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Zimmerman
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BY RICH CAMPBELL
WASHINGTON--
Washington Nationals left fielder Wily Mo Pena will have diagnostic tests performed on his ailing left shoulder today, including one that involves an injection of dye into his shoulder."We need to take care of it if it's bothering him," Acta said.
Acta wouldn't say exactly how long Pena's shoulder has been hurt but said it has been for longer than a few weeks. Hitting coach Lenny Harris said Saturday night that he believes Pena has been hurt all season.
Pena declined comment. He is batting .205 in 64 games this season and .095 (2-for-21) this month. In five major league seasons prior to this one, he averaged a home run every 24.7 at-bats. This year, he has only two homers in 195 at-bats.
"It seems like everything [inside] he can't get to it," Harris said. "It's like he's rounding everything."
Pena had a cortisone shot a little more than a month ago but is still in pain. The pain is not the result of Pena compensating for the left oblique strain that sidelined him at the start of the season, Acta said.
Pena, 26, is the latest example of a National playing through pain only to have his offensive production suffer. Right fielder Austin Kearns had surgery to remove bone fragments from his right elbow on May 23 after batting .187 through the first 42 games.
Acta spoke yesterday about players refusing to attribute poor performance to being injured. At some point, Acta said, players need to let him know if they are hurt.
He was asked if he wished Pena had spoken up sooner.
"Everybody has something wrong with them," Acta said. "Nobody's 100 percent every single day. We appreciate when people play through pain, and I'm sure that if he wasn't able to take this pain and play through it, he wouldn't play through it."
Zimmerman says he'll play all out for P-nats
Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman doesn't plan on holding back during his rehabilitation assignment, which begins today with Single-A Potomac. As he works back from a slight labral tear in his left shoulder, he will test himself and return to the Nationals only if he can play without limitations--that includes diving for balls in the field.
"The diving and stuff, that's just instinct," Zimmerman said. "It's part of the game. No matter how bad I was hurt or if I was hurt, if a ball is over there, you've got to dive for it. If something happens, something happens. But that's the whole point. I don't want to go out and play cautious and not be the same player because that would hurt the team."
Zimmerman will be Potomac's designated hitter today and tomorrow at Salem. He'll take Wednesday off and join Triple-A Columbus on Thursday. He'll play the field there and stay until the Nationals decide he's ready to return to the majors.
Zimmerman has until the end of August to decide whether to have season-ending surgery. His rehab assignment can last up to 20 days, per major league rules.
"I don't think it really matters, necessarily, if I do well or not," he said. "But just getting back into game shape. I'll be happy if everything feels good."
Team not afraid to play
The Nationals continue to utilize restraint in negotiations with their top five draft picks, principal owner Mark Lerner told The Washington Post in an online report yes-terday. He declined an interview request by The Free Lance-Star.
"A lot of them will be right up to the deadline, Aug. 14, Aug. 15--they might be midnight signings," Lerner told The Post. "But everybody plays a different way. A lot of these agents are not letting anybody sign. They're all waiting until the last minute, trying to get better bargaining power. If we don't sign them, we get the same pick next year. So, we'll have another shot it at if for some reason we didn't sign the top picks."
Lerner also discussed the possibility of paying draft picks a greater signing bonus than the slotted recommendation from Major League Baseball.
"Well, for the right guys it's a possibility," he said. "We were willing to do it for a [2007 sixth-round pitcher] Jack McGeary because we thought the long-term payoff would be incredible. Our guys were just enamored with the fellow. And the reports are the guy is doing great. That's what we need to improve."
Rich Campbell: 540/735-1974
Email: rcampbell@freelancestar.com
