Trying to figure out when Stephen Strasburg is going to pitch next? The rehabilitation tour continues this week on the way back to Nationals Park. But we won’t know an exact major league return date for a while. That’s because so much of it depends on the weather, the state of Washington’s pitching rotation, when the Nationals decide to shut down Jordan Zimmermann for good and, of course, how Strasburg’s arm responds to game situations.
“I know they have like five different schedules floating around,” Strasburg said Sunday in Hagerstown, Md., after his first minor league start since his Tommy John surgery Sept. 3.
Nats manager Davey Johnson said last week that ideally Strasburg would start pitching in the minors on the same day Zimmermann goes for Washington and take over that slot in the rotation. Zimmermann is on a 160-innings limit this season in the first full year back from his Tommy John surgery. But he’s already at 1381Ú3 innings. It’s hard to believe the Nats will shut him down three starts from now after an Aug. 22 game against the Diamondbacks. That’s too early. More likely, Zimmermann gets to pitch against Cincinnati on Aug. 27. Averaging six innings over those final four starts — he has failed to do so just four times in 2011 — Zimmermann would be at about 162 innings following that game.
But will Strasburg really be ready by Sept. 3, which would be Zimmermann’s next scheduled day to pitch? That’s only five minor league starts, and he didn’t even make it two innings for Hagers?town on Sunday. Zimmermann made nine last summer coming back from his surgery.
There are options. The Nats could turn to Brad Peacock, who at 23 was dominant at Double-A Harrisburg this season before earning a promotion to Syracuse. He’s struggling there, but the front office wants to get him some innings at the major league level in September. He is on pace to pitch Sept. 3 for Syracuse. If someone — Chien-Ming Wang, Livan Hernandez — has pitched his way out of the rotation later in September, then Strasburg could take that spot instead.
