Wire Taps: Nationals’ pitching depth; Brandon Kintzler to DL; Daniel Murphy may return Tuesday?

Wow, the Nationals’ offense was anemic yesterday. It’s almost as if everyone was up super late at a party organized by the team.

(That was exactly what happened. It was for a good cause. We’ll get over it.)

Here’s the beat from the Bronx:

Nationals place Brandon Kintzler on DL while Daniel Murphy appears to be near return (WaPo)
Kintzler went on the disabled list with a right forearm flexor strain, but at least Daniel Murphy seems close to coming back (despite not being fully healed??)

Murphy making trip with Nats, could be activated Tuesday (MASN)
Murphy will take the train with the Nats up to New York; the only question is if he'll be filling in the DH slot for the Nats' first trip to the Bronx since 2015.

Kintzler familiar with forearm strain, goes to DL (MASN)
Kintzler noted that he had been dealing with the issue on and off for the last month, and felt like he needed to get it right to get his control, uh, under control.

Max Scherzer on battle with Crawford: "I have to be better than him" (MASN)
Brandon Crawford owned the Nationals yesterday, going 4-for-4 and driving in the only two runs of the game. Needless to say, Max Scherzer wasn't pleased.

Carter Kieboom smacks tenth homer at Potomac
Kieboom is ranked 80th on MLB Pipeline’s list of the top prospects in baseball, and he went two-for-five for Potomac yesterday — since May 1st, his average has been .351.

The pursuit of Pudge Rodríguez as Dereck struggles in Giants’ loss to the Nationals (The Athletic)
Pudge was in D.C. as his son made his second big-league start. A few Athletic reporters tried to talk to him. They got lost in the bowels of Nationals Park. It was pretty funny.

Nats’ pitching depth to now be tested (Nationals Arm Race)
With Strasburg and Hellickson down for the count, and Edwin Jackson opting out right before everyone got injured, the Nats now have three guys on the list of potential replacement starters: Erick Fedde, Austin Voth, and Jefry Rodriguez.

Daniel Murphy appears closer to making return (ESPN)
Murphy took BP and fielded grounders on Sunday.