Strasburg has officially been shut down

[jekelish]

Davey Johnson says it is more for "mental reasons" than physical ones.

As a Nats fan it still bugs me. But our 2-5 is still better than 1-4 for most teams, so I'm hoping we will be good. The Nats can still win with Gio, Zimmermann, Jackson and Detwiler as their top four.

 

[Knicks411]

Davey Johnson says it is more for "mental reasons" than physical ones.

As a Nats fan it still bugs me. But our 2-5 is still better than 1-4 for most teams, so I'm hoping we will be good. The Nats can still win with Gio, Zimmermann, Jackson and Detwiler as their top four.

Yeah, the mental reasons thing is funny; Davey said he wasn't into the last start. Maybe thats because he knows he's not going to pitch in the post season?

 

[Ghost]

Weird - why not say he has an injury? Saying the kid is mentally fragile does him no big favors.

Just say he has "tired arm syndrome", although I think that means the steroids are wearing off, so maybe you want to go with something else. Tennis elbow might work.

 

[Marsh01]

Worst sporting decision ever in the history of organized sports. If I am a fan of the team I literally am burning the stadium down in anger.

 

[Knicks411]

Worst sporting decision ever in the history of organized sports. If I am a fan of the team I literally am burning the stadium down in anger.

If I'm a player I'm pretty pissed too.

 

[BlackKnight76]

So stupid. They obviously didn't think they had a legitimate chance to make the playoffs at the start of the year, or they would've had a plan in place.

 

[Ghost]

Worst sporting decision ever in the history of organized sports. If I am a fan of the team I literally am burning the stadium down in anger.

Not sure if it's the worst tbh, my beloved Chargers have retained Norv Turner now for half a decade after all, but it's pretty ridiculous.

 

[jekelish]

What worries me as a Nats fan is that I fear this might leave a bad taste in Strasburg's mouth, and when his contract comes up he will remember when they took away a great chance to pitch for a World Series (potentially, and if they don't get back in the coming years). I'd hate for this decision to stick with Stras and fester when he becomes a free agent, since he clearly is unhappy with the decision.

 

[Knicks411]

What worries me as a Nats fan is that I fear this might leave a bad taste in Strasburg's mouth, and when his contract comes up he will remember when they took away a great chance to pitch for a World Series (potentially, and if they don't get back in the coming years). I'd hate for this decision to stick with Stras and fester when he becomes a free agent, since he clearly is unhappy with the decision.

Could be, but that's so far down the road (he has 4 more seasons with the Nats) that I can't see it being that big an issue. His agent is Boras, so he may not sign a long term deal until he can hit free agency, but I'm pretty sure he'll go wherever the money is.

 

[jekelish]

Well if he goes wherever the money is, thankfully the Nats now have a shitload of it to throw at him.

 

[Knicks411]

Well if he goes wherever the money is, thankfully the Nats now have a shitload of it to throw at him.

Yeah I wouldn't be that worried (as a Nats fan, as a Mets fan I am very worried).

Boras usually likes to get his guys to the open market as soon as possible.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I used to go to up to 20-30 Chiefs games/year before moving out of town so I've adopted them as my NL team. I like the move when you think about the amount of money they have tied up with his rookie contract. He's not even eligible for free agency until 2017. Pitchers come back from Tommy John surgery pretty frequently however if you have two Tommy John surgeries the success rate to even get back to the majors let alone on top of your game is very remote. For that I love the move. Sucks for the team right now but you have a young team with a good nucleus (best pitching staff outside Giants) so just let it ride through the post season and hope your bats get hot.

On the other hand I would have had a significantly different pitching plan than the Nationals did. I'm not a believer in too many innings but I am of too many pitches and types of pitches. Therefore I would have limited him to 85 pitches per game (get through 5 innings at least hopefully and pull him). Anyone who pitched or caught before knows pitch 80 in a 6-1 game isn't the same as pitch 62 in a 3-2 game against a divisional rival with runners on base so I would have treaded lightly and had a quicker pull after 60+. Just my thoughts on the situation.

Also I was at the Nationals-Mets game yesterday and thought their 9/11 tribute was pretty poorly done. They had a better tribute and ceremony for fleet week. You can't beat front row outfield tickets (great during batting practice), free hotdog/burger, soda and fries for $25.

 

[Knicks411]

I used to go to up to 20-30 Chiefs games/year before moving out of town so I've adopted them as my NL team. I like the move when you think about the amount of money they have tied up with his rookie contract. He's not even eligible for free agency until 2017. Pitchers come back from Tommy John surgery pretty frequently however if you have two Tommy John surgeries the success rate to even get back to the majors let alone on top of your game is very remote. For that I love the move.

But we have no idea how much, if any, shutting him down lowers the chances of him getting hurt again. (Obviously he can't get hurt if he doesn't pitch, but I mean for next year and the future) That's what gets me. He could just as easily come back next season and blow out his elbow again, and then he's hurt and he didn't pitch in the playoffs.

On the other hand I would have had a significantly different pitching plan than the Nationals did. I'm not a believer in too many innings but I am of too many pitches and types of pitches. Therefore I would have limited him to 85 pitches per game (get through 5 innings at least hopefully and pull him). Anyone who pitched or caught before knows pitch 80 in a 6-1 game isn't the same as pitch 62 in a 3-2 game against a divisional rival with runners on base so I would have treaded lightly and had a quicker pull after 60+. Just my thoughts on the situation.

I do agree with this. It seems like the Nats didn't expect they'd be so good this year and didn't plan like they'd need Strasburg at the beginning of the year. I'm guessing if they could go back and replay the season they would come up with some different plan.

 

[jekelish]

I think that, for the most part, they thought they were still two or three years away from seriously contending. Obviously the arrived much more quickly because guys like Ian Desmond, Gio, Jordan Zimmermann and Harper all exceeded expectations. Heck, they lost their best catcher early in the year, had Werth missing for much of the year, Ryan Zimmerman was injured early and struggling for the first half of the season, they were starting guys like Mark DeRosa and Xavier Nady and they have STILL been performing well all season long. No one could have anticipated they'd be so good so quickly, and so consistently.

EDIT: That said, once it was clear they could contend this year, I have zero clue why they didn't work John Lannan into the rotation now and then throughout the year to give Stras some extra days off and save him for the playoff run.