As reported Friday afternoon by Bill Ladson at MLB.com, the Washington Nationals have dealt middle infielder Cristian Guzman to the Texas Rangers in exchange for right-handed minor-league pitchers Ryan Tatusko and Tanner Roark.

A native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Guzman, 32, was the only Washington player who had been a member of the team since it began play as the Nationals in 2005 following the franchise's relocation from Montreal.  He was signed by Washington as a free agent to a four-year contract in November 2004, having played the previous seven seasons in the Minnesota Twins organization.

Guzman is in the second and final year of a $16 million contract extension agreed to during the 2008 season.  He is likely to become Texas' everyday second baseman at least until the return of Ian Kinsler, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with a strained left groin.

Tatusko, 25, was selected by Texas in the 18th round of the 2007 First-Year Player Draft.  He has pitched during 2010 at the Rangers' double-A Texas League affiliate in Frisco, Texas, where he accrued a 9-2 record and 2.97 earned run average.  Over 13 starts and 11 relief appearances for Frisco, Tatusko gave up 94 hits and 40 bases on balls while striking out 58 batters in 100 innings of work.

Roark, 23, was the Rangers' 25th-round selection in the June 2008 draft.  During 2010, he made 17 starts and five relief appearances for Frisco, winning 10 games and losing 5 on a 4.20 ERA.  He struck out 75 batters in 105 innings while allowing 113 hits and 33 walks.

The trade will not become official until Saturday, according to Mark Zuckerman at Nats Insider and CSN Washington.  Buster Olney at ESPN tweets that, as a condition of the trade, the Nationals will assume about $2 million of the $2.87 million in salary remaining on Guzman's contract.

      

NATIONALS PARK, Washington -- The Washington Nationals announced late Thursday morning that right-handed pitcher Stephen Strasburg would be placed on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation, retroactive to July 22.

While the team's announcement was in line with previous statements regarding the nature of Strasburg's ailment, the move presents the Nationals with a decision to make regarding who will take his place in the rotation.  Strasburg was scheduled to start the third and final contest of this weekend's three-game series against visiting Philadelphia on Sunday.

Long reliever Miguel Batista (1-2 win-loss record, 1 save, 4.09 ERA) drew the start on Tuesday when Strasburg reported an inability to get loose during pregame warmups.  Though starting Batista again on Sunday is a possibility, Nationals manager Jim Riggleman indicated to reporters before Thursday's game that a second consecutive start for the veteran right-hander is by no means a foregone conclusion.

"[Batista] could fall right back into that spot," Riggleman said, "but that kind of takes away from what we have in the bullpen to use.  We would have to really have two or three really clean, long games from our starters to allow us to have Batista pitch [Sunday]."

The Nationals' first two starts of the weekend series are scheduled to go to RHP Craig Stammen (2-4, 5.50) on Friday and LHP Ross Detwiler (0-1, 0.00) on Saturday.  Philadelphia's probable starters will be LHP J. A. Happ (1-0, 1.76) RHP Roy Oswalt (6-12, 3.42) on Friday, RHP Joe Blanton (4-6, 5.85) on Saturday and LHP Cole Hamels (7-7, 3.48) on Sunday.

      

When bad things happen such as the need to scratch Stephen Strasburg from a scheduled start, the Washington Nationals can remind themselves that they have a flock of pitchers who are on track for an eventual callup from the minors -- be it in a matter of weeks or over a longer time frame.

These include progressing draftees like Tom Milone and Danny Rosenbaum; free-agent pickups like Andrew Kown; once-dependable starter John Lannan; and, most immediately, injury returnees including Matt Chico, Ross Detwiler, Jason Marquis, Scott Olsen and Jordan Zimmermann.

Strasburg's day-to-day status notwithstanding, the injured list is slowly being whittled down.  You'll see Olsen on the mound Thursday afternoon against Atlanta.  And, of course, Detwiler made his first 2010 start this past Sunday.

If you'd asked me last Friday morning which candidate I'd have chosen to promote first from the big list of names above, it probably would've been Milone.  (Unlike the Nats' real bank account, my fantasy checkbook takes no heed of the financial consequences of a blown option if a hastily promoted Milone should later need to be sent back down to the minors.)

For whatever reason, the team decided Sunday was the time to call up hip-surgery survivor Detwiler for a pitch-limited outing on three days' rest.  Regular readers here know I'm a fan of the four-man rotation, but Detwiler wouldn't have been my choice -- and that has little to do with the amount of rest he'd had.

Rather, it's about something I've been noticing since the first couple times I saw the tall, slim left-hander perform as a high-A Potomac National shortly after he was drafted in 2007.

When Detwiler took the hill in the first inning, he'd promptly begin pouring in fastballs with enough life to befuddle the craftiest batter.

However, should said batter have taken a poke at one of Detwiler's offerings, he would occasionally connect and reach base -- and that's where the trouble could begin.  Pitching from the stretch, Detwiler seemed to have an annoying habit of letting the baserunners pile up, followed all too often by tallies on the opponent's side of the scoreboard.

This was something I also noticed when watching Detwiler pitch in the Arizona Fall League in 2008.  Granted, I only saw one Detwiler outing at AFL, so feel free to attribute my impression to confirmation bias.

Another argument for Detwiler advocates is that, in his seven 2010 rehab starts since June 13, his numbers have been remarkably even.

With the bases empty, Detwiler pitched 15²⁄₃ innings, giving up 19 hits and 3 walks while striking out 16.  With men aboard, he pitched 17 innings, allowing 19 hits and 4 walks as against 15 strikeouts.

That's practically the same performance with or without men on base.  And that must be what the Nats are hoping for when Detwiler settles into the MLB rotation.

What they got on Sunday, however, was not that.

On Sunday with the bases empty, Detwiler faced nine batters.  He struck out a pair and gave up a hit and no walks.

With runners on base, Detwiler faced ten batters.  Again, he struck out two, but gave up two hits, walked three, and didn't make it out of the fourth inning.

Granted, Detwiler's middle infield committed two errors behind him -- which is why none of the five runs he was charged with was earned.  But his own wild pitch in the bottom of the first didn't help matters any (and let a run in).

When Detwiler left the mound in the fourth, the opponents' batting line was .111 / .111 / .111 with no runners on base and .286 / .500 / .714 with runners aboard.  That kind of split cannot be anything close to what the Nats have been hoping for.

If, in future appearances, Detwiler can reprise his rehab performance, Sunday's outing will fade into distant memory (and might be written off to his working on short rest).

A couple more starts like Sunday's, though, may well stamp Detwiler's ticket back to the minors -- whereupon Milone, Kown, Lannan or one of the rest can expect to get the call they've been waiting for.

      

After reporting trouble getting loose during his pregame bullpen warmups, Washington Nationals rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg was scratched from his scheduled start in Tuesday evening's home stand opener against Atlanta.

Here's the explanation from Nats general manager Mike Rizzo, as reported by Ben Goessling at MASNsports.com:

"We're erring on the side of caution," Rizzo said. "I just didn't want him to go out there when he was struggling to get loose in the bullpen pregame."

That might appear to many, this columnist included, as justified caution.

But not everyone took the news well.  Emergency starter Miguel Batista entered the field to scattered boos, many no doubt coming from customers who bought tickets in the certain expectation that Strasburg would start.

Meanwhile, dispassionate ESPN baseball analyst Keith Law has taken the trouble to weigh in via Twitter on the team's decision, not once but twice.

keithlaw Strasburg is getting an x-ray and an MRI ... because he "couldn't get loose" before the game? Gonna sequence his DNA too?

keithlaw In other #Nats news, Tyler Clippard sneezed in the pen and the team had him cryogenically frozen until a cure for sniffles is discovered.

Thank you, sir.

      

A dismal ten-game road trip during which the Washington Nationals could muster only three wins has pretty well scuttled whatever chances the team had at the All-Star break to contend for a berth in the postseason.

Part of that had to do with a disappointing outing for left-hander Ross Detwiler on Sunday as he filled in on three days' rest for injured righty Luis Atilano; we'll be talking more about that later in the week.  Fortunately, Detwiler gets a break during the first series of Washington's upcoming home stand as the Nats face division-leading Atlanta for a three-game set.

The series will feature all-right-handed pitching matchups, starting with rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg (5-2 win-loss record, 2.32 ERA) taking the mound for Washington on Tuesday evening.  He'll be followed on Wednesday evening by veteran Livan Hernandez (7-6, 3.12), who gave up just one run in his complete-game win last Thursday at Cincinnati, followed by Craig Stammen (2-4, 5.50) for the Thursday afternoon contest.

Atlanta's starting pitchers will be Tommy Hanson (8-6, 4.12) on Tuesday evening, ace Tim Hudson (10-5, 2.47) on Wednesday evening and veteran Derek Lowe (10-8, 4.48) on Thursday afternoon.

      

The Washington Nationals will conclude a ten-day road trip this weekend with a visit to Milwaukee.  While Washington's chances of returning to playoff contention in 2010 are slim, they're not much worse than those of the Brewers to whom the Nats may find themselves playing spoiler.

It's no surprise to see St. Louis leading the NL Central pack, although Brewers fans would prefer to see their team, instead of the resurgent Reds, nipping at the Cardinals' heels.  As matters now stand, though, the Brewers are ten and a half games out of first in the division and nine and a half games back in the NL wild card race.

Credit for Milwaukee's mediocre showing must be divided between the team's pitching and its fielding, each of which ranks next-to-worst in the National League.  (In case you were wondering, the Nationals are 11th out of 16 teams in both categories.)  Barring an infusion of glove leather and live arms, the Brewers will more likely finish the season battling the Cubs for third place than getting ready for the playoffs.

The Nats will send a pair of right-handers to the hill in the first two games of the weekend series.  Friday evening's starter will be Craig Stammen (2-4 win-loss record, 5.50 ERA) who'll be hoping for another first-rate performance like the one he delivered at Florida in Sunday's hard-luck 1-0 loss.  He'll be followed on Saturday by JD Martin (1-5, 4.14) who has given up his share of runs since his May 29 callup but who also, in eight major-league starts in 2010, has never received more than two runs of support from his teammates.

Sunday would be Luis Atilano's turn, but the rookie right-hander has been placed on the 15-day disabled list after bone chips were discovered in the elbow of his pitching arm.  That appears to leave the door open for left-hander Matt Chico to make his second MLB appearance of the 2010 season.

Chico's performed decently in double-A and triple-A this year, logging a 6-6 record and 3.43 ERA over 97 innings in which he's issued 97 hits and 31 bases on balls while striking out 58.  In his lone major-league start of the season at Nats Park on May 8, he gave up six hits and two earned runs and struck out three over five-plus innings.

Washington will be hoping to tally some runs off the struggling Milwaukee pitching and defense, which has given up at least ten runs four times in July and three times in the last five games.  The Brewers' starter on Friday night will be left-hander Chris Narveson (8-6, 5.83), followed on Saturday by lefty Manny Parra (3-7, 5.52) and on Sunday afternoon by right-hander Dave Bush (4-8, 4.34).

      

After scratching out just six runs in their previous four contests, the Washington Nationals are traveling to Cincinnati in hopes that the cozy dimensions of the Great American Ball Park can encourage them to put some tallies on the board (or, more precisely, to push some runners across home plate instead of stranding them on the bases).

To be sure, whatever hitters' edge exists at the GABP works in favor of both the home team and the visitors.  Still, the Reds have maximized their home-field advantage this season by assembling a team that not only leads the National League in runs scored -- something they haven't accomplished since 2005 when the Cincinnati outfield of Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr. and Austin Kearns combined to produce 93 home runs and 260 runs batted in -- but also, thanks to strong pitching, is just a half-game back in the NL Central.

Washington will summon four right-handed starting pitchers to the hill this week to try to keep the Reds in check.  Monday evening's starter for the Nats will be JD Martin (1-4 win-loss record, 3.35 ERA).  He'll most likely be followed by Luis Atilano (6-6, 4.85) on Tuesday evening, Stephen Strasburg (4-2, 2.03) on Wednesday evening and Livan Hernandez (6-6, 3.27) on Thursday afternoon.

Cincinnati will also send out all right-handers this week, starting with Johnny Cueto (8-2, 3.42) on Monday and rookie Mike Leake (6-1, 3.53) on Tuesday.  Wednesday's Reds starter will probably be veteran innings-eater Bronson Arroyo (10-4, 3.96), followed by Edinson Volquez (1-0, 1.50) -- who turned in a superb six-inning, nine-strikeout performance this past Saturday in his first start since Tommy John surgery in 2009 -- for Thursday's getaway contest.

      

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Pitching for the Single-A Suns on Saturday evening, Nationals pitcher Scott Olsen took another successful step in his anticipated return to the major-league rotation.

The 26-year-old left-hander had gone onto the disabled list immediately after experiencing inflammation in his pitching arm during his May 21 start against Atlanta.  Saturday night saw Olsen make his third minor-league rehabilitation start, in which he delivered just 48 pitches -- 35 of which were strikes -- over his allotted four innings, and allowed one run and two hits to the visiting Rome Braves while striking out four and walking none.

The single run charged to Olsen came on a wild pitch in the fourth inning that scored Rome center fielder Todd Cunningham, who had reached base after being hit by an Olsen inside fastball to lead off the inning.

Speaking with reporters after the game -- which resulted in a 10-3 victory for the low-single-A Hagerstown Suns -- Olsen talked confidently about his progress.

"So far we've met all my expectations," Olsen said.  "We're getting stronger every time out; velocity is getting more consistent."

Olsen sounded pleased about his ability to use his pitch mix effectively.  "Just trying to get ahead in the count," Olsen said.  "Just pound the zone early and get them out with the offspeed stuff."

Olsen didn't hide his eagerness to make it back to the Washington staff.

"Being hurt is one of the most frustrating things that you can go through as a player," Olsen said.  "Then you get this close, you can feel yourself getting ready, and you just want to be there right now."

At that, Olsen recognizes that his return to the majors is a deliberate process that involves gradually increasing pitching loads.  His four-inning start at Hagerstown followed outings of two innings and three innings in the Gulf Coast League.

"The team has a set schedule," Olsen said.  "You increase your pitch count by either an inning or by about 15 to 20 pitches every time out."

"Sometimes it gets frustrating when they pull the cord on you," Olsen said, "but at times you gotta understand, sometimes doing things slower is better."

The next few days will give Olsen and his coaches a chance to evaluate the ability of his pitching arm to recover from the impact of progressively longer outings.

"Tomorrow [Sunday] and Monday are going to be the two telltale days," Olsen said.  "I'll play long-toss [Sunday], 120-150 feet," followed by a regular bullpen session of 45-50 pitches on Monday.

This coming week -- probably on Thursday -- Olsen will make his next rehabitation start.  "I don't know where," Olsen said.  "They're probably going to tell me [Sunday]. . . . It might be double-A, might be triple-A."

"We've got another step in another five days," Olsen said, "and we'll go from there."

      

An 8-19 record in the month of June severely diminished the chances that the Washington Nationals could resume the contender status they enjoyed over the first six weeks or so of the 2010 season.

Though the club has arrested that skid so far in July with a 5-5 record for the month, they're still 14 games off the pace in the National League East with just over 11 weeks to go.  A reasonable, if arbitrary, rule of thumb holds that it's not reasonable to expect a team to recover more than one game per week in the standings.  By that measure the Nats project to be also-rans again.

One could pose opposing arguments.  For one thing, lots of teams have seen September surges (such as the 2006 Padres who went 20-9 in that month) and swoons (such as the 1964 Phillies, whose 5½-game lead at the beginning of September was frittered away to the Cardinals).

Another argument, somewhat more substantive, is that the Nats have an entire rotation of pitchers in various phases of injury rehabilitation and itching to get back onto the major-league bump. When dominant, starters like Scott Olsen and Jordan Zimmerman can transform a major-league rotation -- and can render that rotation formidable when aligned with a talent like that of Stephen Strasburg.  So one can envision the late-2010 Nats at least being intriguing, whether or not they're in the playoff picture.

After an 11-day homestand followed by the just-completed four-day All-Star break, the Nats are starting the season's second half with a ten-game road trip.  Their first stop is at Florida where a three-game set will feature all-right-handed pitching matchups.  Friday night's starter for the Nats will be rookie fireballer Strasburg (3-2 win-loss record, 2.32 ERA), followed by veteran craftsman Livan Hernandez (6-5, 3.37) on Saturday evening and concluding with Craig Stammen (2-3, 5.79) on Sunday afternoon.

The Marlins will counter on Friday and Saturday with some combination of Ricky Nolasco (9-6, 4.55) and Josh Johnson (9-3, 1.70).  Sunday's starter will most likely be rookie Alex Sanabia (0-1, 3.09) in just his second major-league start; depending on how far the Fish choose to try to stretch out Sanabia, you might also see quite a bit of recently recalled Burke Badenhop (1-5, 5.70) in the middle of Sunday's contest.

      

The New York Daily News reports that New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died this morning in Tampa, Florida, at the age of 80. 

Steinbrenner had owned the Yankees since purchasing the club from CBS Inc. at the beginning of 1973.  His tenure as owner was frequently marked by controversy but was also punctuated by the achievement of 11 American League pennants and seven World Series titles, the most recent in 2009.

No official notification of the cause of death was available as of this writing.