Nationals ace and reigning NL Cy Young winner Max Scherzer has been limited this offseason and spring by a stress fracture in his finger. He has modified his fastball grip in order to hasten his progress, but it’s looking he won’t be quite ready when the Nats begin defending their NL East title on April 3 against the Marlins ...

This isn’t cause for alarm -- no setbacks, as Zuckerman notes. However, it does mean the Nats won’t be trotting out their best pitcher on Opening Day. Assuming he continues progressing as expected, Scherzer should make his 2017 debut early in the season and should remain in line to make a full year’s worth of starts.

Scherzer, 32, owns a 123 ERA+ and 3.93 K/BB ratio across parts of nine big-league seasons. In the last four years, he has won two Cy Youngs and fifth in the balloting on the other two occasions. Scherzer is going into the third year of a seven-year, $210 million pact with Washington.