Losing Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg Is the Nationals’ Biggest Nightmare

WASHINGTON -- Post a list of oh-no situations in the Nationals clubhouse and losing Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg at the same time would be on top of it.

That, at least temporarily, is the situation for the Nationals following Scherzer's departure Wednesday night. A couple hours after Strasburg finished a 32-pitch simulated game in Nationals Park, Scherzer left his start one inning and 27 pitches into it. Scherzer said postgame he "tweaked" his hamstring Tuesday when sprinting in the outfield. He went on to say he doesn't expect the issue to last.

"I'm really not concerned about this," Scherzer said after the Nationals' 3-1 loss to the Mets.

His right hamstring also gave him trouble before his July 29 start against Toronto. Scherzer pitched through it then, piling up 112 pitches. He could not -- or would not -- work through it Wednesday after catcher Kurt Suzuki expressed concern about the look of his pitches following the top of the first inning.

"Zook saw what my stuff was playing like -- he didn't like it," Scherzer said. "He just didn't like what he saw -- how the ball was coming out of my hand. We just had a conversation: ‘Just get out of here. You're taking on too much risk to continue to pitch.' I didn't injure it any further. I didn't do anything worse. That was my limit for [Wednesday]. I wasn't going to push past that limit."

The Nationals have sunk their money and faith into the starting rotation. It won them a World Series last year. Its existence is a prime result of Mike Rizzo's foundational preference in team building. The organization gave long-term contracts to Scherzer, Strasburg and Patrick Corbin. Paying pitchers for such an extended period can be problematic. It hasn't been in Washington.

Though, this year, the two top ends of that approach are not available to pitch in the season's third week. It could be temporary. Strasburg's simulated game went well Wednesday. His return to the mound could come Sunday in Nationals Park against Baltimore or Monday in New York against the Mets. The right wrist impingement which led to a nerve problem in his hand has calmed. Multiple injections and time off stifled the pain. The main problem before? He couldn't get a feel for his pitches.

"I was waking up in the middle of the night and my hand was asleep," Strasburg previously said. "Kept falling asleep and I was getting these feelings, and it wasn't really bothering me throwing. It seemed like once I tried starting to ramp up and stuff, the symptoms started to increase."

Which was exactly the concern across the league before the season began. Too much too fast was on the mind of every manager in July. It remains so in August. Martinez thought about the idea when he saw what he termed "weird" injuries around the league. His general concern exists around the bevy of older players on the Nationals. He was also wary of pushing 21-year-old Juan Soto back to the field too soon. A short season is a short season. But, years of team control -- as is the case for Strasburg and Soto -- is the long game. Not exchanging now for later has to be part of the thought process.

"We had to ramp these guys up fairly quickly," Martinez said. "I know with our guys -- Max, Stras, all these guys -- they worked diligently over three months. These things during the course of a year....I'll tell you right now it's been really, really hot here. These guys are getting after it. That might have something to do with it. Dehydration. I just hope [Thursday] Max wakes up, he feels better, we get him back Friday, we'll see where he's at, then go from there.

"But we've got to be really, really careful. We really do."

Scherzer is toward the end of his journey. This is year six of the seven on his $210 million contract. The deal is a win if Wednesday night was his last appearance (it won't be). Scherzer has finished in the top five of National League Cy Young voting every year in Washington. He's been among the three finalists four times. He's won twice.

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Scherzer also turned 36 years old nine days ago. He went through multiple injured list stints last season because of back and neck problems. And, eventually, was part of stunning World Series news when he had to be scratched from his Game 5 start after his neck locked up on him the morning prior. Scherzer said he fell out of bed and his wife, Erica, had to help dress him because he could not raise his arm above his shoulder. He was back on the mound for Game 7.

He felt his delivery was causing the problem. Scherzer said in March video showed his glove in the wrong place, straining his back. This time, his hamstring groaned during his regular running routine. These are the kind of injuries that pile up with age. Scherzer's ability to push aside the aging process during the life of his contract is almost as impressive as the outcomes all the times he does pitch. Run, lift, prepare, post. It's a formula which kept him on the mound with regularity for a decade.

However, the process has become more challenging since last August when his back and neck problems began. This could well be a blip, though hamstring injuries rarely are. They tend to linger and nag, much like the problems for the Nationals to start 2020, which were precisely what they wanted to avoid.

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