Ixnay on the RaberTay

On the day that Shawn Hill all but inked himself into the #2 spot of the rotation, we got some other news about the pitching staff.

First, Billy Traber -- one of the few effective Nats pitchers -- is out of the SP derby. The team wants him in the pen as a lefty, and as a long man. That probably makes some sense. Manny Acta has talked about wanting to have two lefties in the pen. He's smart enough to realize that having two LOOGYs would kill the rest of the pen. Traber would be an effective long reliever who can match up against lefty-leaning lineups, even if he won't face them exclusively. Traber's the kind of guy who can give the team 2-3 innings when Tim Redding gets knocked out in the second.

Second, we're getting more and more confirmation that Luis Ayala's not going to be ready for the start of the season. Imagine that! An overworked reliever with funky mechanics can't come back from TJ surgery in 11 months? This one'll be interesting in that his contract is up at the end of the year, and the Nats have gotten zero return for their investment on him. (Weird how Bowden gets no criticism for the $$$ he threw at Ayala; At the time I praised the deal, when I should've really thought about his workload and injury potential). Since they don't owe him anything, will they push him to come back early?

Also, Shawn Hill experienced forearm tightness after his first start. Though his quote there about "getting better over the past week" is a bit troubling, as it indicates it's lingering. Some forearm stiffness is probably normal. Minor tendinitis isn't really anything to get too concerned about. The problem is that that is so linked with elbow strain that it's raising my internal alarm system, especially given Hill's past arm troubles.