Nats focus on long term in Rendon's setback
Infielder likely will need several weeks to recover from left oblique injury
WASHINGTON -- Nationals manager Matt Williams indicated that the team is going to treat Anthony Rendon's oblique injury the way it did when Yunel Escobar had a similar problem during Spring Training.
It took almost three weeks for Escobar to recover from his injury. According to Williams, Rendon started to feel pain in his left oblique during extended spring workouts but continued to play until last week, when he was on a rehab assignment with Double-A Harrisburg.
Rendon thought the pain would go away, but it didn't. This is Rendon's second injury of the year. On March 9 in a Spring Training game against the Braves, Rendon sprained the MCL in his left knee and didn't start baseball activities until April. He wasn't on the Opening Day roster because of the injury, and Williams acknowledged that Rendon is frustrated.
"I told [Rendon] yesterday that it's important for him to be with us long term," Williams said. "So if that long term is 4 1/2 months, then it's better than intermittently being with us. It doesn't do him any good, it does our team no good. It's never easy to have an injury like that and having to sit and watch when you are as talented as he is. You want to be out there helping."