Comments on: Why not have Stephen Strasburg debut on June 1?

By: redbirdsin7

redbirdsin7 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:12:58 +0000

the question really isn’t “when do you want SS to pitch?” it’s “where in your season do you want SS to pitch?” if you want to sell seats and get fans in the door, use him up early. if you think you have a legitimate shot to contend (as i do), you’re gonna want him later. the nats have put themselves in a unique depth situation. why not use some combination of a six man rotation and spacing out SS starts. so what if he misses his first 3 or 4 starts of the season? don’t forget, Jordan Zimmermann is also coming off tommy john (1 year prior, and he was on the 160 ip count list last year) and gio gonzalez topped 200 ip for the first time last year. maybe starting the year with 6 guys throwing helps them all last a little longer in the season…

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:42:24 +0000

Wasn’t there a whole chapter in Baseball Between the Numbers on this subject? Basically, a pitcher gets hurt when he pitches tired. It would be more effective to have Strausberg making 30 starts at 80 pitches a night than 20 starts at 100 pitches.

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:52:57 +0000

As a Nats fan with season tickets, I could live with it if the Nats explian it well, so fans know what’s coming. Otherwise, you will have a lot of disgruntled fans who don’t understand why Strasburg is missing from Opening Day.

The downside risk is that his September starts could be meaningless, n part because of games the team didn’t win in April or May. I suspect that the Nats will take the wins up front, and deal with contending in September if and when it happens.

By: shawndc04

shawndc04 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:11:22 +0000

Bad idea Pouliot He needs to build and maintain arm strength and get game experience. Can’t do it under your idea.

By: royhobbs39

royhobbs39 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:25:53 +0000

If you have seven starters, why not move one to long relief with the idea that a lot of that long relief will be the sixth inning on when Strasburg pitches?

By: samu0034

samu0034 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:54:20 +0000

That’s all well and good, cerowb, but don’t you think it might be a bit appropriate to wait a little longer than this after Tommy John surgery before throwing Strasburg to the wolves?

By: cerowb

cerowb — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:20:18 +0000

I’m all for being cautious with young arms, but at some point you have to take the training wheels off. If he’s healthy, let the kid pitch.

By: sumerduckman

sumerduckman — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:44:44 +0000

Maybe Mr. Johnson’s clever plan is to use a six man rotation. Then sit/rest Strasburg in Sept when the rosters expand, and then bring back for the playoffs.

By: metalhead65

metalhead65 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:11:40 +0000

this would not be a problem if Dusty Baker was the manager. every start he would go 1 inning more than the last tired or not. he is not getting paid all that money not to pitch seems to be his motto.

By: rooney24

rooney24 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:53:49 +0000

He isn’t pitching a full season regardless. So, fans with season ticket packages would get to see him pitch the same number of games either way, so why does it matter if they are early or late?

By: goforthanddie

goforthanddie — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:44:32 +0000

160 innings. 5 innings per start. 32 starts for the season, or almost exactly 1/5 of the schedule.
Teams carry long relievers for a reason, they need to earn those checks. Put this guy out there every fifth game from day 1 (if healthy), pitch him 5 innings, and pull him out.

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:23:37 +0000

“Throwing is not dangerous to a pitcher’s arm. Throwing while tired is dangerous to a pitcher’s arm”. –Baseball Between the Numbers

There is no benefit to having Strausberg throw 100 pitches a game for 20 games. If There’s a whole chapter in Baseball Between the Numbers on this subject. Their conclusion was that injury risk (or declined performance) increase by having pitcher’s throw being tired in a game.

If the Nationals are worried this much about Strausberg, have him go 30 starts at 80 pitches a night.

By: astrosfan75956

astrosfan75956 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:11:14 +0000

Great Idea!

By: jdd428

jdd428 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:29:25 +0000

I understand the desire to be cautions with Stras, but I see another flaw in the Nationals’ plan: What if they do manage to make the postseason – and Stras has reached his innings limit and is fine? Would they really go into the playoffs and not use a healthy Stras as a precaution – leave their best pitcher on the shelf?!

By: vanmorrissey

vanmorrissey — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:04:21 +0000

Right. Try telling that to fans who have season ticket packages, that’ll go over well. You market him for the full year not two-thirds, so what happens when fans don’t come out? Won’t work, sorry.