving forward I think he's going to be really good."

Asked about the possibility of pursuing another, veteran catcher to complement Severino, Martinez replied: "Right now, we like what we have."

Meanwhile, Daniel Murphy's first attempt to play in a game since his microfracture knee surgery last October has been delayed after the veteran second baseman fell ill after arriving in West Palm Beach earlier this week.

The Nationals sent Murphy to Florida at the start of the week, believing he was ready to test out his right leg after showing improvements in his running. They now hope he'll be able to start that process this weekend at extended spring training.

"He's playing like a regular game down there," Martinez said. "Not just hitting and not running. He's going to go through four or five innings of playing a game."