Max Scherzer may be inching closer toward a return with the Washington Nationals.
On Friday morning during his weekly appearance with the Sports Junkies, general manager of the Nationals Mike Rizzo gave a cautiously optimistic update on the team's ace.
"I don't think it's too much longer. Max is progressing nicely and we will see where he is at today and we'll take it from there," he said. "With him, it's really how he feels day-to-day because the back is feeling much, much better now and we just have to make sure we progress him to the right point where he can take the ball every five days."
"Too much longer" is always open to interpretation. Right now the team has been fortunate with the impressive starts of Joe Ross and Erik Fedde. Their last three combined starts have yielded three wins to bridge the starts between Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sanchez.
That success might be why Rizzo stresses the fact that they are not trying to bring back Scherzer (9-5) too soon. The GM said they are not going to push or overstimulate him. Rather, they're "going to get him back out there as soon as humanly possible."
Scherzer was placed on the 10-day Injured List back on July 29 (retroactive to July 26) for an upper back strain. However, he did miss time before his most recent stint on the Injured List. He's only made one start in the past month.
For now, the team has weathered the storm without him. It's unclear how much longer that will last.
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