VERO BEACH, Fla., March 28 -- The Washington Nationals' healthy spring training officially ended Monday, exactly one week before the first regular season game in franchise history, when the club placed right-hander Tony Armas Jr. on the 15-day disabled list with a groin pull that will likely cause him to miss three or four starts.
The injury, suffered during the first inning of Sunday's game against the New York Mets, is described as a grade 1 pull, the least severe of three levels. Still, the injury is extremely disappointing for Armas, who has now spent time on the disabled list in four straight seasons. In May 2003, he underwent shoulder surgery, and this spring was the first time since then that his arm felt good.
The Nationals place Tony Armas Jr. on the 15-day disabled list Monday.
(John McDonnell - The Washington Post)
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"It's a thing that wasn't in the plans," Armas said by phone Monday. "That's why it's so frustrating. My arm was feeling great. I was excited. Now, I guess I got to deal with this."
The Nationals, in turn, will have to deal with it, too. Armas was supposed to start the team's second game, April 6 in Philadelphia, following Opening Day starter Livan Hernandez in the rotation. Now, righty Zach Day -- the fifth starter -- will slide into Armas's spot, meaning Esteban Loaiza and Tomo Ohka will make their regular turns in the rotation. Righty John Patterson will take Day's slot and start April 10 at Florida.
The news came just a day after Manager Frank Robinson talked to his team about its effort over the previous week, a move General Manager Jim Bowden endorsed.
"It's a tough way to start the year when you lose your number two starter before the bell even rings," Bowden said. "You got to deal with it. I think Livan and Loaiza and Ohka and Day just got to step it up and do the job."
After consulting with the team's medical staff, Bowden and Robinson agreed that taking a cautious approach with Armas was best. Pitching coach Randy St. Claire and Bowden both said that pitchers can suffer arm injuries if they're favoring one leg.
"With a pitcher, you better not send him out there with a groin pull," Bowden said. "The next thing you know, you're going to have a shoulder injury and an elbow injury. With his history of injuries, we've got to get him 100 percent. It's just disappointing because he threw so well that first inning."
The first inning on Sunday was all Armas could pitch. He said he suffered the injury throwing a fastball to the Mets' Kaz Matsui, the second man he faced. He retired Matsui and Carlos Beltran to finish the inning, but told the training staff about the injury when he returned to the dugout.
Armas will rest and be treated by the team's trainers in the interim, and will do shoulder exercises to keep up his arm strength. Team physician Bruce Thomas said it's hard to predict how long it will take Armas to get healthy. He is eligible to come off the disabled list on April 12, but it is unlikely he will pitch right away in a major league game.
"These can be a bit tricky," Thomas said. "Everyone heals at a different rate."
Armas was examined in the morning by Thomas, who then consulted with Bowden.
"They said he'd at least miss two starts," Bowden said. "That, to me, means three or four starts as a GM, because we need him healthy -- period. . . . He's too important to our ballclub."
Armas said he was trying to follow the advice of the medical staff, but the disappointment was apparent in his voice.
"I've never had nothing like this," he said. "They talked to me about what it's like. They said it's one of those things that don't seem like it's that bad. But instead of resting for 15 days, if you don't take care of it, you could ruin it for two, three months maybe."
Armas was the Opening Day starter for the Montreal Expos -- the Nationals' predecessors -- in 2003 before suffering the shoulder injury, which required rotator cuff surgery. His health has consistently prevented him from realizing what some consider to be enormous potential. Only once in six major league seasons has he made more than 30 starts. He is 32-41 with a 4.21 ERA in his career, including 2-4 with a 4.88 ERA in 16 starts last season. He began last season on the disabled list and was shut down in September to save his shoulder. All that makes the delayed start to this season difficult to deal with.
"Tony always takes it hard," Robinson said. "He knows it's for the best, but he's very eager to get out there. And I can understand that after going through what he did last year."
Patterson has been inconsistent since coming to the franchise from Arizona in a trade last spring. He allowed four runs in three innings, striking out eight, when he replaced Armas Sunday. Asked if Patterson had shown signs that he was progressing this spring, Robinson said, "Not really, to tell you the truth."
