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Every baseball season, there are injuries around the league.  Some are so bad that a few can never rebound and make the same impact as they did before—i.e. Carlos Beltran of the New York Mets, who has now been forced to change positions due to injury.

Depending on the situation, whether it’s Tommy John surgery, a shoulder operation, elbow tendinitis or a broken foot, baseball is a very tough sport to recover in.  This can be due to the fact that “Americas pastime,” puts a high demand on muscles that aren’t used in everyday life. 

Not to mention that those muscles and ligaments are used in an unusual fashion.

The throwing motion, for one, is a prime example of overuse of certain shoulder and arm muscles.

With constant force on the knee joints, whether it be getting in a fielding position or moving side to side, the ligaments eventually began to fall apart like tread on a tire. 

Baseball players bodies’ are like tires.  They can ride great when they’re fresh and new, however, once they start to wear down from the overuse, bad things can happen.

Now that the steroid era has come and gone—at least it looks that way—more superstars are coming up with injuries.  Why? Because of the constant grind on their rubber-like bodies.

A few players may never be the same again this season.  

So who are they?

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The next big thing is human after all. 

The roller coaster of hype that is Bryce Harper has unfortunately hit a road block: A .389 batting average and five RBI in 13 spring training games was not good enough to keep the 2010 first-round pick from being sent down to Class A Hagerstown. 

It’s never big news when a rookie gets sent down, but in the case of Harper, it is. 

Harper, now at the ripe old age of 18, has been on the radar of many fans since he graced Sports Illustrated at 16. Home runs traveling 500 feet in batting practice, 14 home runs as a sophomore in high school and then followed that up with 31 home runs and 98 RBI at the College of Southern Nevada. 

Sending the kid down is probably the best thing to do at this point. Rushing a player to “the show” with so much potential has been done so many times that you can’t help but think that this is a precautionary tactic just for the sake of it. 

And why not play safe? 

Stephen Strasburg, another Nationals first round pick, rocketed through their minor league system and saw minor success in his 12 starts, only to see that derailed by Tommy John surgery.   

So, the Nats can afford to wait until Harper is ready.    

They are not capable of competing in the National League East until they are fully loaded. Since Strasburg will not be fully recovered until 2012 (no use bringing him back too early), Harper can build on what he has learned so far for another year and when it’s time, he will have one full season of professional baseball under his belt. 

In that time, the verdict will be out on Harper. Is the long violent swing condensed and fluid? Can he handle a steady diet of curveball’s and off-speed stuff? Is the attitude that many scouts have reported simmered down, though reports from camp say that he’s as dedicated as anyone they’ve seen. 

This club is ripe with young talent.   

With the likes of Drew Storen in the bullpen, Danny Espinosa and Ian Desmond shoring up the middle infield and veterans Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth providing a well needed punch to the middle of the line-up, Harper’s return could mean more in a year than his .389 average does right now.

Devon is the founder of The GM’s Perspective

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It’s a fickle life in Major League Baseball. Here today, gone tomorrow is a phrase often used when referring to ballplayers who had a quick run of success before seemingly losing it altogether, or players felled by injuries who were unable to make it all the way back.

The stories of great fame and then injury go back many years in baseball, especially among pitchers. Dizzy Dean was a classic example.

Known as the Ace of the Gashouse Gang for the St. Louis Cardinals, Dean was the last pitcher to win 30 games in the National League, reaching that mark in 1934.

However in 1937, Dean was struck by a line drive off the bat of Earl Averill, during that year’s All-Star game, fracturing his left big toe.

When Dean attempted to come back too soon after the injury, he altered his motion, which hurt his throwing shoulder, thereby robbing him of his famous fastball. Although Dean continued to pitch for several more seasons, he never approached his earlier success.

Another example was Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Steve Blass. Between the years of 1968-1972, Blass was one of the better and more durable pitchers in the National League.

He amassed four 15-win seasons in five years, his best in 1972, when he posted a 19-8 record with a 2.49 earned run average, earning him a runner-up finish behind Steve Carlton in the NL Cy Young award balloting.

Blass also won two games for the Pirates in the 1971 World Series, including the clinching Game 7 victory in which Blass threw a four-hitter in Game 3.

However, in 1973, Blass slipped to 3-9 with a 9.85 ERA, and was in the minors the following season. Blass completely lost the ability to throw strikes, and his control never returned. He was out of baseball by 1975.

This season, there are quite a few pitchers who are attempting to either come back from injuries, or trying to salvage a mess of a season the year before.

We rank the top 10 pitchers who will be attempting a comeback to glory for the 2011 MLB season.

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According to legend, when he was 15-years old, Bryce Harper bombed a home run that went over the right field fence, two trees, a second fence, a sidewalk, crossed five lanes of traffic, a second sidewalk, and landed in the middle of a deserted area in the Nevada desert. The shot was estimated to have landed some 570-feet away from home plate.

Although there is no video to prove exactly how far the home run landed, one year later and from multiple angles, Harper blasted the longest home run shot at Tropicana Field during a home run derby at the ripe old age of 16. This shot heard and seen around the world, hit off the back wall of Tropicana Field.

Five months later, Harper and his legendary home runs landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

On Monday, Harper will longer be the stuff of legend, but rather of reality as he makes his pro debut when the Nationals take on the New York Mets.

At just 18-years old, Harper may just overtake fellow teammate Stephen Strasburg as the biggest reason to watch the Washington Nationals, especially this spring training.

Although he isn’t expected to land on the Nationals’ regular season roster until next season, the hype is enough to draw interest. Rated as the No. 2 overall best minor league prospect according to MLB Network’s Top 50 prospects, Harper without question is the most intriguing of all.

The real dilemma facing the Nationals is the same they faced last season: when is the right time to cash in the chips and call up the kids to play pro ball?

Common sense, money and the overall excitment of seeing Strasburg was too much for the Nats, and one year after being drafted No. 1 overall, Stephen Strasburg made his pro debut in April of 2010. 

Harper spent his first season in the minors playing in the Arizona Fall League and without Strasburg for the entire 2011 season, there really isn’t much to get excited about in Washington, especially considering that the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves only got stronger in the offseason.

Time will only tell if the rumors of Harper not making his pro debut until 2011 will prove true, but in the meantime, it should be an interesting and entertaining Spring Training for the Nationals.

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Every team wants one, he’s more important than a power hitter, a shut down closer, or a super utility man.  Every team wants a young No.1 starter at or under the age of 26; a young superstar pitcher you can build your team around, one less spot in the rotation that you have to worry about.

You hold on to these pitchers like your life depends on it, and you overprotect that arm like you overprotect your child.  Because your entire franchise is on that throwing arm, and everybody knows that throwing arms are made out of glass.

For this list, I am looking for several things: past performance, injuries, contribution to the team, pure stuff, and whether or not their future is looking bright. 

Every pitcher under or at 26 or under in the majors is eligible, injured or not. 

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If the good Lord picked one weather day to represent spring training for every baseball team spread out over Florida and Arizona, he would have chosen today.

With clear blue skies and temperatures hovering around 80 degrees, the Washington Nationals picked up the pace on the fourth day of workouts for pitchers and catchers.

Yesterday’s big story was no doubt Stephen Strasburg’s pain free throwing session.

Strasburg had Tommy John surgery at the end of last season and the Nationals are in no hurry to rush the pitching phenom back any time soon.

The talk around camp today was the impending arrival of another ready made MLB phenom, outfielder Bryce Harper.

Harper is due to report on Sunday when the rest of the positional players report.

Strasburg and his battery mates worked on the fundamentals of the game like covering first base and they even did some situational bunting.

Of course, there was also lots of running and stretching. Strasburg did no throwing today.

The Nationals spring training facility is located in Viera, Fla. The team reports to Space Coast Stadium each morning and then walks the quarter mile to the four beautifully groomed and perfectly greened practice fields, which surround the stadium.

Upon seeing the walk by the players today, I came up with the name for my diary segment that will include player’s interviews, “the walk and talk with…”

Today I was fortunate enough to meet and interview a fantastic young personality in the Nats bullpen.

His refreshing attitude on playing the game of baseball really made me feel as though the future of Americas Past Time is in safe hands. 

Today’s walk and talk is with pitcher Drew Storen.

Nats Manager Jim Riggleman has called Storen the closer of the future in DC.

Storen had quite a whirlwind of a year in 2010. Aside from turning just 23 last August, Drew was promoted from the AAA Syracuse Chiefs to the Nationals on April-30.

In the span of six days, Storen accomplished a lot for a young major league relief pitcher. He debuted in the show May 17 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

In three batters faced, Storen collected two outs, with Matt Holliday becoming his first MLB strikeout, as well as hitting his first batter, Ryan Ludwick.

Working two-thirds of an inning two days later, Storen would collect his first major league win against the NY Mets.

Four days later in an inter-league game against the Orioles, Storen smacked his first big league hit, a line drive to left center field off Kevin Millwood.

Storen is a born closer.

He was one of college baseball’s premier closers during a stellar two-year collegiate career at Stanford University. He was a first team All-Pac-10 selection following each of his two seasons in a Cardinal uniform (2008 and ’09) and he led Stanford in both wins and saves in 2009, becoming the first Cardinal pitcher since Jeff Ballard in 1984 to accomplish the feat.

Originally drafted by the Yankees in 2007, Storen did not sign so that he could attend Stanford.

After selecting pitching phenom Steven Strasburg with the number one overall pick in 2009, the Nationals drafted Storen, a native of Brownsburg, IN, nine spots later, making him the tenth overall pick.

The Nationals added a little more to Storen’s whirlwind year when, on Jul. 30, they traded his good friend and their saves leader, Matt Capps, to the Minnesota Twins at the trade deadline.

Capps was leading the Nats with 26 saves at the time of the trade and was the winning pitcher for the National league in the All-Star game.

Storen has said on numerous occasions that Capps had a big part in his success last season, taking him under his wing after the two met at the Nationals Fan fest last February.

Eight days following the Capps trade, Storen knew his time was coming to collect his first major league save.

He figured it would probably come in L.A on the road and he was right.

“I kept sitting out there (in the bullpen) knowing that the call was coming,” Storen said. “When the call came I was so pumped up and excited that I don’t even remember who I got out, I think I got Belliard to end it.”

It was Bellliard he got out to end it.

Belliard pinch it for Brad Ausmus and grounded out to Adam Dunn to end the game.

Storen would go onto to record four more saves last season with a 3.58 ERA in 54 appearances. He would boast a record of 4-4 with 52 strikeouts in just 55.1 innings pitched.

“I had closed at Stanford and was pretty good but this was like nothing I had ever prepared for, I was so happy when I got that first one (save)”. Storen said. “I was nervous and excited all at once, it was all like a big blur.”

He ended the year 4-4 with a 3.58 ERA.

When I asked him if Nats Manager Jim Riggleman had sat with him to discuss expectations he said: “Not really, I know what I have to do and I don’t really feel like that I have actually won the job yet. There are some guys here that are capable and I just have to go out there and do what I know how to do”.

The scouting report on Storen is that he defiantly has a closers mentality.

He does not get rattled and is intensely competitive; giving him the perfect closer’s makeup.

He has a devastating slider and a mid 90s fastball. 

Storen developed a changeup during the fall two seasons ago where he worked as a starter to further enhance all three pitches, as he throws a lot of strikes and attacks the hitter.

When asked about the veteran leadership the Nats acquired in the off-season by signing free agents like Jason Werth and Adam Laroche, he simply replied: “I’m excited, the leadership these guys bring is important to me, as a young guy I just love the experience a guy like (Jason) Werth comes with.

“I am constantly trying to learn and these guys are great teachers.”

On the great fortune of throwing to a future hall of fame catcher in Ivan Rodriguez,

“It’s like I cheat because I have a guy like that back there, he knows the hitters so well, you know he’s going to know how to throw a guy, and how to approach a guy,” Storen said. “I don’t really have to do a lot of thinking out there.”

The closers job is not guaranteed and Storen knows this, manager Jim Riggleman said numerous times this off-season that the closer role was up for grabs.

Several other good arms have a shot to emerge.

Sean Burnett and Tyler Clippard provide Riggleman with a great lefty-right option in the seventh and eighth innings. Both were very good last almost unhittable at times.

Todd Coffey is the workhorse in the pen but he will also get a chance to pitch late this spring.

Storen’s biggest competition may be Henry Rodriguez.

In just his second year as a full-time reliever, Rodriguez went 1-0 with a 4.55 ERA in 29 appearances with the Athletics. He had 33 strikeouts in a little less than 28 innings of work.

If all goes well here in Viera, Riggleman may elect to have the competition continue up north by using a bullpen by committee approach.

Closer or bullpen by committee is not uncommon to start a season.

This approach is smart with young arms, especially when the weather has yet to turn warm. When you are thinking long term for a 162 game schedule, it just makes sense.

Storen is fine with whatever Riggleman decides as he stated on several occasions to me that he knows what he has to do and he is ready to do it.

“I look forward to the battles this spring. I welcome them”, Storen said.

“If Storen is the closer by March 31st, we would certainly welcome that, but we are not going to force that to happen,” Riggleman told Nationals.com. “If he is pitching in the eighth, or if he gets an out in the seventh and then we need Burnett and Clippard to pitch the ninth, that’s fine. Winning the game is more important than who gets the save.”

The best thing about baseball and especially baseball in- February -in Florida is tomorrow is another day.

Check back to see whom I can grab for tomorrow’s walk and talk.

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Let us just get right down to business. The current temperature in Viera, Florida is 74 degrees and articles are popping up in all the local papers about spring training and spring break. Since I am a 41-year-old happily married man with four great kids, you will get the diary from spring training. My wife does not allow me near the beaches this time of year.

My name is Alan Zlotorzynski and I am one of three featured writers for the Washington Capitals here on the Bleacher Report. I am fortunate and blessed to live less than five miles from the Washington Nationals’ Spring Training complex in Viera, Florida.

Since the Bleacher Report has established itself as the No. 1 website for the voice of the fan, I am going to keep a Nationals spring training diary. I promise to deliver stories that one can only get from being less than five feet from their favorite Nationals on a daily basis during the spring.

I will take great photos and I am working on some interviews with some of the players that will be an integral part of Washington’s 2011 season.

I am currently trying to get credentialed (hint…hint…Bleacher Report) and will work almost daily to capture the best of the 2011 Washington Nationals before they head north in April.

If you have anything specific that you would like to read or see in a photo, please feel free to send me an email.

Check back tomorrow for my first report from spring training.

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Since the franchise’s move to the Nation’s capital in 2005, the Washington Nationals have had relatively quiet off-seasons. In 2010, the Nats bucked that trend in a big way.

Gone are Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham and their unsightly attempts at defense. In are the smooth-fielding Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche.

If Ian Desmond and Nyjer Morgan can play up to their potential defensively, Washington should be one of the better defensive teams in the NL.

With the additions of Rick Ankiel, Jerry Hairston Jr., and Matt Stairs to Mike Morse and Wilson Ramos, the Nats may finally have a bench they can count on.

The National’s have had bullpen problems since that magical 2005 season, but 2011 looks to be the end of that nightmarish run.

The Nats’ already lethal triumvirate of Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard, and Sean Burnett has been bolstered by the arrival of the flame-throwing Henry Rodriguez, who seems to have solved the control problems that plagued him in Oakland.

And don’t underestimate the recoveries of Jordan Zimmermann and Jason Marquis. After missing nearly all of last year with injuries, the two talented hurlers could be like found money in 2011.

If Livan Hernandez and John Lannan can pick up where they left off in 2010, the Nationals may have one of the deepest staffs in all of baseball.

Unfortunately, those are gigantic ifs.

For all the moves that Nationals did make, there was just as many that they failed to get done.

The team still lacks a top of the line starting pitcher, despite the best efforts of GM Mike Rizzo. And the Nationals will struggle to fill the power void left by big Adam Dunn.

Make no mistake, while the Nationals will be improved, they will still struggle to win 80 games in 2011.

But it should be fun to watch, despite the absence of a Mr. Strasburg. But fear not, he’ll be back in 2012—with his friend Bryce.

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If you have been following the Washington Nationals’ offseason, you are aware that the team has now entered Phase Two.

If not, here is an explanation of what exactly Phase Two entails by Nats GM Mike Rizzo from Jayson Werth’s introductory press conference: “It kind of exemplifies phase two of the Washington Nationals’ process. Phase one was scouting and player development, building the farm system. Now it’s the time to go to the second phase and really compete for division titles and championships.”

Phase Two started with a bang—a $126 million bang, at that.

Unfortunately, it ended with a dud. As shocking and exciting as the Jayson Werth signing was, the Nationals’ front office has to be disappointed with their failure to find a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher, an offseason goal set by Washington’s brain trust.

Again and again the Nationals’ targets landed elsewhere, and the team was forced to settle on a trade for Tom Gorzelanny. While Gorzelanny may not be the ace Washington was looking for, he will provide the Nats with an extra arm in case of an injury, a luxury the Nats have not had since the move to Washington.

The Nats failure to land a front-line starter may have actually been a blessing in disguise. After Cliff Lee, the 2010 crop of free agent pitchers was relatively weak, and overpaying—whether it be in the form of money or prospects—may have stunted the teams development.

As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were the 1927 Yankees, for that matter.

With Strasburg set to return in 2012 and Bryce Harper likely to make his major league debut in the same year, it would be foolish for the Nationals to put all their eggs in one offseason’s basket, especially an offseason preceding a transition year, which the 2011 season will be for the club.

The goal of any offseason should be to improve the team, and the Nationals have done that. Will it manifest itself in an improvement on last year’s 69 wins? I don’t know, but the franchise is in a better place than it was this time last year, that is for sure.

Yes, Washington overpaid for Jayson Werth, but they had to. And the effects of that deal will be felt for offseasons to come.

One, the Nationals obviously have a good relationship with Scott Boras, who represents some of the game’s biggest stars, which may give them the inside lane on his clients in the future.

Two, the Nationals are now officially players in the offseason—exemplified by the rumors that the Nats were close to signing the crown jewel of the offseason, Cliff Lee.

Lastly, the Nats’ front office has now shown that they are willing to spend, which will help keep players like Ryan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg—a Boras client—in Washington.

In Part 2—or should I say Phase 2—we’ll look at more of the Nationals offseason moves and their impact on the 2011 Nats.

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Coming to fans everywhere, the latest installment of Washington D.C. baseball…National Treasures: The Missing Strasburg. Starring the D-list celebrities of the fantasy baseball world: Livan “National League Harlot” Hernandez, Jordan “Not That Zimmerman” Zimmermann, and featuring Jason Marquis and John Lannan as trusty sidekicks.

Looking back at last year’s chapter of National Treasures, it seems like not many will buy into the 2011 version. 

There might be fantasy relevance with the Nationals’ pitching this season with Tom Gorzelanny doing his best President Obama impression. Coming to Washington D.C. from Chicago, Gorzelanny is a strikeout pitcher with two sub-4.00 ERA seasons under his belt.

It’s likely he’ll be towards the beginning of the Nationals rotation, but the question remains if Gorzelanny will be used primarily in relief like in Chicago each of the last two years. I think he is meant to stay in your league’s free agency this year, but in super deep or NL-only leagues, there is some potential.

From Florida to San Francisco to Washington to Arizona to Colorado to New York and now back to Washington, Livan Hernandez certainly gets around the National League. 

Usually bringing his ghastly ERA and bloated WHIP, Hernandez will have another crack at it with the Nationals this year. He actually had one of the better seasons of his career last year, posting a 3.66 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, and 22 quality starts.

However, he only managed to win ten games in 2010, and had one of his lowest K/9 ratios (4.8). I can’t see Livan in many 2011 lineups, especially with age not helping as he enters his 20^th season in the majors.

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