Bullpen questions still unanswered 2 weeks into season

Injuries and lack of experience force Williams to juggle stable of relievers

Before the Washington Nationals’ season began, concerns about the bullpen abounded, and the first two weeks of the season have done little to assuage those fears. Nationals relievers have a 2.27 ERA through13 games entering Monday’s games, which ranks sixth in the major leagues. But just four relievers from the Opening Day bullpen remain, and roles are still being ironed out.

Newcomer Casey Janssen is still in Viera, Fla., rehabbing right shoulder tendinitis. The Nationals traded left-hander Jerry Blevins in the final week of spring training, and the left-hander they chose, Xavier Cedeno, struggled and was let go. Mainstay Craig Stammen underwent surgery Sunday to repair torn tendons in his forearm and is lost for the season.

“Even last year, we had a pretty consistent bullpen,” closer Drew Storen said. “Things can change quick, and things happen quickly. We’ve seen that in the first couple weeks.”

The Nationals were spoiled for much of last season, with Storen, Tyler Clippard and Rafael Soriano anchoring the bullpen. Clippard was one of the best setup relievers in baseball, pitching the eighth inning almost every time the Nationals had a lead, but he was traded to Oakland this winter for veteran infielder Yunel Escobar.

Janssen was supposed to fill Clippard’s role with Storen serving as the closer. But Janssen’s shoulder flared up late in spring training, so manager Matt Williams has been forced to be more creative in replacing the 3252⁄ innings of combined relief provided last season by Soriano, Clippard, Blevins, Stammen and Ross Detwiler.

Hard-throwing Blake Treinen, whom left-handed batters hit well, has assumed a good portion of the eighth-inning duties when the Nationals are leading. He has little experience as a major league reliever, so he is adjusting to pitching back-to-back days.

“I don’t think it’s more pressure on ourselves or anything,” Treinen said. “We just go out and compete the way we know how and execute the pitches that we’re good at executing, no matter what it may be.”

Aaron Barrett, in his second big league season, and left-hander Matt Thornton also have helped fill the void. Former starter Tanner Roark is a candidate to assume Stammen’s role. The Nationals called up 30-year-old rookie Rafael Martin and inexperienced left-handed reliever Felipe Rivero to replace Stammen and Cedeno, respectively.

“It’s worked out as we expected,” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “Some young inexperienced relievers, but we’ve got a stuff bullpen, and whenwegetCaseyJanssen back, one of our veteran, stabilizing-type of guys out there, the experience of the young guys will be better for it.”

The Nationals lost five of their first eight games after leading in the sixth inning or later, partly because of fielding miscues and partly because of Cedeno’s struggles. With so much turnover, Williams is trying to find the right spots for relievers.

“We didn’t really have clear-cut roles coming out of camp and guys stepping up and doing the job,” Thornton said last week. “There’s a learning curve a little bit. Blake is going to be great out there. He’s got the right mind-set and work ethic. He’s just got to get his feet wet in that situation of throwing late in games.”