Message #1112748

[Kevrock]

Here's the spin from the Nats perspective:
http://www.csnwashington.com/baseball-washington-nationals/nationals-talk/Braves-handling-Medlen-different-than-St?blockID=764125&feedID=10314

They also may not have expected to seriously be in the playoff hunt. The Braves had every reason to expect to be in the hunt.

My concern with using Strasburg out of the pen is that he would likely go max-max effort every single pitch. Heading into this year they wanted to ramp him down so he wasn't going high effort so consistently.

It's an interesting comparison, though, and I don't have much of a problem with what the Braves did with Medlen. The Braves organization generally takes good care of their arms.