Why Shutting Down Strasburg is Utterly Ridiculous
So last week the Washington Nationals' front office, with Manager Davey Johnson decided to pull the plug on Stephen Strasburg's season. This is not only a poor decision in the now, but it shows how poor the Nationals' brains handled their ace throughout this season.
Strasburg (15-6) this season with a 3.16 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 159.3 innings. These are numbers that only a handful of pitchers in Major League Baseball can pull off. He is a premier guy, and so the Nationals should have thought ahead to this moment many months ago.
Why in June, when the Nationals were jockeying for first place in the NL East with the Atlanta Braves, did Johnson and Mike Rizzo (General Manager) not plan this one out? Part of me gets it, the Nationals have not been in this position since they were the Montreal Expos in 1994, a season that ended with a heartbreaking lockout for Expos fans. There was no way of knowing that their winning ways would continue this late into the campaign. At the same time, with Gio Gonzalez (19 wins to date with a 2.93 ERA) alongside Edwin Jackson (15 wins - same as Strasburg; a 3.85 ERA) and Jordan Zimmerman (10 wins and a 3.01 ERA) present a formidable starting rotation. Even Ross Detwiler has 10 wins and a 3.23 earned run average! This to me at least, shows that Washington should have shut Stephen Strasburg down in June for 3 or so weeks. If they would have thought ahead and done that, then he would have innings left for their September playoff run. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but when you are a General Manager (Rizzo) and a Manager (Johnson) in the M.L.B., you should not only think of such factors, but also act.
Furthermore, the A.P. asked Dr. Lewis Yocum (who performed Tommy John Surgery on Strasburg in Sept. 2010) in the LATimes whether he was consulted on the matter at hand. Yocum stated, “I wasn’t asked,” as well as "had he been asked, he would not have been able to provide conclusive information about whether Strasburg’s long-term health would be best served by shutting him down" (Bill Shaikin, Associated Press, LATimes). This is a very vague and ambiguous response, and yet it is worth noting. No one knows definitely how Strasburg's arm would have held up in the same way that no one knows if the Nationals have the horses to contend with the likes of the Rangers, Tigers, Reds, or whoever else seems to be contending this postseason.
It is widely stated, "better to be safe than sorry." However, in this case, I feel that the Nationals' front office do not realize how incredibly difficult it is to win one's division in pro baseball, and even if you can do that, how much more difficult it is to make it all the way to a pennant or a World Series.
This decision remains curious, and if the Nationals get bumped in the first round than Davey Johnson and Mike Rizzo will continue to have to answer some very difficult questions.
Strasburg (15-6) this season with a 3.16 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 159.3 innings. These are numbers that only a handful of pitchers in Major League Baseball can pull off. He is a premier guy, and so the Nationals should have thought ahead to this moment many months ago.
Why in June, when the Nationals were jockeying for first place in the NL East with the Atlanta Braves, did Johnson and Mike Rizzo (General Manager) not plan this one out? Part of me gets it, the Nationals have not been in this position since they were the Montreal Expos in 1994, a season that ended with a heartbreaking lockout for Expos fans. There was no way of knowing that their winning ways would continue this late into the campaign. At the same time, with Gio Gonzalez (19 wins to date with a 2.93 ERA) alongside Edwin Jackson (15 wins - same as Strasburg; a 3.85 ERA) and Jordan Zimmerman (10 wins and a 3.01 ERA) present a formidable starting rotation. Even Ross Detwiler has 10 wins and a 3.23 earned run average! This to me at least, shows that Washington should have shut Stephen Strasburg down in June for 3 or so weeks. If they would have thought ahead and done that, then he would have innings left for their September playoff run. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but when you are a General Manager (Rizzo) and a Manager (Johnson) in the M.L.B., you should not only think of such factors, but also act.
Furthermore, the A.P. asked Dr. Lewis Yocum (who performed Tommy John Surgery on Strasburg in Sept. 2010) in the LATimes whether he was consulted on the matter at hand. Yocum stated, “I wasn’t asked,” as well as "had he been asked, he would not have been able to provide conclusive information about whether Strasburg’s long-term health would be best served by shutting him down" (Bill Shaikin, Associated Press, LATimes). This is a very vague and ambiguous response, and yet it is worth noting. No one knows definitely how Strasburg's arm would have held up in the same way that no one knows if the Nationals have the horses to contend with the likes of the Rangers, Tigers, Reds, or whoever else seems to be contending this postseason.
It is widely stated, "better to be safe than sorry." However, in this case, I feel that the Nationals' front office do not realize how incredibly difficult it is to win one's division in pro baseball, and even if you can do that, how much more difficult it is to make it all the way to a pennant or a World Series.
This decision remains curious, and if the Nationals get bumped in the first round than Davey Johnson and Mike Rizzo will continue to have to answer some very difficult questions.
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