Washington Nationals' 5 Biggest Storylines to Follow at the Start of 2015
The path to a World Series title is incredibly long—at least 173 games—but for a team like the Washington Nationals that has been prematurely handed the trophy, it's important not to overlook the first mile of the marathon.
Washington begins 2015 with three everyday starters on the disabled list, a superstar whose every move will inspire a think piece and five starting pitchers who are almost expected to win 20 games each.
There are countless subplots within the Nationals' overall quest to meet their towering expectations. But we're going to count them anyway.
The following storylines will begin to unfold on Opening Day. But they'll have lasting implications all the way through the last pitch of the season, whether that means winning the World Series (Mike Rizzo's a genius) or not (Mike Rizzo wasted all the money).
Honorable Mention
1 of 6
Dan Uggla's Revival
It's hard to decide which is more mind-boggling: Dan Uggla cracking Washington's Opening Day roster, or a guy who crushed 231 homers from 2006-2013 facing the end of his career not two years later.
Regardless, Uggla will be on the Nats' first 25-man roster of the season thanks to a merciless injury bug, an .890 spring OPS and Dr. Robert Donatelli's trusty trampoline.
With Yunel Escobar shifting to third base in Anthony Rendon's absence, Uggla could even find himself starting at second while Washington gets healthy. Feel free to call it a comeback.
Michael A. Taylor's Trial by Fire
Another beneficiary of the Nationals' lengthy injury report is Michael A. Taylor, who will be the team's starting center fielder while Denard Span continues to recover from abdominal surgery.
With Span's contract up after this season, 2016 was supposed to be the year Taylor inherited center field. But the 24-year-old with just 17 big league games to his name will be the starter for the first month of the season, give or take.
In between sacrifices to the baseball gods for Span's swift recovery, try to enjoy your glimpse into the future with Taylor patrolling center.
5. Position Changes
2 of 6
Ryan Zimmerman and Bryce Harper had more than a month of spring training to get comfortable at first base and right field, respectively.
That was not the case for Escobar, who handled more change than a toll booth operator this offseason.
In January, he was traded from Tampa Bay to Oakland, then from Oakland to Washington in a 48-hour span. Once he became a member of the Nationals, the team talked him into playing second base just in time for him to strain his oblique. Then, a week after Escobar made his first spring start, he was whisked off to third base to cover for an injured Rendon, because of course.
The hot corner is where Escobar will start on Opening Day, a position he hasn't manned in a regular season game since his rookie year in 2007. The 32-year-old did log four error-free starts at third base toward the end of camp.
Zimmerman and Harper both played 19 games at their new positions without incident, so Escobar will draw the most nervous eyes at third base while he plays out of position in Rendon's absence.
4. Bryce Harper Fulfilling the Prophecy
3 of 6
Bryce Harper might have been too busy doing forearm exercises to notice, but his name came up quite often in baseball's preseason media dump.
Things got pretty negative.
Tom Verducci posed the question, "Why is it so easy to dislike Bryce Harper?" in Sports Illustrated's MLB preview. The 22-year-old also retained the title of "most overrated player" in ESPN's annual poll of big leaguers with a comfortable 41 percent of the vote.
The local media in D.C. got in on the action too, with The Washington Post's Neil Greenberg calling Harper "underwhelming" within the first 20 words of a February column.
But despite the criticisms, deserved or otherwise, nobody has given up on him yet. As long as the Cadillac of Bryce Harper trivia remains true, it's much too early for that.
No, the baseball community seems to be in agreement that 2015 is the year Harper is supposed to fulfill all the promises of the "chosen one" who ended up on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16 years old.
Harper lit the fuse of all these expectations halfway through the 2014 season. He hit .288 with 11 home runs after the All-Star break and .294 with three home runs in Washington's only playoff series.
The hyperbole that has always followed Harper hasn't reached MVP-or-bust levels. Not yet, at least. But a slow start to the season could see Bryce Harper apologists start jumping ship at an alarming rate.
.png?w=256)
3. The New-Look Bullpen
4 of 6
The Nationals' bullpen is straight-up scary.
Not the kind of scary that describes Washington's rotation, against whom "don't get no-hit" is an acceptable way for the opponent to break down a pregame huddle.
The Nationals' bullpen is the kind of scary where you have absolutely no clue if it's capable of protecting a lead.
Tyler Clippard, Rafael Soriano and Jerry Blevins all hit the road this offseason. Each one held batters under a .230 average in more than 60 appearances apiece last season.
Clippard was Washington's setup man in 2014, and he'll eventually be replaced by Casey Janssen, who starts the season on the DL. Until Janssen gets healthy, Aaron Barrett, Craig Stammen and maybe even Tanner Roark will audition for late-inning playing time.
Soriano served as the closer, a job that Drew Storen took over toward the end of last season. Storen finished the year with 11 saves in 14 opportunities, but he also carries a gorilla around on his back with an 8.44 ERA and two blown saves in six postseason appearances.
This bullpen will inherit plenty of leads with the rotation that pitches ahead of them, but it's Storen and company's job to not screw it up. How they handle that responsibility is to be determined.
2. All Those Injuries
5 of 6
Please, have a seat. Are you sitting? Good, now read this table.
15-day DL retroactive to March 27
| Player | Injury | Due Back |
| OF Jayson Werth | Shoulder surgery | Possibly April |
| 3B Anthony Rendon | Knee sprain | Possibly April |
| RP Casey Janssen | Shoulder tendinitis | Possibly April |
| OF Nate McLouth | Shoulder surgery | Possibly April |
| OF Denard Span | Abdominal surgery | Possibly May |
| RP Erik Davis | Tommy John surgery | Possibly September |
*Injury information is courtesy of MLB.com
Washington has no fewer than four key contributors on the disabled list to start the season with Jayson Werth, Rendon, Janssen and Span all sidelined. And the loss of Nate McLouth is a blow to the depth of an already-shallow Nationals outfield.
We won't see Washington at full strength until a month or so into the season, at best. But the Nationals can count themselves lucky that most of these injuries aren't more serious than they are.
Washington could see the Bearded Knight rise within the first week of the season, according to MASN's Dan Kolko. Werth spent most of the offseason aiming for a return by Opening Day, coming up just short of that target.
The escalation of Rendon's injury from "mild" to his current spot on the DL is concerning. But manager Matt Williams said the third baseman's Opening Day absence is "because he just simply hasn't had baseball activity to get ready," via Sports Illustrated's Dan Gartland.
The Nationals aren't tested too much to open the season. The Mets, Braves and Phillies show up on the schedule a lot in the first month-and-change.
But Washington absolutely can't afford any additional injuries, especially early on.
1. The Anointed Rotation
6 of 6
The Nationals didn't need starting pitching this offseason. Washington's starters had the lowest combined ERA in baseball last season.
But here we are, $210 million later, with Max Scherzer in D.C. and the Nationals' 2015 rotation at the top of virtually every power ranking on the Internet.
From the moment Scherzer unleashes his first pitch on Opening Day, the people expect nothing but unrelenting greatness from every Nationals starter. Scherzer, Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg, Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez are being counted on to carry the Nationals to their first World Series title.
Scherzer relayed this responsibility to The Washington Post's James Wagner:
"I've always believed that starting pitching is the backbone of the team. But it doesn't mean it’s the only thing that makes the team tick or makes the team go. There are so many other things in baseball that are in play: two-out hitting, bullpen, coming up with big pitches in situations. Baseball has so many little things that affect the outcome of the game. The entire team has to be good.
"
This is a completely fair assertion from Washington's No. 1 starter. But, fair or not, anything less than a championship will be taken as an abject failure and the rotation will be labeled a disappointment.
In the regular season alone, the Nats' starters face 162 games of that unique magnitude of pressure. In 2015, while Washington deals with injuries, uncertainty and expectations outside the rotation, these five players, in particular, are supposed to provide the consistency that turns this team into one of the greatest ever.
*All stats are courtesy of MLB.com
Danny Garrison is a Washington Nationals Featured Columnist on Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @DannyLGarrison, where you can reprimand him for jinxing your team and hold him accountable for any wrong predictions.
.png?w=480)
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
