What we made too big a deal about and what we glossed over

Spend six weeks watching a ballclub prepare for the season and you can't help but make a big deal out of a few things. Maybe it's one particular job competition. Maybe it's somebody's injury. Maybe it's a position that looks like a problem area.

Whatever the case, there are always a handful of topics that dominate spring training coverage. And, inevitably, sometime during the course of the season you look back and think to yourself: Why did I bother making such a big deal out of that? And why didn't I make a big deal out of something else that turned out to be a problem?

It happens every spring, and we can't help it. Remember the concern last spring about Max Scherzer's fractured knuckle? The one that forced him to change his fastball grip and limited him to only three exhibition starts? Yeah, he still won another Cy Young Award, and nobody even remembered the injury.

Remember how confident everyone else that the Nationals had bullpen depth last spring? No, they didn't have a proven closer, but between Shawn Kelley, Blake Treinen, Koda Glover and Joe Blanton, they had plenty of quality setup men, right? Uh, not exactly.

I was thinking about this yesterday as camp was wrapping up in West Palm Beach. Looking back, the things we make a big deal out of in spring training often don't matter in the end, while the things we gloss over become a bigger deal.

The problem is, there's no way to know for sure what we got wrong until it's too late. But let's try to take some guesses, just in case. Here are some things we maybe made too big a deal out of this spring, and some things we maybe glossed over that we shouldn't have ...

TOO BIG A DEAL: THE NO. 5 STARTER
Because it was one of the only position battles of the spring, it was easy to spend a lot of time focusing on A.J. Cole, Erick Fedde and (once he was signed) Jeremy Hellickson. But was this actually a big deal? Maybe not. The Nats won 97 games last year despite subpar performances from their fifth starter, with Joe Ross and Edwin Jackson combining for a 5.03 ERA. It may not matter that much how this all plays out, especially if general manager Mike Rizzo goes out and trades for a more accomplished starter sometime this summer.

GLOSSED OVER: DANIEL MURPHY'S REHAB
All winter, the Nationals said they were "hopeful" Murphy would be ready by opening day. And we took that to mean he'd probably be just a bit behind his teammates but by the end of the spring would either be on the roster or very close to making it. The reality: Murphy still has a long way to go. He has taken batting practice and fielded grounders, but he hasn't run on the field at 100 percent, and he hasn't come close to seeing game action. Both the Nats and Murphy now say they're not going to rush anything and make sure he doesn't come back until he's ready to play without lingering concern. When will that be? We honestly don't know. But don't be surprised the calendar has already moved past April before you see him in the big leagues.

TOO BIG A DEAL: THE CATCHING SITUATION
Everybody expected the Nationals to make a significant upgrade to their catching corps either over the winter or into the spring, believing Matt Wieters and the other in-house candidates weren't good enough. In the end, they signed Miguel Montero to a modest minor league deal, and the veteran wound up making the club as Wieters' backup. Wieters, meanwhile, looked like a new man this spring. Much leaner after losing weight over the winter, he also made some changes to his swing with help from new hitting coach Kevin Long. And the results were very encouraging. Maybe he's never going to rediscover his All-Star form from Baltimore, but the Wieters-Montero combination could be much more productive this year than the Wieters-Jose Lobaton combo was last year. And we may look back and wonder why we were so worried.

GLOSSED OVER: THE BACK END OF THE BULLPEN
Most of the bullpen-related concern this spring had to do with the middle relievers, most notably right-handers Kelley (who has picked up his 2017 habit of surrendering home runs in bunches), Glover (whose shoulder was still barking at the start of camp and will force him to the DL) and newcomer Joaquin Benoit (who came down with a forearm strain late in camp and also will open the DL). But we've kind of taken for granted that the big three of Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madson and Brandon Kintzler is ready to dominate like it did late last season. Maybe it will, but we should be careful about just assuming it will. Doolittle has a history of shoulder injuries. Madson is 36 and not far removed from Tommy John surgery. And Kintzler, while very good the last two seasons, doesn't have a lengthy track record of success and is always going to be a danger given his reliance on inducing weak contact instead of getting swings and misses. The Nats certainly hope this isn't a problem area. But we've seen how volatile relievers can be from year to year. And so it wouldn't be a shock if one or more from this group struggled in 2018.

TOO BIG A DEAL: RYAN ZIMMERMAN'S SPRING PREPARATION
Why did Zimmerman play in only one Grapefruit League game? Why did he insist on getting all his at-bats on minor league fields, even right down to Sunday's spring finale? Has he been hiding an injury all along? Is he destined for disaster in 2018? Look, maybe there was more to this story than anyone let on. Maybe there's something going on with one of Zimmerman's legs or feet and he needed to limit his running in an attempt to make it to opening day in one piece. Or maybe we should just take him at his word and everything's fine. He certainly has put added pressure on himself after calling his own shots all spring. But if he gets off to a decent start to the season and doesn't miss any time due to injury, we'll look back on this as a non-story before long.

GLOSSED OVER: THE REST OF THE NL EAST
If there's an expert out there who hasn't predicted the Nationals to cruise to another division title in 2018, I haven't found him or her. There's been an assumption all along that while a couple of clubs are improved, nobody can realistically challenge the Nats this season. That may be a mistake. The Mets rotation is as healthy as it has been in a long time, and the lineup still has a lot of power potential. The Phillies, meanwhile, look like they mean business after signing Jake Arrieta and Carlos Santana, then convincing rookie sensation Scott Kingery to sign a six-year contract before ever making his big league debut in exchange for a spot on the opening day roster. Between Kingery, Santana, Arrieta and Rhys Hoskins, there is some real talent on Broad Street all of a sudden. Most have assumed the Phillies won't become legitimate contenders until 2019. Most also assumed the Nats wouldn't become legit contenders until 2013. Sometimes it happens a year ahead of schedule. Point is, if the Nationals think they're in for another cakewalk to a division crown, they better be careful.