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UPDATE: Strasburg placed on the disabled list; no comment from Jim Bunning

Jul 29, 2010, 11:11 AM EST

54 Comments

UPDATE: The Nats have places Strasburg on the DL. This is likely precautionary as Strasburg says he feels better than he did on Tuesday.  Because of the ability to DL him retroactive to his last start, the ten-day shutdown period mentioned before is likely more relevant.

9:34 A.M.: Jim Riggleman was on Sirius/XM radio this morning and said that Stephen Strasburg would be shut down for ten days and that there’s a chance he goes to the disabled list.  Riggleman said that this isn’t a full shut-down, though, and that he thinks Strasburg will start again this year.

In other Strasburg news, Hall of Famer, U.S. Senator and all around jerk Jim Bunning was at Tuesday’s Braves-Nats game and expected to see Strasburg pitch. After missing out, he went off about Strasburg to the political blog Politco:

“Five-hundred twenty starts, I never refused the ball,” Bunning, a
Kentucky senator who hurled a perfect game in 1964 and struck out 2,855
batters in his Major League career, told POLITICO. “What a joke!”

Bunning had taken an interest in Strasburg, who like the Kentucky
senator is a fire-ball hurling right-hander. The senator has seen the
Nationals ace four times and was at the ballpark Tuesday night, he said.

But he clearly didn’t like what he saw – or rather didn’t see – when the youngster didn’t take the mound.

“My arm!” Bunning sarcastically cried as he pretended to clutch his shoulder in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

He said Strasburg’s fallen greatly in his estimation. “He was in the
top one percentile,” Bunning said, pinching his thumb and forefinger
together. Now, Bunning said, he’s closer to the 50th percentile.

Whatever.  Bunning may have been a durable pitcher over the course of his career, but he also had all of 11 starts under his belt before he was 25 (Strasburg just turned 22). How much you wanna bet that if you described that usage pattern to Bunning without telling him who it was referring to that he’d consider such a pitcher to be “babied?”

Either way, Bunning has basically become a joke over the past ten years, so if he’s saying “x” you can pretty much bank on “not x” being the case.

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  1. Chris Fiorentino - Jul 29, 2010 at 9:43 AM

    I’ll leave the political side of it alone, but this specific statement from Bunning is completely idiotic and I would not be surprised to see an apology issued in the coming day or two. It is one thing to be old-school and it is another to be a complete a-hole and crap on a young guy’s parade.

  2. YankeesfanLen - Jul 29, 2010 at 9:46 AM

    Did you know that 41 Senators represent 11% of the population, with the 59 remaining representing 89%? And none of them know anything about baseball except for a photo op (See Clinton, Hillary in Yankees cap)

  3. BLBV - Jul 29, 2010 at 9:50 AM

    Wow, NBC, just Wow. I come to your site to see about My team getting Oslwalt, Instead we get NBC being NBC and trashing conservatives. Its all you know. 1st visit, last visit. You people are obsessed and deranged.

  4. Old Gator - Jul 29, 2010 at 9:57 AM

    That’s okay, BLBV. There are enough right-wing neanderthals here already, so you won’t be missed even though you plainly overvalue yourself enough to believe you will be. But then it was a conservative who made those idiotic statements about Strassburg, wasn’t it? In the spirit of fairness, though, bring us a liberal who said something equally stupid about Strassburg and we’ll trash him too. Good hunting.

  5. extreme469 - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:02 AM

    why is bunning a jerk? just an opinion on the kid for the nationals…i don’t agree with bunning, but calling him a jerk? damn…

  6. CYGNUS X-1 - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:07 AM

    blbv is rifgt! I come here looking for baseball news and have to wade thru your tree hugging liberal bias to get it.hey if I am right wing neanderthal for having conservative views then you are a tree hugger for being liberal. at least bunning has credebtials to support his views what abiut you?or did I miss the part where you pitched/played in the big leagues?

  7. Chris Fiorentino - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:09 AM

    He called him a jerk because of the positions he has politically, as a conservative, and Craig as we all know is a major Liberal. That being said, I took politics completely out of this story and think that these comments by Bunning about Strasburg are ludicrous and stupid. He owes the kid an apology.

  8. nps6724 - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:20 AM

    He’s a jerk because he’s jumping on Stras for not taking the ball when the GM made the call to not start him. Is there any evidence of Stras not wanting to pitch? I haven’t seen any.

  9. Don - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:23 AM

    Really not true. Nolan Ryan has been basically saying the same thing without naming anyone specifically. What is it that has made an entire generation of pussies when it comes to pitching? Pitchers didn’t fall apart 40 years ago and I really doubt they are now.

  10. Old Gator - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:27 AM

    Sententious to a fault, eh? But no, what you missed was the part where I wrote “In the spirit of fairness, though, bring us a liberal who said something equally stupid about Strassburg and we’ll trash him too.”
    .
    We could definitely use more trees than neanderthals. We have no further need to cull the mammoth herds, but trees recycle carbon dioxide and impede global warming, produce oxygen and hold water in the soil, thereby helping this entire starcrossed species of ours cling to existence, you know?
    .
    And by the way, what’s a “credebtial” ?

  11. ThatGuy - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:29 AM

    You really think only 11% of the population has a conservative leaning? That is the most rediculous thing I have ever heard.

  12. smokehouse - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:30 AM

    Calcaterra is an MSNBC liberal, Obama sympathizer and liberal loyalist. Bunning is accomplished. A baseball hall of famer and a three time elected US Senator and a past elected member of the US House of Representatives. He’s a conservative Republican and that’s the reason for the trash Calcaterra writes. Just what the hell have you accomplished? Remember what happened to the loyalists in the American Revolution? Probably not, you’re a so called journalist and statist. Probably a contributor to JournoList. I come to this site to read about baseball and not your filthy bias baseball articles peppered with attempted liberal insults.

  13. Chris Fiorentino - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:31 AM

    There are more trees now than there were at the turn of the 19th century, a fact that the environmentalists have never been able to comprehend. See, Gator, you forced me to enter the politics of it when I really didn’t want to.

  14. Chris Fiorentino - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:31 AM

    Turn of the 20th Century too ;)

  15. Ari Collins - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:34 AM

    Umm. If you can’t handle someone from your party being called “a jerk” and “a joke”, you have some mighty thin skin, my friend. Also, you might want to troll elsewhere, since other people are laying into him something fiercer.
    What’s more, whether you agree that Bunning is a jerk/joke in general, he’s certainly one here. As well as an ignorant ass.

  16. Craig Calcaterra - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:35 AM

    So those of you angry at this post: you agree with Bunning here? Strasburg is only a 50th percentile prospect now? He’s a big wuss for not pitching through pain?
    How about commenting on what people actually say for once than simply side with the person who belongs to the same party as you no matter how stupid the things are that come out of their mouth?

  17. bmoline - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:38 AM

    No, he’s saying that their states are less populous, thus only representing 11% of the population.

  18. Chris Fiorentino - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:46 AM

    I took the politics out of the story…it would have been much easier for you to take them out as well, Craig. His statement is ludicrous on its face, no matter his political party or past statements. He tried to be an “old-school” guy and it just didn’t work here because the Strasburg is genuinely hurt. Like I said before, I would be surprised if we don’t see some type of apology in the next day or two.

  19. Craig Calcaterra - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:51 AM

    Bunning has become a joke — which is what I said; I made no reference to his party — because he has repeatedly said silly things. Like comparing his campaign opponents to the sons of Saddam Hussein, making veiled accusations of homosexuality against them and lying about things like his wife being attacked by his political opponents. During his last campaign he bragged about how he doesn’t watch the news or read the newspaper. His approval rating in Kentucky is down in the 30s. It’s not a Democrat-Republican thing.
    I would be just as critical of Bunning no matter what party he’s in. I’d likewise be just as critical of these statements if they came from a Democratic senator.

  20. ThatGuy - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:51 AM

    I’m not quite sure how that makes sense. Each state has 2 senators. so if your saying that x amount of states each have two senators and only amount to 11% of the population it would have to be an even number. Also Texas, a very conservative state, is the 2nd biggest state has about 8 percent of the US population in itself. 41 is the number of republican senators, coming from a combination of 25 different states. It seems he was implying that conservatives are 11% of the population. I would like to know where he got that number or was just talking out his butt.

  21. Paper Lions - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:54 AM

    Liberals and conservatives each say dumb things, each have their jerks. Being dumb or a jerk often has little to do with party affiliation. If you can’t separate your political feelings from the veracity or appropriateness of comments, you must be pretty insecure. Instead of associating with a largely false dichotomy (like nearly all that are wealthy, “liberal” and “conservative” politicians are all conservatives relative to the make-up of the general population), why not become informed and decide for yourself what you think.
    I don’t care what Craig says about Bunning, if you know Bunning’s history of idiotic comments about baseball, you would know him to be a jerk.

  22. Church of the Perpetually Outraged - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:58 AM

    “How about commenting on what people actually say for once than simply side with the person who belongs to the same party as you no matter how stupid the things are that come out of their mouth?”
    Wait, I’m supposed to read the articles before posting? when did this happen? it’s opened up a whole new world for me…

  23. Florida727 - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:58 AM

    I’m wondering if he’s too arrogant (or stupid) to apologize. And like the one pst stated, it was NOT his choice to sit out. That call was made by the GM. So what fault does the kid have in all of this? Bunning’s pissed because he made the trip to the ballpark and didn’t get what he came for. Guess what genius? Neither did 40K+ other fans who wanted to see him pitch. Of course what gets lost in Brunning’s genuine “fan-ness” is that the Nats WON THE GAME. Did anyone come to see them win?

  24. funi - Jul 29, 2010 at 10:59 AM

    Looks like Strasburg is the next Joba Chamberlain! On a pitch count and on way to be a diva!

  25. aleskel - Jul 29, 2010 at 11:00 AM

    you forgot the part where, during his 2004 campaign, he begged out of a live debate with his opponent and participated by video, so he could read his opening and closing statements off of a teleprompter:
    http://politicalwire.com/archives/2004/10/13/bunning_used_teleprompter_in_debate.html

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