At the beginning of the season, general manager Mike Rizzo
was adamant: Stephen Strasburg would be kept on a strict innings limit. At the time, it raised a few eyebrows, but he
was largely dismissed. The Nationals had
never been in playoff contention, their best record was the .500 record they
accumulated in 2005, who cared if they wanted to sit their best pitcher?
One hundred and twenty-two games later, the Nationals have
the best record in baseball and are poised to make a World Series run. Yet, Rizzo’s tune hasn’t changed. When Strasburg hits his limit, he will be
shut down.
By now, most people know both sides of the debate. With the innings limit rapidly approaching,
there are a few things fans should keep in mind. First, this is going to happen. Regardless of where you stand on this
argument, regardless of how many former players, managers, analysts come out
and say the Nationals are crazy, Strasburg is going to be shut down. Rizzo has been adamant since the season began
and he has not backed off of his comments.
The decision has been made.
Why not hold Strasburg out at the beginning of the season
and save him for the playoffs? No one
knew the Nationals were going to be the best team in baseball. There would be no point in saving him for the
last half of another .500 season. Why didn’t
the Nationals play a six-man rotation or shut him down midway through the
season when it became apparent the Nationals were going to be a playoff
contender? The Nationals wanted
Strasburg to acclimate fully to a normal rotation. They wanted him to play on four days rest and
they wanted him used to a regular MLB workload.
You can agree or disagree with their reasoning, but that’s how they’ve
approached this season.
Even if Rizzo wanted to change his mind, at this point it
would probably be too late. He would be
going against the mountain of medical evidence he has pushed to the media in
order to justify his decision, meaning if anything were to happen to Strasburg
ever, the blame would be placed solely on Rizzo’s door.
He would also be snubbing Strasburg’s agent, Scott
Boras. Boras strongly supported the
Nationals’ decision and has made his support known among the various media
outlets. Boras is the most powerful
agent in the MLB and also represents Danny Espinosa, Bryce Harper, Edwin
Jackson, Xavier Nady, and Jayson Werth on the Nationals, as well as several
other MLB stars. If the Nationals were
to publicly humiliate him and potentially endanger the career of one of his
most prominent clients, why would he encourage any of his clients to play for
the Nationals ever again? The Nationals
cannot make decisions based solely on the opinions of an agent, but it does not
hurt to have a good relationship with him.
We will never know if shutting down Strasburg was the right
move or not. Jason Stark of ESPN went
into great detail on this in his article and he is absolutely correct. Whatever may happen to Strasburg in the
future, we will never know for sure if shutting him down ultimately helped or
hurt him. The medical community may
applaud the decision, but they can never definitively determine if this helped
him.
We also will never know if shutting down Strasburg hurt the
team in the playoffs. If the Nationals collapse
in the postseason, many will speculate that it was because of the absence of
their ace, but there is no way to prove that.
The Nationals would have to figure out a way to win without him even if
he does pitch. Strasburg is a pitcher,
not an everyday player. In a best of
seven series, the Nationals can only count on their ace for two games. Some teams try to push their best pitcher in
a game seven on three days rest, but if the Nationals are considering sitting
him when nothing appears to be wrong, then they won’t risk pitching him on
three days rest. So in a best of seven
series, Strasburg would only pitch twice and neither of those games is a
guaranteed win. Of course having your
best pitcher on the mound helps, but the Nationals would still need offense and
strong outings from the rest of their rotation in order to win. Strasburg’s absence may not be the major loss
everyone has made it out to be.
The biggest hurdle for the Nationals may perhaps be
mental. There are some who would
interpret Strasburg’s shutdown as a sign that management does not believe in
their chances to win this year. This may
be a valid criticism, but the Nationals did the same thing with Jordan
Zimmermann last season and have been consistent on their feelings on Strasburg
since day one. Whether they had the best
record or worst record in baseball, they were going to sit him.
Among the heated debate and harsh criticisms coming from all
over the nation, much of this debate is moot because Strasburg will be shut
down. The important thing to remember is
that there are many reasons to shut him down apart from the medical debate. Free agents will see that this team takes
care of their players and Boras and other agents will be more open to working
with the Nationals in the future. The
team has a fantastic rotation even without Strasburg and his absence will be
felt only twice a series. One final
thing to keep in mind, Strasburg has never pitched a full MLB season in his
career. He was brought up from the
minors in 2010, went down with the injury, and returned late in 2011. If medical evidence suggests it would be
better he not pitch a full season, does it behoove the Nationals to push him
through a full MLB season and the playoffs?
Not to me and not to Mike Rizzo.
No comments:
Post a Comment