Baker says Strasburg's elbow soreness in different location from Tommy John surgery

Nationals manager Dusty Baker went out to watch Joe Ross (right shoulder inflammation, July 3) and Reynaldo Lopez through their bullpen sessions. While out there, he got to see right-hander Stephen Strasburg (right elbow soreness, August 21) throw the baseball, too.

"It was coming out pretty easy," Baker noted. "I asked him how he felt afterwards. He said he felt pretty good. I had seen his spin rate was different or less, and he sort of laughed about it. As long as it's spinning in the glove and passed the hitter."

Baker also pointed out that the soreness that Strasburg is feeling in his elbow is not in the same place where he had the Tommy John procedure.

"He knows how he feels," Baker said. "Doctors have poked and prodded and given them every test almost that there is. It's not in the same area. I'm not a doctor, I've got to go within what the medical staff says, what the doctors say.

"How much time do you give him? You give him enough time for him to feel right. If he's not right, then we got to go with another option."

With more good news for Ross, Baker's comments on the 23-year-old right-hander were the most optimistic of the last one and a half months.

"Watching Joe Ross and Lopez's bullpen," Baker said. "I was really there to watch Joe Ross. I mean the ball is coming out firmly, coming out easily, a good sign that Joe might not be too far off on going out on a rehab assignment. We haven't decided when. It depends on how he feels tomorrow."

They could get Ross into Harrisburg and Syracuse next week. Their final regular season games are September 5.

"He had a very good bullpen session," Baker added. "That's very encouraging. It appears that Joe Ross is ahead of the rest of them.

"He threw quite awhile. I could tell by the expression on his face that he's feeling pretty good. He's been working tirelessly. We miss him. When he was in, we had one of the best rotations in baseball, one through five.

Baker also got an update from Sammy Solis, which we had for you from Solis yesterday. Solis had pegged an early September return if everything goes well. That aligns with what Baker said today.

"I talked to Sammy, and Sammy says that he's feeling pretty good, not great, but he's feeling pretty good," Baker said. "It appears that Sammy could be a week or two off."

The more difficult diagnosis for a return falls on infielder Stephen Drew (vertigo-like symptons, July 24).

"He's still about the same. He told me he's getting better, but you get tired of asking him how you feel every day," Baker said. "Nobody really understands it unless you've had it. All I know is this is a dangerous game to play if your equilibrium is off or your judgments and balance is off. We got to get that right before he's ready to play. We certainly miss him. I'd like to give (Anthony Rendon) some more days off. It's tough right now."