Stephen Strasburg

Rob Dibble, former color commentator for the Nationals, criticized the team on his radio show Thursday for giving pitching prospect Stephen Strasburg rehab starts with the intention of bringing him back to the majors in September.

“There’s absolutely no reason, other than to sell tickets and to put butts in the seats, to bring Stephen Strasburg back, to make a few starts at the end of the season,” Dibble said. “He’s too valuable. He’s too talented to even think about stuff like that.”

Considered one of the most elite pitching prospects in all of baseball, Strasburg saw his 2010 rookie season end last August when a torn elbow ligament led to Tommy John surgery. At the time, Dibble had criticized Strasburg for not wanting to play through pain, telling him to “suck it up.” Nationals network MASN fired Dibble shortly after the team announced Strasburg’s injury.

Dibble apparently has changed his tune about Strasburg, now calling for caution and patience as he rehabs.

“You know, they’ve been talking about 2012, and what kind of team they’re going to have in 2012 and stuff like that,” Dibble said. “And you know, if that’s the case, and you don’t want to put a Bryce Harper in the major leagues until you think he’s ready, there’s really no point in rushing this kid back just to get a couple starts out of him for this year.”

Just a year ago, Stephen Strasburg was being hailed not only as baseball’s next big thing but also arguably one of the best pitchers in the game at the time. Right now, we haven’t seen Strasburg pitch on a major league mound since Aug. 21, 2010, because of Tommy John surgery last September, leading some perhaps to forget about the very pitcher who had once wowed them.

But Strasburg appears ready to make the next step in returning to the majors. According to a report by The Washington Times, Nationals manager Davey Johnson said that Strasburg would throw a simulated game on Tuesday and then could pitch in a rehab outing in seven to 10 days.

The Times reports that since Strasburg began throwing simulated games two weeks ago, his fastball has “been clocked between 92 and 95 easily.” Johnson would like Strasburg to move into the Washington rotation some time in September and fill the spot left open by Jordan Zimmerman, who has an innings limit that is expected to be met in his next four starts.

According to Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, the team has no plans to call up last year’s top pick Bryce Harper, even when the rosters expand in September. “We feel that his development is not ready to play in the big leagues,” Rizzo said.

Harper is currently with the Nationals’ Single-A club in Hagerstown. The 18 year-old is batting .336, with nine home runs, 31 RBIs and six stolen bases. Harper was a catcher in high school, but the Nationals want him in the outfield.

“I think four out of six days he plays in right field and two days he plays in center,” Rizzo said. “I think that’s the breakdown of what we had. Center field is an important process just because it gives you the full landscape of seeing the bat off the ball and that type of thing. He adjusted well to both positions, and we’re going to introduce him to left field a little bit also.”

The Washington Post reports that the Nationals are one of six or eight teams that have expressed interest in acquiring pitcher Carl Pavano. Pavano is a free agent who spent the 2010 season with the Twins.

The Nationals met with Pavano’s representative at the general managers’ meetings in Orlando to discuss any interest the starter may have in pitching for the team. The discussions are still in the preliminary stages.

As an 11-year veteran, Pavano was 17-11 in 2010, with a 3.75 ERA and 117 strikeouts.

Seconds before the midnight deadline Monday night, 17-year-old Bryce Harper, negotiating with agent Scott Boras, signed with the Nationals. The No. 1 overall draft pick signed a five-year deal worth $9.9 million.

His contract is a record-setter for a non-pitcher signing out of the draft who had not become a free agent, surpassing the mark previously held by Mark Teixeiera in 2001. Teixeira’s major league deal was for $9.5 million over four years with the Rangers.

Harper, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound power hitter, was the Nationals’ second consecutive No. 1 overall draft choice. Washington commanded the 2009 and 2010 No. 1 picks after finishing with the worst records in the major league in 2008 and 2009.

Stephen Strasburg came to terms with the Nationals only a minute before the deadline last year. Strasburg’s $15.1 million, four-year contract with Washington was the highest for any player out of the draft.

Harper, the first junior college player taken with the first overall selection, heads to Washington after playing catcher for the College of Southern Nevada, but he is expected to convert to the outfield with the Nationals.

At Southern Nevada, participating in a wooden bat league, Harper hit .443 with 31 homers and 98 RBI in his lone season. He went to Southern Nevada after skipping two years of high school and getting his GED to be eligible for the 2010 amateur draft.

Harper’s contract calls for a signing bonus of $6.25 million in five equal payments of $1.25 million: 30 days after approval and each July 1 from 2011 through 2014. He receives salaries of $500,000 each in 2011 and 2012, $750,000 in 2013, $900,000 in 2014 and $1 million in 2015 — roster bonuses that could raise the value of his deal to $10.9 million.

If he spends 30, 60, 90 and 120 days on the active major league roster in each of the last two years of the contract, he can earn up to an extra $500,000 in each of those contract years, getting $125,000 each time each year.

The Nationals also agreed to pay for eight semesters of college for Harper.

Harper, who was featured on Sports Illustrated’s cover as “baseball’s chosen one” and the “most exciting prodigy since LeBron,” was the first non-senior to earn Baseball America’s High School Player of the Year award and  only the second junior college player, joining Alex Fernandez in 1990, to win the Golden Spikes Award, given to the country’s top amateur baseball player.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said he hopes Harper will report to Washington’s rookie-level Gulf Coast League team in Florida “as soon as possible.”

The Nationals also announced contracts with second-round choice Sammy Solis, a right-handed pitcher out of the University of San Diego, and fourth-round pick A.J. Cole, a right-handed high school pitcher, earlier Monday night.