Strasburg is a great pitcher. But from what I've seen so far this season, he isn't a significantly better pitcher than Gio Gonzalez or Jordan Zimmerman, and we still have Jackson, Deteweiler, and Wang. If we are a real playoff contender in late July, Rizzo can acquire another top notch starter. The Astros will be begging to unload Wandy Rodriguez for example. We'll have a full compliment of of starters to go into the playoffs.
I love Strasburg and would love to watch him pitch all season and well into October but it isn't going to happen, it isn't worth the risk, and we can make it without him.
The fact that he's not a ton better than Gio or JZ is irrelevant. He's a ton better than Edwin Jackson, Detwiler, or CMW. A playoff rotation of SS-GG-JZ is freaking dynamite. A playoff rotation of GG-JZ-crapshoot is significantly worse. I'd settle for SS-GG-JZ-crapshoot-SS-GG-JZ or even just give one start to SS. One start per playoff round isn't going to ruin his arm but could mean a ton to the team.
