Poll: Should Strasburg be shut down before the playoffs?

[Obed_Marsh]

Can we get a, "Oh gods. Just shut up already. I don't care anymore." option?

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Can we get a, "Oh gods. Just shut up already. I don't care anymore." option?

ask and ye shall receive.  Feel free to change your vote while you're at it.

I did the your / you're just for Tom

[Obed_Marsh]

Wahoo! Thanks JCA. A seasons worth of poke and tickle on this topic has warn me down.

[Kevrock]

This is the dumbest decision of all time.

It barely edged out Pickett's Charge and the Dred Scott Decision.

[tomterp]

This is the dumbest decision of all time. I'm not gonna give up hope because of a dumb move like this, but our chances at the World Series are greatly diminished without Strasburg. And we'll never live it down. Be the laughing stock of baseball for years to come. "Remember when Washington had the best team and they shut down their ace heading into the playoffs and lost." Strasburg might get hurt again next May in his 5th start of the season. You don't know... it's a sport. Injuries happen. 

This is ridiculous... playing for next year is what losing teams do. The baseball gods may just smite the Nationals and it might be another 40 years before this franchise makes it to the playoffs.

It just ticks me off that 70% of people here support this stupidity.

Sounds like the jinx fairy is really going to be up in arms over this decision. 

Rizzo should have factored this into his decision making.  Dumbazz.

[houston-nat]

It barely edged out Pickett's Charge and the Dred Scott Decision.

"Hey, at least we're not shutting Strasburg down." - Hitler before invading Russia

[blue911]

Could we have an option for beating this dead horse for another 6 months?

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

"The sun shall never set on the Strasburg empire"

[expos1994]

Well I don't know about you guys, but I've been supporting this team the whole 130 something whatever games. And the World Series may not be Hitler invading poland or abolishing slavery... but it is a big deal. Especially when you've NEVER won it. I would hate to see them flush this thing down the toilet. Because there is absolutely no guarantee they'll be in this position next year. None whatsoever. We ARE NOT the Braves. We don't win the division every year.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

"Hey, at least we're not shutting Strasburg down." - Hitler before invading Russia

time for someone to write a Hitler parody about the shutdown decision.

"Mein Fuhrer, I beg to report that Stephen Strasburg will not be allowed to pitch in the playoffs due to the GM's decision."
...
Flash to the folks in the hall:
"Don't worry, we still have John Lannan."

[Baseball is Life]

Well I don't know about you guys, but I've been supporting this team the whole 130 something whatever games. And the World Series may not be Hitler invading poland or abolishing slavery... but it is a big deal. Especially when you've NEVER won it. I would hate to see them flush this thing down the toilet. Because there is absolutely no guarantee they'll be in this position next year. None whatsoever. We ARE NOT the Braves. We don't win the division every year.

We are the Braves of this decade.

[DPMOmaha]

We are the Braves of this decade.

Hopefully.  If we turn out to be, I think it's very likely we'll be looking back at this decision as a big reason why.  I think this is the right decison, as much as I don't like it.  I'm not sure we'll ever be able to prove it one way or the other.

[HalfSmokes]

Hopefully.  If we turn out to be, I think it's very likely we'll be looking back at this decision as a big reason why.  I think this is the right decison, as much as I don't like it.  I'm not sure we'll ever be able to prove it one way or the other.

if they win it this year, Rizzo was right, if Stras leaves in free agency having never pitched in the playoffs, his critics were right, any thing in between and this becomes a dead horse that gets trotted out for years

[Lintyfresh85]

I'll certainly never let it go.

[Kevrock]

Grand, can't wait for your posts about it for the next forever years.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

The Obed option is surging!

[Baseball is Life]

Grand, can't wait for your posts about it for the next forever years.

It's really a no-win for the Nats unless they win the WS this year. Though we will never be able to prove that they would have won it even with him on the bump. Whatever. We should be content that the Nats are making the right decision no matter the outcome.

[Baseball is Life]

Hopefully.  If we turn out to be, I think it's very likely we'll be looking back at this decision as a big reason why.  I think this is the right decison, as much as I don't like it.  I'm not sure we'll ever be able to prove it one way or the other.

Well said, my friend. None of us like it but we should be content to know that it's the right thing to do for his health and the long-term prospects of the organization. The Nats are really setting the standard with this decision and they should be applauded for it.

[welch]

"We are the Braves of this decade"

Hopefully.  If we turn out to be, I think it's very likely we'll be looking back at this decision as a big reason why.  I think this is the right decison, as much as I don't like it.  I'm not sure we'll ever be able to prove it one way or the other.

No, you can't go back and change a decision and play out life from there. Given what we know of what Rizzo knows, it seems best to shut Strassburg down:

- Doctors suggest it
- Caution is reasonable: if Strassburg over-pitches, maybe he gets hurt. Soon or sooner. Even if he is shut down, the 2012 Nats still have strong pitching...better than most other teams.
- The organization is building to compete year after year. It shows in the depth that the 2012 team has: strong enough to play through the injuries
- If this is the ONLY year, the only chance, then the organization has done a bad job.
- The Yankees compete every year. Even with injuries, they are leading the Al East by 3 games. No law says that only the Yankees can be good...(and Steinbrenner's team was lousy from the early '80s until the mid-'90s.)

There are "experts" (at what?) telling us that "Nats fans" are being cheated if the organization sits Strassburg.

Thanks for the concern, but we were cheated in 1971 and every time thereafter when MLB expanded to bush-league towns fit for the NBA (Miami??? Tampa?). We were cheated in 1960, when the last Griffith-family Nats were good, and fans went wild, but Calvin G. stole away to Minneapolis: we had suffered through the worst baseball in the mid-50s, as Calvin dumped salary, but the Lords of Baseball helped to carry Calvin's baggage off to snow-land. (That is, Calvin's brother-in-law, Joe Cronin, was president of the American League)

[Baseball is Life]

"We are the Braves of this decade"

No, you can't go back and change a decision and play out life from there. Given what we know of what Rizzo knows, it seems best to shut Strassburg down:

- Doctors suggest it
- Caution is reasonable: if Strassburg over-pitches, maybe he gets hurt. Soon or sooner. Even if he is shut down, the 2012 Nats still have strong pitching...better than most other teams.
- The organization is building to compete year after year. It shows in the depth that the 2012 team has: strong enough to play through the injuries
- If this is the ONLY year, the only chance, then the organization has done a bad job.
- The Yankees compete every year. Even with injuries, they are leading the Al East by 3 games. No law says that only the Yankees can be good...(and Steinbrenner's team was lousy from the early '80s until the mid-'90s.)

There are "experts" (at what?) telling us that "Nats fans" are being cheated if the organization sits Strassburg.

Thanks for the concern, but we were cheated in 1971 and every time thereafter when MLB expanded to bush-league towns fit for the NBA (Miami??? Tampa?). We were cheated in 1960, when the last Griffith-family Nats were good, and fans went wild, but Calvin G. stole away to Minneapolis: we had suffered through the worst baseball in the mid-50s, as Calvin dumped salary, but the Lords of Baseball helped to carry Calvin's baggage off to snow-land. (That is, Calvin's brother-in-law, Joe Cronin, was president of the American League)

Excellent and amen. Don't tell me we are being cheated when we were cheated out of baseball for 33 effing years.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

I'll certainly never let it go.

Then you risk becoming a once-decent poster turned droning hack.

[HalfSmokes]

- The Yankees compete every year. Even with injuries, they are leading the Al East by 3 games. No law says that only the Yankees can be good...(and Steinbrenner's team was lousy from the early '80s until the mid-'90s.)

no law, but a willingness to spend more than any other team helps

[NatsDad14]

It's absurd to rest a player to win you hypothetical playoff games in the future when you have guaranteed playoff games right in front of you in a weak year.

[Smithian]

"We are the Braves of this decade"

No, you can't go back and change a decision and play out life from there. Given what we know of what Rizzo knows, it seems best to shut Strassburg down:

- Doctors suggest it
- Caution is reasonable: if Strassburg over-pitches, maybe he gets hurt. Soon or sooner. Even if he is shut down, the 2012 Nats still have strong pitching...better than most other teams.
- The organization is building to compete year after year. It shows in the depth that the 2012 team has: strong enough to play through the injuries
- If this is the ONLY year, the only chance, then the organization has done a bad job.
- The Yankees compete every year. Even with injuries, they are leading the Al East by 3 games. No law says that only the Yankees can be good...(and Steinbrenner's team was lousy from the early '80s until the mid-'90s.)

There are "experts" (at what?) telling us that "Nats fans" are being cheated if the organization sits Strassburg.

Thanks for the concern, but we were cheated in 1971 and every time thereafter when MLB expanded to bush-league towns fit for the NBA (Miami??? Tampa?). We were cheated in 1960, when the last Griffith-family Nats were good, and fans went wild, but Calvin G. stole away to Minneapolis: we had suffered through the worst baseball in the mid-50s, as Calvin dumped salary, but the Lords of Baseball helped to carry Calvin's baggage off to snow-land. (That is, Calvin's brother-in-law, Joe Cronin, was president of the American League)

Excellent and amen. Don't tell me we are being cheated when we were cheated out of baseball for 33 effing years.

Excellent posts guys

[Smithian]

Watching the Cardinals broadcast today and I'm finally to the point I don't care. Almost ready for him to be shutdown so we can all move forward with our baseball lives.