The Nationals have placed 27-year old righty starting pitcher J.D. Martin on the 15-day disabled list with a lower back strain. Martin has pitched in 9 games (all starts) for the Nationals this year and he is 1-5 with a 4.13 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. Martin has given up 56 hits of which 9 are homers in only 48 innings. But he has limited the damage with his soild control as he has only walked 11 batters this year. He will likely get his job back when he returns from the D.L. in a couple of weeks.

UPDATE: (8/7/2010) - The Nationals will be without Martin for the rest of the season as he will need surgery to repair a bulging disc in his back.

28-year old righty swinging 1F/OF Mike Morse is swinging the stick so well that he’s pretty much forcing the Nationals to find more P.T. for him and that’s a good thing. Morse has played in 38 games for the Nationals so far this year and he is 26 of 77 (.338 avg, 1.022 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 6 homers and 16 RBIs. Morse has played in 177 games in his six years in the majors and he is 129 of 429 (.301 avg, .810 OPS) with 46 runs scored, 12 homers, 63 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. I know that he has had issues with steroids in the past but that’s no reason not to give him a chance to play as others have rebounded from it.

The Nationals have placed 25-year old righty starting pitcher Luis Atilano on the 15-day disabled list with a right elbow injury. Atilano has pitched in 16 games (all starts) for the Nationals this year and he is 6-7 with a 5.15 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. The Nationals have called up 24-year old righty starter/reliever Collin Balester to replace Atilano for tonight. He has pitched in 26 games (5 starts) in AAA-ball for the Nationals this year and he is 2-3 with a 7.27 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP. He has pitched in 22 games (all starts) in parts of two years for the Nationals and he is 4-11 with a 5.87 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. The Nationals will send Balester to the minors after tonight’s game assuming that no one gets hurt and they will then call up 24-year old lefty starting pitcher Ross Detwiler to replace Atilano in the rotation. Detwiler has pitched in 8 games (all starts) in A+AA-ball this year and he was 2-2 with a 2.27 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. He has pitched in 16 games (14 starts) in parts of two years with the Nationals and he is 1-6 with a 4.93 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. The Nationals will miss Atilano a little bit as he battled on the mound every night even when he didn’t have his best stuff.

1B/OF Adam Dunn and closer Matt Capps are both players the Nationals could re-sign after the season. So with the Nationals not likely to contend this season why not flip them for some prospects? I would trade Dunn to the Tampa Bay Rays for lefty starter Alex Torres, righty starting pitcher Aneury Rodriguez, outfielder Matt Joyce and catcher Dioner Navarro. Then I would flip Capps to the Phillies for lefty reliever Antonio Bastardo and 1B/OF Jonathan Singleton. Torres and Bastardo are both really solid lefty throwing prospects while Rodriguez is also highly thought of. Singleton is a nice prospect with a large upside and Joyce and Navarro can help the Nationals now. The best thing about making deals like these are that the Nationals can try to re-sign Dunn and Capps after the season is over.

26-year old righty reliever Josh Wilkie is opening some eyes in AAA this year. He has pitched in 34 games (1 start) in AAA-ball so far this season and he is 2-3 with 5 saves, a 1.61 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. He has only given up 32 hits in 44 2/3 innings this season and he has 35 whiffs as he has pitched very well this year. If nothing else look for Wilkie to get promoted when rosters expand on September 1st as long as he keeps pitching well.