Nationals call up Trea Turner, Michael A. Taylor; Ryan Zimmerman to DL, Lucas Giolito to Triple-A

An already-short bench got shorter last night with veteran Washington first baseman Ryan Zimmerman unavailable with what Nationals' skipper Dusty Baker described simply as "soreness".

Baker did not, however, disclose exactly what was sore.

"He has the day off because he’s sore some," Baker told reporters, including MASN's Mark Zuckerman before the series opener with the New York Mets.

"He felt a little sore on a swing yesterday. So he’s day-to-day. We’ll just give it to him for precaution and re-evaluate the situation tomorrow."

Baker said it was not the plantar fasciitis or an issue with Zimmerman's surgically-repaired right shoulder. It was just something that came up on a swing in Wednesday's series finale with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Baker added that he hoped it wouldn't be an issue that kept Zimmerman out of the lineup for an extended period of time.

His being unavailable left the Nats with just three players on the bench last night though after Michael A. Taylor was optioned to Triple-A this week upon Jonathan Papelbon's return from the DL.

"We had hoped to fix that," Baker said. "We didn’t want to go into this series short in the first place. Because we hadn’t been short all year. We rely on our bench, so we just have to make a decision to alleviate that shortness on our bench here soon."

It was an issue last night as the Nationals' manager explained after what ended up a 9-7 loss to the Mets.

"We were outmanned tonight," Baker said when asked about how he managed his relievers in the game.

With that in mind, would the Nationals make a move to shore up their bench?

"We'll tell you tomorrow," Baker said. "We'll tell you tomorrow."

Asked if Zimmerman was still sore after the game, Baker said just that he was unavailable.

"I couldn't use him tonight, so like I said, we'll address this and I'll let you know tomorrow."

This afternoon, Washington Post reporter Chelsea Janes reported on Twitter that a source said Trea Turner was on his way back up from Triple-A for his second stint in the majors this season.

Trea Turner is en route to NYC, according to person with direct knowledge. Dusty suggested there'd be a move today to bolster short bench.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) July 8, 2016

The Nationals made that move and some others official this afternoon:

Turner was called up and Michael A. Taylor was as well. Zimmerman goes to the DL (retroactive to July 7th) with a left rib cage strain and Lucas Giolito has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.