Rotation

With some pretty good and exciting new faces in the Nationals' rotation, the sky is certainly the limit. Steven Strasburg is back healthy after Tommy John surgery last year. However, he will be on an innings limit of around 160 as said by GM Mike Rizzo. Jordan Zimmerman, who also had Tommy John surgery but in 2009, looked very good last year with his growth as a pitcher. His innings won't be limited as much this year, look for around 200 to be a point of debate between Rizzo and Manager Davey Johnson. Gio Gonzales is fresh in from the Oakland Athletics. Although the price was a huge haul of top 15 prospects, the transaction was very necessary as most of the prospects were blocked in the bigs anyways. Edwin Jackson has been a target of Rizzo for a number of years, and he finally got his man in free agency for one year and 10 million dollars. Jackson is an innings eater, something sorely lacking in the Nats rotation for a few years. The last spot is up for battle between John Lannan, Chien Ming Wang, and the southpaw Ross Detwiler. Despite the uncertainty at the end of the rotation, the five guys who make it would definitely give the Nats a rotation to be feared this year. Add in the new expanded playoffs, the Nationals will absolutely be competing for one of the new five spots with a rotation like this.