Tom: Yes there is more risk to Stras pitching in October, I agree. There is also more reward than pitching a game in June.
Also, most people are advocating resting him some during the season so he can pitch in October and still not go much over 160( or atleast much over say 180). I have yet to hear people claim this would be medically irresponsible, it seems rejections to this strategy are based more on worrying about his effectiveness (due to rust?) or our ability to even make the playoffs if we have him skip a few starts. But perhaps I'm wrong, is there medical opinion out there that this strategy would be dangerous?
Two arguments against would be:
1- To the extent you shift innings from him now to allocate to the playoffs, you diminish your very chances of making those playoffs.
2- Stopping him now isn't really lettting him rest and recover if you have to keep him "warm" by throwing in between and on the day of his skipped starts. If you're going to shut him down, better to do it in the conventional way, and have him well rested for spring training.
Or in other words, 160 innings before shutdown is less stress than say 130 innings followed by a warm period, then cranking back up for 30 more.