Right-hander John Patterson was Washington’s Opening Day starter a year ago, but he’s been limited to just 72 innings the last two seasons because of injury. Despite a Nationals rotation lacking experience and depth, the team released the 29-year-old veteran Thursday to make room for another young pitcher.

It was a surprising move considering Matt Chico (7-9, 4.63 ERA) was the winningest pitcher among the 2007 starters. In fact, reliever Jon Rauch, with eight victories in relief, led the entire Washington staff in wins last season.

Rauch’s feat marked the 23rd time since the end of the dead ball era that a pitcher has posted more wins in relief in a single season than any teammate’s total wins. The only other time this has happened in the last 10 seasons was 2000, when Shigetoshi Hasegawa posted 10 relief wins for the Angels, though there have been seven occurrences since 1990.

More Relief Wins than Any Teammate’s Total Wins, Single Seasons since 1990

Reliever. . . . . . . . . . . . .Team. . . . . . . . . . . Wins. . . . . . . . . .Second-Most Wins
Lee Guetterman. . . . . . 1990 Yankees. . . . . . . . .11. . . . . . . . . . .Tim Leary (9)
Bill Sampen. . . . . . . . . .1990 Expos. . . . . . . . . . .11. . . . . . . . . . Two pitchers (10)
Doug Jones. . . . . . . . . .1992 Astros. . . . . . . . . . 11. . . . . . . . . . Jimmy Jones (10)
Rich DeLucia. . . . . . . . .1995 Cardinals. . . . . . . . .8. . . . . . . . . . .Allen Watson (7)
Aaron Small. . . . . . . . . .1997 Athletics. . . . . . . . .9. . . . . . . . . . .Two pitchers (6)
Shigetoshi Hasegawa. . . .2000 Angels. . . . . . . . . .10. . . . . . . . . . .Ramon Ortiz (8)
Jon Rauch. . . . . . . . . . 2007 Nationals. . . . . . . . .8. . . . . . . . . . .Matt Chico (7)

The 6-foot-11 Rauch became the third Montreal-Washington reliever to lead the team in wins. Not only did Bill Sampen post 11 victories for the 1990 Expos, reliever Dale Murray won 15 games to lead the Expos staff in 1975. Murray ranks among the victory leaders in these 23 occurrences:

Most Relief Wins among Relievers with More Relief Wins than
Any Teammate’s Total Wins, Single Seasons since 1919

Reliever. . . . . . . . . . .Team. . . . . . . . . . . .Wins. . . . . . . . Second-Most Wins
John Hiller. . . . . . . . 1974 Tigers. . . . . . . . . .17. . . . . . . . . .Mickey Lolich (16)
Bill Campbell. . . . . . . 1976 Twins. . . . . . . . . .17. . . . . . . . . .Dave Goltz (14)
Dick Radatz. . . . . . . .1964 Red Sox. . . . . . . . 16. . . . . . . . . .Bill Monbouquette (13)
Mace Brown. . . . . . . 1938 Pirates. . . . . . . . .15. . . . . . . . . .Jim Tobin (14)
Eddie Fisher. . . . . . . 1965 White Sox. . . . . . .15. . . . . . . . . .Tommy John (14)
Dale Murray. . . . . . . 1975 Expos. . . . . . . . . .15. . . . . . . . . . Steve Rogers (11)

No reliever who has led his team in wins since 1919 has recorded fewer victories than the eight by Rauch. With the inexperience and lack of depth of Washington’s rotation, Rauch may rank among the club’s top winners again this season. Whether he’ll need to post more than eight victories to be among the team leaders will have a lot to say about the fate of the 2008 Nationals.