I read Boswell's article......And As much as i would like to agree...I simply cannot.....Yes, I agree with a longterm plan.....I also agree with protecting your investment.....But I also think the babying of Strasburg is going to hurt him more than help him....Sometimes its almost comical.....He is a man, a ballplayer....There is nothing you can do to prevent injuries besides not playing at all.....Pitchers get sore shoulders,sore arms, sore elbows because pitching is not a natural motion....but I believe that sometimes you have to let a guy play...Now I am not saying that you let him act like Verlander and pitch complete games with 120+ pitches every start, but let him pitch.....And the one thing no one talks about is how HE feels about it....We always talk about the Nationals future and how the organization feels...What about Stephen? How does he feel about the possibility of not having the opportunity to pitch in the first playoff game in Washington Nationals History and the first Playoff game in DC in almost 100 years? How does he feel about putting in the work and not getting the opportunity to show the world what he can do? You gotta think about that too...We can say that we will be fine with Gio, Zim,Jackson and Detwiler....Others will say, we will make trades to get another starter for the playoffs....But your only going to get an expiring contract who won't sign with us, and your going to give up prospects in the process, which is MORE important to me...We gave away alot to get Gio in our farm system, lets not do that again because this year we are reaping the benefits of having a healthy farm system.....
And you don't go into the playoffs and shutdown a guy who helped get you there, its not fair to him and its not fair to the team......If anything, from this point on, if this inning count is a big deal, is you circumvent the system. Only let him pitch 4-5 inning a game in the second half...Allow him to skip a start or 2 ( and have him simulate in the bullpen to keep his arm in rhythm)...and lastly, you teach him to NOT try and strike everyone out...Pitch count is more important than inning count, teach him to pitch for contact so you can get through innings faster, a strikeout counts them same as a grounder or fly out....and its faster....Just my 2 Cents...I believe this team has the talent to do something special this year and you need your #1 in the postseason...
Bos said it best: "Excuse me while I go beat my head against a wall."
Everybody has indeed talked about HE feels about it, including Bos in his article. "Exploiting Strasburg's enhusiasm (and he'd pitch until he drops) is just plain wrong."
I guess it fun (for others) to discuss this but the reality is that he will be shut down in mid-September, like the team has been saying all along.
