Derek

Law

The positive news here is that Law doesn’t appear to be facing an extended absence based on his comments last weekend when he acknowledged that he would open the regular season on the shelf. The 34-year-old veteran reliever should be ready to return by mid-April, when first eligible to be activated.

Law is dealing with some general arm soreness this spring and won’t be ready for Thursday’s season opener. It doesn’t sound like a serious concern, but the Nationals don’t want to ramp him up too quickly and risk anything more serious. He should rejoin Washington’s high-leverage mix at some point in April.

Sims split last year between the Red Sox and Reds, finishing with a pedestrian 4.38 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and 49/30 K/BB ratio across 49 1/3 innings (58 appearances). He has plenty of high-leverage experience and would figure to be in the mix with Jorge López, Derek Law and Jose A. Ferrer to close for Washington. Even if he winds up winning the job, his fantasy appeal is limited to extremely deep mixed leagues.

The 34-year-old Law threw 90 innings in relief last season despite missing a couple of weeks with an elbow strain in August, and he wound up with a 2.60 ERA. He’s the undisputed leader of the Nationals pen currently, but the team will almost certainly pick up a closer candidate or two prior to Opening Day.

He takes the spot of Orlando Ribalta, who was demoted after Sunday’s game. Law’s 15-day absence due to an elbow strain ruined his chances of getting to 100 relief innings this year. Of course, being on pace for 100 relief innings was probably what led to the problem. He’s at 75 2/3 innings right now.

Fellow rehabbing teammate Derek Law will also throw in that game. Law is scheduled to work one inning while Williams will throw two. The 32-year-old right-hander will likely have to complete the exercise a few times before he’s ready for a minor league rehab assignment. He has been sidelined since the start of June due to a right elbow flexor strain.

Law hit the injured list over the weekend with a right elbow flexor strain, so it’s an extremely encouraging development. The 33-year-old righty hasn’t been cleared to resume throwing yet, but it doesn’t sound like he’s facing an extended absence. He’s probably done for the rest of the rest of the year, but should have a normal offseason after making 61 relief appearances this season for the Nationals.

After bouncing around the past couple seasons, Law has settled in this year as a mainstay in Washington’s relief mix, piling up a staggering 75 2/3 innings over 61 appearances, his highest single-season total since breaking into the majors as one of the most exciting relief prospects in quite some time back in 2016. Barring something unexpected, he’s probably done for the year.

Unbelievably, this puts Law up to 74 1/3 relief innings for the season. That total would have finished 11th in the majors last year, and there’s still a quarter of the season to go. Barring injury — which is certainly something that shouldn’t be ruled out at this point — he’ll be the first pitcher to reach 85 innings in relief since 2019 and might get all of the way to 100.

Before you run to your waiver wire, both Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey had thrown in each of the last three games and Dylan Floro had thrown in two of the last three, so Law got the call. He has a solid 3.18 ERA on the season, but there is no fantasy value here.