The Nationals officially placed catcher Ivan Rodriguez on the disabled list this morning. The move is retroactive to Saturday, May 23. Rodriguez has been playing with a lower-back strain and he tweaked the injury against the Orioles on Saturday during a third-inning at-bat. He left the game after grounding out and took his scheduled day off on Sunday.
This is cause for concern for a 38-year-old who has 20 years of wear and tear on his body. Rodriguez dealt with spasms in his upper back in April and the current injury has bothered him on-and-off for much of this season. It’s a hit for the Nats’ offense, too, as they head on a 10-game road trip that includes series against San Francisco and San Diego. Those teams rank No. 2 and 3 respectively in run prevention so far in 2010. Rodriguez is batting .325 (40-for-123) with nine doubles, a triple and a home run.
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Now, the big problem. Wil Nieves will assume starting catching duties. He was part of a platoon with Josh Bard last season and has plenty of experience with Washington’s pitching staff. The offensive hit is obvious. Nieves has a .552 OPS and just 13 hits in 58 at-bats (.224 batting average). As for the back-up catcher the next two weeks: There’s not many in-house options right now on the 40-man roster. Jesus Flores is on the 60-day disabled list as he recovers from last year’s right shoulder surgery. Veteran Chris Coste was supposed to be an option at Triple-A Syracuse – until he had to undergo Tommy John surgery on his elbow last week. That leaves…Jamie Burke? He’s another veteran added in spring training, but tore the meniscus in his right knee and is only now ready to return. He is officially back on Syracuse’s roster, but has yet to play in a Triple-A game. But would you throw the 38-year-old right back into the big leagues?
The Nats also could add either of the other two Syracuse catchers – Devan Ivany, 27, or Carlos Maldanado, 31, – to the 40-man roster and call them up or find someone on waivers and do the same. Either way, some non-catcher on the 40-man roster is in trouble. Washington says it will announce the corresponding roster move tomorrow.
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