Couple of news items to pass along from today in Viera, where the Nationals lost in ten innings to the Atlanta Braves, 3-2.
First of all, Davey Johnson said that Chien-Ming Wang will be out for a while due to his unfortunate hamstring injury, which he suffered over the weekend. CSNWashington's Nationals Insider Mark Zuckerman had the specifics.
Wang will play catch tomorrow but Davey thinks will be "at least 3 weeks or a month" before he can actually pitch.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) March 21, 2012
That makes it seem more and more likely that John Lannan would be the fifth starter when the season begins April 5 in Chicago.
Meanwhile, rumors continue to ripple about Washington's possible pursuit of Gerardo Parra to bolster the Nationals' outfield. Our colleague at the National desk, Rob Neyer, wrote the following.
It's well-known that the Nationals aren't thrilled with their current center fielders; with Bryce Harper heading back to the minors, the depth chart is headed by Roger Bernadina and a bunch of other guys who won't get drafted by any fantasy owners this weekend. And it's well-known that Parra's too good to sit on the bench most of the time.
Meanwhile, Danny Knobler of CBS reported that the Nationals had no fewer than four scouts at today's Diamondbacks Spring Training game with Parra in the lineup. It's enough to make you wonder, as Neyer does, exactly what Washington's game is and whether the Nationals need to make a decision soon.
We'll have much more on Spring Training here at SB Nation DC in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out SB Nation's Nationals blog, Federal Baseball, for more news and notes. And don't forget to visit Baseball Nation, the MLB hub of SB Nation for information from around the league.