This was an offseason of bold proclamations for the Washington Nationals. It began with them signing Jayson Werth, and it was supposed to bring a top-line starting pitcher to bridge the gap and eventually team with Stephen Strasburg. Instead, Zach Grienke said no, Cliff Lee went to a division rival, Matt Garza went elsewhere and Carl Pavano was deemed too expensive.
↵And so, at the end of the day, the Nationals are left with the same rag-tag group of starters as before. It shouldn't be a surprise that this means one thing: get ready for more Livan Hernandez! The ageless Hernandez will likely be the opening-day starter for the Nationals, according to Bill Ladson of MLB.com.
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↵↵↵If the Nationals don't make significant moves to improve their starting pitching, Livan Hernandez will be their Opening Day starter, MLB.com has learned.
↵The Nationals' first regular-season game of the 2011 season will be March 31 against the Braves at Nationals Park.
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Ol' reliable Livan probably wasn't who Mike Rizzo had in mind to be his opening day starter, but such is life. Hernandez joins the illiustrious list of Nationals opening-day starters, a list that includes himself, Odalis Perez, John Patterson and John Lannan. In the meantime, Nationals fans will sit back and wonder when signing quality pitching will ever be a possibility with this team.