Nationals Journal

Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals' No. 1 overall draft pick this June, was scratched from Saturday's scheduled start in the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars game due to a strained muscle in his neck, the team said Friday.

According to a Nationals spokesman, Straburg's condition is day-to-day, and he is expected to pitch again before the AFL schedule is completed on Nov. 19.

Strasburg, a 6-foor-4 right-hander, is 3-1 with a 5.28 ERA in four starts for the Phoenix Desert Dogs, with 17 strikeouts and five walks in 15 1/3 innings.

UPDATE: Strasburg's injury occurred while he was sleeping; he awoke and felt soreness in his neck. He was seen by a doctor and was diagnosed with a strained muscle. The Nationals are expecting Strasburg to be back on the mound within a few days.

Drew Storen is just a crack-up. I'd like him even if he had no shot of ever being a big league reliever -- and he does, and he will be, and soon.

I called him for the column that's running in Saturday's dead tree edition (I'll try to remember to "insert link here" when it's finally online), but with the time difference and my inability to stay awake past sundown, I was having trouble reaching him. He sent me a text message saying he was sorry he missed my call -- if I've heard that once from a pro athlete, I've heard it ... once -- but he was in a "toga class."

I couldn't wait to finally talk to him to see if that was a typo. Sadly, it was; he was in yoga class. Fellow Stanford player and Nats draftee player Jack McGeary turned him on to it in Palo Alto.

"I started doing that at Stanford," he said. "I wanted to try it so I did and I loved it."

You might recall that during my frustrating trip in mid-October, it was difficult to get scouts to discuss players because they hadn't had enough opportunities to see them. I called a scout this week to see if I could get some feedback.

This scout, by the way, works for an AL team and says he is very impressed with the Nats' offseason moves, particularly the promotion of Kris Kline to director of scouting and the hiring of Ron Schueler as special assistant to the GM. He knows both of them and said they are excellent.

Anyway, here's his take on the Baby Nats:

Stephen Strasburg
"I saw his first game, and he threw pretty well. First time I've ever seen him. He threw a fastball-curve-changeup; he didn't throw any sliders. He has a hard curve, 82, 83 miles an hour. I'm told his slider is a lot harder. His command wasn't the greatest, but it was pretty good. His stuff was definitely good, above average-type stuff. It looks like he's going to be pretty good pitcher."

The Nationals today claimed left-handed reliever Doug Slaten off waivers from the Diamondbacks.

From the news release:

Slaten, who stands 6-foot-5, is 3-5 with 13 holds and a 3.68 ERA in 126 career big league appearances with Arizona spanning four seasons (2006-2009). During his four-year big league career, Slaten has suffered just one blown save, stranded 77 percent of inherited baserunners (60 of 78) and limited left-handed batters to a .322 on-base mark while yielding just four home runs.

Slaten's finest season came in 2007, when he posted seven holds en route to a 2.72 ERA in 61 appearances as the Diamondbacks claimed the NL West flag.

The 29 year-old Slaten pitched in 11 games for Arizona in 2009, but spent the majority of the season with Reno of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, going 3-2 with nine saves and a 3.09 ERA in 39 appearances. While in the PCL, Slaten registered a healthy 2.7/1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and was touched for just three home runs in 43.2 innings.

Slaten was Arizona's 17th-round selection in the 2000 First-Year Player Draft out of Pierce College in Los Angeles.

Randy Knorr will be the next manager of Double-A Harrisburg Senators, replacing John Stearns.

From the Nationals' Web site:

Knorr spent last season as the [Nationals'] bullpen coach, but [general manager Mike] Rizzo and [interim manager Jim] Riggleman told him his future was as a manager.

Knorr said if he had to do it all over again, he would have been more vocal when it came to the pitching staff and have tried his best to convince Josh Bard and Wil Nieves that catching was more important than hitting.

"I love managing," Knorr said. "It's a new job. I want to be on the bench."

Knorr has a history of success in the Minor Leagues. In 2008, he guided Class A Potomac to a 79-61 record en route to the Carolina League championship.

The Nationals have not announced who will replace Knorr as the bullpen coach.

In other news, Rick Schu will replace Ralph Dickenson as the Nationals' hitting coordinator. Best known as an infielder with the Phillies, Schu was a hitting coach with the D-backs for almost two seasons

The Washington Nationals today named Ron Schueler special adviser to the general manager and promoted Bill Singer to director of professional scouting.

From the news release:

A 42-year baseball veteran, Schueler joins the Nationals after serving the previous two seasons as Senior Advisor of Player Personnel for the San Francisco Giants. Schueler is perhaps best known for an 11-year stint (1990-2000) as General Manager of the Chicago White Sox, during which his clubs compiled an 817-734 record and a .527 winning percentage while finishing first or second in the AL Central or West eight times, including a pair of division titles in 1993 and 2000.

In 2000, his final season as General Manager, Schueler's White Sox were named "Organization of the Year" by Baseball America.

In addition to his tenure as White Sox General Manager, Schueler has served in various special assistant capacities with the Cubs, Cardinals and Athletics, earning World Championship rings with St. Louis in 2006 and Oakland in 1989. He was also a pitching coach with the White Sox (1979-81), Athletics (1982-84) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1986). Schueler pitched for eight big league seasons (1972-79) with the Braves, Phillies, Twins and White Sox.

Singer's new duties will include coordinating, scheduling and administering all Nationals major league, minor league and winter league scouting efforts. He most recently served the Nationals as a Special Assignment Scout and Coordinator/Pacific Rim Operations.

Singer joined the Nationals in 2006 after a three-year stay with the Arizona Diamondbacks as Major League Scout, where he worked under [General Manager Mike] Rizzo. Singer was a two-time All-Star during his playing career, which included a pair of 20-win seasons (with the Dodgers 1969 and Angels in '73) and 118 wins. He has well over 30 years of professional experience as a player, area scout, national crosschecker, professional scout and international scout.

Nationals No. 1 draft pick Stephen Strasburg struck out six and gave up four hits in five innings as the Phoenix Desert Dogs defeated the Surprise Rafters, 10-2, in Arizona Fall League play today. He threw 68 pitches (43 strikes) and is 3-1 this fall. Here's the box score.

Yesterday, Nationals prospect Stephen Strasburg held Surprise to one hit for 4 1/3 innings to pick up his second win in the Arizona Fall League, as the Phoenix Desert Dogs beat the Rafters, 7-6, at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

In his previous start, five days ago against Peoria, he was hit hard and often.

Here's the story from mlb.com.

The Washington Nationals have named Kasey McKeon director of
player procurement and Jay Robertson as special assistant to the gen-
eral manager.

McKeon has spent the previous seven seasons with the Colorado
Rockies as assistant to the general manager for GM Dan O'Dowd. McKeon previously worked for Cincinnati, Cleveland and San Diego in various scouting positions. He is
the son of longtime baseball manager and executive Jack McKeon.

Robertson spent the previous eight seasons as special a ssistant to the general manager with the Texas Rangers, under John Hart (2002-05) and Jon Daniels (2006-09). Previously, Robertson spent 11 seasons with the Cleveland Indians, which included serving as special assistant to GM Hart from 2000 to 2001.

The Nationals continue seeking to fill their vacant managing job, which is currently held on an interim basis by Jim Riggleman.

The Cleveland Indians have hired Manny Acta as their manager, according to the Associated Press.

The former Nationals manager signed a three-year contract with a club option for 2013, team spokesman Bart Swain said Sunday. Additional terms were not disclosed.

Acta was fired by the Washington Nationals in July.

The Indians chose him after a second round of interviews over former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine and Indians Triple-A manager Torey Lovullo. The team also had been expected to interview Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly.

"We are very excited to have Manny Acta on board as our major league manager," Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said in a statement. "After speaking with an impressive array of candidates, we feel that Manny is a very strong and experienced leader who possesses great energy and enthusiasm along with tremendous communication skills and a positive mindset that will command a presence in the dugout, clubhouse and with our fans."

Stephen Strasburg, making his second professional experience, dealt for the first time in years with the experience of getting rocked. In Thursday's Arizona Fall League game between Strasburg's Phoenix Desert Dogs and Phoenix Javelinas, Strasburg went 2-2/3 innings, allowing eight runs, seven earned, and three home runs. He gave up seven hits, walking one and striking out four.

How jarring was this performance, which came in the Desert Dogs' 9-6 loss?

In 15 starts and 109 innings earlier this year with San Diego State, Strasburg allowed just 16 total earned runs. He surrendered four homers during his entire junior season.

For Strasburg, the Washington Nationals' No. 1 overall pick, this appearance reinforced some basic truths. A high fastball, no matter how hard it's thrown, doesn't fool anybody. Strasburg's fastball ranged in the high-90s -- he threw at least once that hit 99 mph -- but that pitch, as well as his breaking stuff, stayed up in the zone, according to pitch track data available here.