Nationals manager Davey Johnson exited his office and stepped wearily into the hallway outside the home clubhouse.
“These are the least fun days,” Johnson said just a few hours after telling a two-time Opening Day starter, his team’s second-longest tenured player, that despite a solid spring training he would begin the year in the minors.
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That was John Lannan’s fate – a cruel one given three of four solid seasons from the left-hander, including a 3.71 ERA last year. He isn’t a star pitcher. But Lannan is certainly capable of holding a back-end job in a big-league rotation. He doesn’t belong at Triple-A Syracuse.
But the Nats acquired two proven starters in the offseason in Edwin Jackson and Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg is ready for 160 innings or so 18 months removed from Tommy John surgery, Jordan Zimmermann is now completely recovered from his own elbow surgery and Ross Detwiler simply pitched too well to stay in the bullpen as a long reliever. That was the initial plan. It didn’t hold. Lannan paid the price.
“It’s unfortunate that John has to suffer from that,” said reliever Craig Stammen. “But that’s the nature of the game. Unfortunately, baseball isn’t always as fun as it was when we were kids and there’s a business part of it at this level.”
Stammen was subdued after an 8-7 loss to the Red Sox at Nationals Park – even though Lannan’s demotion had created the opening to keep both himself and fellow reliever Ryan Mattheus on the 25-man roster. He was elated, but unwilling to celebrate at the expense of a friend save for a few handshakes from teammates and club personnel and a slight smile or two.
Detwiler, who pitched a scoreless fifth inning, didn’t get to say goodbye to his friend. Lannan had already left the stadium. Johnson couldn’t bring himself to break the news as the players arrived in the late morning for a 3:05 p.m. game – the spring-training finale and just two days before Opening Day at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Immediately before the game didn’t seem the right time, either. Or maybe Johnson was just procrastinating. Even for a baseball lifer, a man used to delivering bad news, this was difficult. Johnson finally decided it was time in the third inning and went back into the clubhouse to tell Lannan the decision.
“It was not an easy conversation, not one I wanted to have,” Johnson said. “But when you look at all the variables, all the options and retaining him, it wouldn’t have been a good fit for him in the bullpen.”
Lannan had a minor-league option left. Detwiler did not. Lannan is uncomfortable pitching out of the bullpen. Detwiler pitched too well to stay there. The team doesn’t want to trade Lannan and hurt it’s pitching depth unless it’s for a legitimate upgrade at a position of need. Alone, Lannan doesn’t hold that value. The next move, one the Nats had been avoiding all spring even after Chien-Ming Wang’s severe hamstring injury on March 16, was clear.
“I’m rooting for Johnny. But it’s a business,” shortstop Ian Desmond said. “And I know that John’s going to persevere. He’s going to end up okay in a situation regardless. It takes a lot more than 25 guys to win a championship. At some point during the season we’re going to need him and I know he’s going to be ready.”
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