Trea Turner, Jayson Werth set to begin rehab assignments

The Nationals lost Bryce Harper, but their lineup is expecting much needed help soon.

The Washington Nationals are a little beat up right now, both in the pitching staff and their lineup. Max Scherzer was expected to return to the rotation Friday, but that’s been pushed back to hopefully one of the two games they play on Sunday. There is good news, though, as Trea Turner and Jayson Werth are both headed on rehab assignments starting Friday.

Werth has been on the DL since early June with a bone bruise in his foot, and Turner has been sidelined since he broke his wrist on June 29.

This is good news for a Nationals team that is desperate for some ever since guys started dropping like flies.

Turner is such an important piece to this lineup, and he’s been sorely missed every since he hit the DL. When he got hurt, he was one of baseball’s leaders in stolen bases, on pace to steal close to 60 bags this year.

Werth was off to a pretty good start in 47 games with an .814 OPS, and provided another bat with serious pop to an already potent lineup.

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The Nationals are currently without those two and Bryce Harper. As a team, they’ve struggled to score runs lately even with Daniel Murphy, Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon still in the lineup. They scored a total of five runs in a two-game set against the Angels and only 14 runs in a four-game set against the Padres.

The return of Turner will ultimately make it easier to score runs regardless of the fact they’re extremely proficient at hitting the long ball. If Turner gets on at the leadoff spo,t he’s a threat to run on anybody and get himself in scoring position right away.

Getting Werth at-bats in September will be key for him, as he will undoubtedly be an important piece to the Nationals possibly winning a playoff series for the first time in franchise history.