Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Scherzer misses start with fatigue
Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer was scratched from Tuesday’s scheduled start against the Marlins because of fatigue on his right side.
“There’s not even a strain. There’s no MRIs. There’s nothing like that,” Scherzer said. “This is purely just a fatigue and endurance thing.”
The 35-year-old right-hander said his right side has lagged behind the rest of his body as he attempts to build strength in preparation for the season.
The fatigue is in the area of the latissimus dorsi, serratus and oblique muscles.
“It’s the one spot that’s a little bit behind,” Scherzer said.
He currently isn’t feeling pain when he throws.
“In the grand scheme of things, knock on wood, arm, shoulder, elbow, that all feels great,” Scherzer said.
Scherzer had made three spring training starts. He expects to pitch Sunday against the Mets and remain on track to start the World Series champions’ opener March 26 against the Mets in New York.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez hasn’t announced his opening day starter.
Scherzer last pitched March 3, allowing two runs in 31⁄3 innings.
“I recovered, I thought, nicely enough to make it out for my next start, but the training staff saw that I was ahead of the program and just felt like it was an unnecessary risk to take the ball today,” Scherzer said.
Still, he did lobby to make Tuesday’s start.
“I thought I could go out there and just throw jabs and punches and not throw any haymakers, but they didn’t even want to take that chance,” Scherzer said.
Scherzer replaced Tuesday’s start with a toss-session.
“If you long toss it really opens up everything,” Scherzer said. “If you are throwing it mechanically correct, then my side is getting more and more endurance. I’m throwing the ball plenty far. Everything’s firing on all cylinders.”
Scherzer is followed in the rotation by World Series MVP, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sanchez. There’s a competition for the fifth slot.
A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer was 11-7 with a 2.92 ERA last year, when he pitched 1721⁄3 innings during the regular season and 30 in the postseason.
He endured two stints on the injured list last season. Sidelined by inflammation under his right shoulder, he returned for one start, then was out with a rhomboid strain.
Conforto out for opener? Mets outfielder Michael Conforto strained an oblique muscle on his right side, and it’s too early to determine whether he will be able to play in the team’s opener against World Series champion Nationals on March 26.
Conforto was injured Saturday against the Nationals and returned to New York on Monday night to meet with Mets medical director Dr. David Altchek.
“We’re going to back him off here from activities the next couple of days and then reassess next week,” Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen said Tuesday.
Conforto, an All-Star in 2017, set career highs last season with 33 homers and 92 RBIs while batting .257 with an .856 OPS in 151 games. He played in 153 games in 2018. He was hurt while catching a fly ball. “Awkwardly in the wind, in the sun, he sort of fell to the ground, and he was sore on his right side,“Van Wagenen said. “He was feeling better day over day over the course of last couple of days, but we wanted to be smart about it, get an MRI done.”
Conforto, who turned 27 on March 1, is slated to be the Mets’ regular right fielder again this season and a middle-of-the-order bat. The Mets have outfield depth on the roster: Brandon Nimmo, Jake Marisnick and Jeff McNeil could all be options in right if Conforto misses time.
Left fielder J.D. Davis, who can also play third base, recently returned from a jammed shoulder. And left fielder Yoenis Cespedes’ playing status remains uncertain after he missed all of last season and most of 2018 with injuries.