Stephen Strasburg Retires

[Natsinpwc]

If they want him meeting with the team's medical staff in Florida, they have every right to do demand his attendance. If he thinks it's unfair, he needs to point at his contract to show why it's wrong.

I think the Nationals are being petty and should have ended this farce last yet, but that isn't the world we're in. I'm not going to feel bad for a millionaire baseball player being paid to travel to Florida with his teammates versus sitting at home.

Their doctors have already found he can’t pitch.  Last year. Let’s see them withhold money because he is not reporting.  Couldn’t they have asked him to be examined at Nats Park in January or February.  An arbitration panel would laugh at the Nats. 

[Smithian]

I'm not sure about the vitriol regarding the ball four signs. My interpretation is the pitcher/ thrower should have never gotten to a ball three count. Just throw strikes.

It really isn't a sign worth overthinking. They're saying get the ball in the zone.  If they posted a sign saying, "Bring the heat every pitch" we'd have people saying they should be focusing on getting in the zone, not just blowing it by people.

I don't think Nationals pitchers are seeing those signs and reading it as, "Ah, yes, I'm going to go out there and drop my fast ball into the 80's to make certain I can place it in the zone!"

[Natsinpwc]

That’s very true but it’s also a fact that hitters do better when they are ahead in the count.  Which comes from throwing too many balls.  Which has been a problem for Gore and some other Nats pitchers.  Throw strikes would have been a better slogan. 

[HalfSmokes]

Strasburg has every right to not give back one cent. I imagine the player's union is screaming at him not to give back one dime.

But Nationals are within their right to tell him to show up to camp and go through medical procedures and rehab until the day his contract is up. It's petty if they do and I think probably a distraction to the team, but I won't shed a tear for Strasburg being paid millions and millions of dollars and all he has to do is show up and go through rehab and other sessions. If he doesn't like it, he can walk away from his job and leave the money on the table.

If they won't let him walk away, I would tell ownership to stop asking for his money back and just ask him to fulfill a bunch of community related tasks next few years while doing off field work within the system, like visiting minor league teams in some role. He gets to have an easier schedule while they get to get some value out of him.

Is any team doctor willing to do rehab or procedures on him?

[PowerBoater69]

I'm not sure about the vitriol regarding the ball four signs. My interpretation is the pitcher/ thrower should have never gotten to a ball three count. Just throw strikes.

If you were going into an office for an interview and management had spent a couple hundred bucks installing signs saying "I don't care how fast you screw up" over every cubicle, would you see that as a red flag? Not a sign of a healthy professional working environment.

[PowerBoater69]

So the Nationals have no offices in DC and no doctors in the area to examine Strasburg if they think he has somehow gotten better?

I was wondering if Strasburg may have just shown up to Nats Park unannounced and claimed that counts as reporting. Strange that there aren't news reports on this. Imagine a Redskins player taking up a third of the cap space not reporting, the local media would have stayed out the airports.

[Natsinpwc]

Do you know what’s taking up half the Nats caps space?  All the guys they did not sign this off-season.  In any event even if they work out a deal and defer more of the money the hit against the luxury tax is still the same.  Corbin gone after this year and then Strasburg after 2026.  Fits in fine with a rebuild. 

[Mattionals]

Do you know what’s taking up half the Nats caps space?  All the guys they did not sign this off-season.  In any event even if they work out a deal and defer more of the money the hit against the luxury tax is still the same.  Corbin gone after this year and then Strasburg after 2026.  Fits in fine with a rebuild.

I don't think it "fits in with a rebuild". If you take away the CBT hits for Stras and Corbin, the Nats have the second lowest CBT payroll next to Oakland. They are 99M under the threshold. They could have spent for SOMEBODY on a longer deal then trot out another year of former flashes in the pan to try and see if they catch lightning in a bottle like they did with Candy last year. Candy was better set than any of Senzel, Gallo, or Winker are this year. Not saying they should have signed Ohtani, but they could have played for somebody in the next tier.
Right now, us fans are going to hope that Hassell figures it out, Wood cuts down on his K's, Crewes adjusts, House progresses, two of Garcia/Baker/Lipscomb/Morales can fit in at 2B and 1B, and hopefully Ruiz can correct his catching skills (not looking so good so far this spring).
On the pitching front, It's hope that Gore and Gray adjust and evolve into middle of the rotation guys, Cavalli comes back healthy and also fits that mold, one of Irvin/Herz/Rutledge can be a back of the rotation guy/high leverage bullpen arm, and maybe pray that Sykora turns into the next Skenes.
It wasn't a great FA class, but they could have done better than they did. At least we will likely take White in the draft!

[IanRubbish]

I think the Nationals are being petty and should have ended this farce last yet, but that isn't the world we're in. I'm not going to feel bad for a millionaire baseball player being paid to travel to Florida with his teammates versus sitting at home.

I don't feel badly for Stras at all.  It's like he's won the biggest lottery of all time.   But the way the org has handled it is making it a lot worse, and it's revealing the dysfunction that gives the franchise a very Wizards or Raljon Football Team feel. 

[blue911]

If you were going into an office for an interview and management had spent a couple hundred bucks installing signs saying "I don't care how fast you screw up" over every cubicle, would you see that as a red flag? Not a sign of a healthy professional working environment.

Not to mention that half of all swinging strikes on on crap out of the strike zone.

[Natsinpwc]

Is it possible for the mods to split out a separate thread on “sign gate”. 

[PowerBoater69]

From the Post:

The next milepost in this saga: Opening Day. Major league players don’t receive their salaries until the regular season begins. If a compromise isn’t worked out, the Nats could place Strasburg on the restricted list — which would mean they wouldn’t have to pay him unless and until he reported.

No chance Boras allows the Nats to even be in the position to legally withhold payment. My guess is that Stras will show up unannounced at Nats Park sometime between the futures game and opening day.

[varoadking]

From the Post:
No chance Boras allows the Nats to even be in the position to legally withhold payment. My guess is that Stras will show up unannounced at Nats Park sometime between the futures game and opening day.

If at all.  Recall that last year he "Didn't want to be a distraction."

[Five Banners]

From the Post:
No chance Boras allows the Nats to even be in the position to legally withhold payment. My guess is that Stras will show up unannounced at Nats Park sometime between the futures game and opening day.

He can show up for replica ring day to pair with the other he has

[IanRubbish]

From the Post:
No chance Boras allows the Nats to even be in the position to legally withhold payment. My guess is that Stras will show up unannounced at Nats Park sometime between the futures game and opening day.

The restricted list would allow them to not pay him, not clear how realistic that would be.

As much as I disagree with how the Nats are handling this, I don't get why Stras can't just play along and come to ST for a few days.  He's not blameless here.

[PowerBoater69]

If at all.  Recall that last year he "Didn't want to be a distraction."

In the article Rizzo said "he doesn’t want to be a distraction", which is such a joke, if that was the goal then report, fail the physical and return home.

[PowerBoater69]

The restricted list would allow them to not pay him, not clear how realistic that would be.

As much as I disagree with how the Nats are handling this, I don't get why Stras can't just play along and come to ST for a few days.  He's not blameless here.

He doesn't even have to stay there a few days, he has to report and be assessed as physically unable to perform. On one hand the team is jerking him around by making him fly down to Florida, which he could hire a private jet for a day. On the other hand, he wants every penny in his contract then he needs to follow every term in the contract.

[Natsinpwc]

I believe last season he was trying to throw and in consultation with the doctors and training staff realized he could not pitch. That’s my recollection anyway  The Nationals easily could have had him come into Nats Park or Any local doctor office this off-season to see if things had improved. 

As far as the contract I don’t know all the details of the standard MLB contract but I would think a long term injury and being physically unable to perform would trump some other clauses in the contract.  If the Nats want to press this I guess we will fin out what the lawyers argue and rule.  The results of doctor evaluations from last season will be available to any group that would rule on a grievance. I tend to think that Manfred and other owners would not want them to go down that path so as to not risk the ire of the union on an issue none of them care about. 

Are they still paying Strasburg deferred money on the prior contract? 

[IanRubbish]

Are they still paying Strasburg deferred money on the prior contract?

No, the new contract replaced the payment schedule of the old after he opted out.  They would still owe him $70 million right now in deferrals if he hadn't opted out and had played through 2022 on the old contract.

[Natsinpwc]

No, the new contract replaced the payment schedule of the old after he opted out.  They would still owe him $70 million right now in deferrals if he hadn't opted out and had played through 2022 on the old contract.

Thanks. 

[IanRubbish]

Seems this silly episode is being swept under the rug by Lerners + Rizzo now.   

[Five Banners]

Seems this silly episode is being swept under the rug by Lerners + Rizzo now.   

Not after enough news cycles to make it a ‘Natinal’ story

[IanRubbish]

Media is not doing their job with this.  Someone needs to press the Minister of Propaganda Mike Rizzo on what happened with him not showing, and what's going on with a retirement.  The whole "he'll come here as a mentor" thing grew out of Rizzo's attempt to cover up for Mini Me's ridiculous "we'll see Stephen at spring training" comment last year.  Ownership and the front office think we're dumb fools who can be manipulated with their silly spin, but they're not fooling anyone.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Something is coming to a head soon. He was not 60 day IL'd. Instead, they put Ferrer on it. I'm guessing they would have preferred to ride with either Cavalli or Ferrer on the 15 day IL and Stras on the 60 if they could have. I expect some sort of suspension at least being on the table if he does not report. It's just a really antagonistic action to force him to show, but at this point his being on the 40 man roster is hurting the team.

[varoadking]

...at this point his being on the 40 man roster is hurting the team.

So, 67 wins instead of 68?