Shawn Hill: Shut down or not? Zimmerman: Renewed
Have I written about anyone this spring more than Shawn Hill? I think not.
But first: The Nationals renewed Ryan Zimmerman's contract was renewed for $465,000. GM Jim Bowden said the relationship with Zimmerman is good, and Zimmerman told me he's fine with it. "It's what everyone else before me has gone through," he said. "Why should I be upset?"
I'll have more on this soon.
On Hill: Bill Ladson of mlb.com caused a bit of a stir by reporting that Hill had been shut down because of lingering soreness in his forearm. Though the Nationals are trying to downplay the injury, it sure seems that Hill is close to shut down -- in that he doesn't know when his next throwing session will be.
This much we know: Hill cut short a session of long toss by about five throws yesterday because the pain hadn't gone away. Here's Manny Acta:
"He started throwing and he was still feeling some pain there and that was the instructions that he had, that if he had any pain, then stop throwing," Acta said. "So the plan is wait more, wait some more, give him some more time off and see where this takes us. There's no damage in there."
Here's Shawn Hill: "I'm still on whatever program they had me yesterday. I threw 60, 90 [feet], and it didn't feel great, but I threw what I was supposed to throw. I was just a little frustrated yesterday with just the fact with that I still had some pain, but I was still throwing. I'll have some days off to make sure that I'm not cranking up too quickly."
I asked Hill if he knew when he'd throw again: "Not that I've been told. I don't have a full schedule of my throwing days. When they tell me that they want me to throw, I'll do it. I'm sure next week at some point I'll have a bullpen and kind of get a better feel for it."
Acta was asked if Hill was technically being shut down. He said: "He's just delayed. It's not completely shut down. He's just going to rest it some more and then see how it feels."
Acta was also asked if he believed Hill would be on the Opening Day roster. He said: "Yes, there's still a very good chance, because we - even if he's as a fifth starter, we're not going to need a fifth starter for the first week or so. I'm anticipating him being OK, unless he's unable to pitch through this, which he's probably going to have to do."
I asked Hill how he felt when throwing on Friday. He said: "It didn't feel great. It wasn't worse than it has been. It was just, when I was throwing - in my mind, I had thrown Thursday, and I threw longer. And yesterday I was supposed to throw short. On Thursday, it felt pretty good, so I was kind of encouraged by it, and then yesterday I was throwing short, and I kind of felt it again. It was more the frustration of having a little pain. I get a little ticked off at myself, but it's nothing more than that."
Again, we're going to have to monitor all this closely. I warned Hill this morning that we're likely to annoy the heck out of him with daily questions.
By Barry Svrluga |
March 8, 2008; 12:24 PM ET
Previous: Nick, Mock, and a 3-2 loss |
Next: Zimmerman and Bowden on the renewal
Posted by: Positively Half St. | March 8, 2008 1:08 PM
Nats up 1-0, SF for WMP
Posted by: Positively Half St. | March 8, 2008 1:22 PM
The Orioles gave Nick Markakis $10K less than Zim got, and he's not happy about it.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 8, 2008 1:23 PM
"President Bush said Saturday that he has vetoed legislation meant to ban the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics because it "would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror."
Funny, I would've thought watching the Nats play this year would be about the same as being waterboarded.
George W. Bush is an idiot.
Posted by: Peter Angelos | March 8, 2008 1:35 PM
You mean as opposed to the excitement in store for fans at Camden Yards this season? At least you have two things going for you:
1 - You have plenty of games against the Red Sox and the Yankees where you'll be playing to a packed house of Northeasterners.
2 - You can still buy Opening Day tickets online! Hurry while supplies last!
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Funny, I would've thought watching the Nats play this year would be about the same as being waterboarded.
Posted by: MKevin | March 8, 2008 2:08 PM
First, please don't feed the trolls.
Then: "[E]ntries that are unsigned or contain 'signatures' by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site."
Yeah, right. How's that working out here?
Posted by: CE | March 8, 2008 2:27 PM
I normally don't feed trolls but this was was teed up so nicely it was impossible to resist. I mean come on... posing as a O's fan to insult.... well... anyone? Seriously?
Posted by: MKevin | March 8, 2008 3:19 PM
Plate Discipline, Mkev.
and, Angelos is an O's fan? He's got a funny way of showing it.
Posted by: MIB | March 8, 2008 3:29 PM
MIB - now that made me laugh. Excellent work!
Posted by: MKevin | March 8, 2008 3:48 PM
Post of the day: Plate Discipline, Mkev.
Posted by: natsfan1a | March 8, 2008 4:31 PM
Look, why does everybody avoid reality. The reality of it is Hill has a blown arm and Patterson is 50-50 to make it into June. We have some good pitchers on the way up so suck it up and hope for the best with the rest!
Posted by: Pete/Gaithersburg | March 8, 2008 4:31 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Since we don't have radio today, here is the link to the Gameday site for the game:
http://www.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/y2007/gd.html?2008_03_08_wasmlb_houmlb_1