You could conceivably start his season two months late (also discussed, but in hindsight). However, if you don’t make it to October, then he pitches only a 4 month season, which is not desirable for 2013.

It did occur to me, however, to wonder why teams don’t stagger the starting months of their staffs, especially young staffs, bringing in a fresh arm for the second half of the season. We did that, in essence, with Lannan in triple-A. It wasn’t necessary (he has pitched only in two double-headers, so far) but if one of our starters had a “dead arm” we had an adequate No. 5 available without a trade.

Also, looking at the stats for the last three months, Stras (by ERA) has been our 5th best starter, and the team actually has a better pct of W/L in games started by the rest of the rotation.

Whats going on with the Nats isnt magic. They are jus a bit ahead of schedule. I would share your point of view on the Nats situation if they were like the 98 Padres, but they are not. The Phillies have proven if you build it the right way you can have a 5-6 year window to compete and I think thats what the Nats are embarking on now.

http://www.kentucky.com/2012/08/15/2300271/john-clay-choice-is-tough-but.html

I would love to see some kind of statistical analysis on this.

Two giant problems with this, so if you ever see it done you should essentially throw the results out the window. First, there’s a sample size issue. For every Ryan, Carlton or Maddux, you can refute with a Gooden, Valenzuela and McClain. There haven’t been enough people on both sides to make any definitive statements.

The second is a causation vs correlation issue. Since we can’t definitively prove that doing X (pitch a ton of innings) or Y (pitch limits when they are young) will prevent Z (injury), how do we know which is the correct way? Strasburg was on a strict limit, and he blew out his elbow. CC Sabathia has made 28 or more starts every year since he was brought up in ’01, and he could blow his elbow out tomorrow.

Smoltz had some arm troubles for awhile too, IIRC. That might cost him the Hall of Fame.

Chamberlain, starter in college, starter in the minors. He was approaching his innings limit AND the Yanks had a desperate need for a bullpen arm. So they brought him up in the bullpen. The restrictions placed on him by Brian Cashman were due to Joe Torre’s terrible bullpen management (mainly) and an attempt to keep his innings down (minutely). This was ’07.

In ’08, they started him off in the bullpen, but the goal was always to get him back as a starter. He actually was performing very well through 11 starts (1 abbreviated as he had to get his pitch limit up), 60IP thru 11, 2.23 ERA with a 69/23 K/BB ratio, then he hurt his shoulder. He finished off the rest of the season in the bullpen.

In ’09 he was a starter the entire year, and did very well for a young pitcher until he hit his innings high. Note, through 110 innings pitched, he had a 3.58 ERA, with a 97/50 K/BB ratio. He ended the year with a mid 4s, but still good for a 23 year old in the AL E.

However, he was sand bagged in the “competition” between him and Hughes (even though their numbers were almost identical through the same amount of starts). The Yanks are convinced his shoulder won’t hold up, which is why he’s a reliever.

So please, stop bringing up this crap about the Yanks screwing him up, making him a starter, etc…

I am sure they got in plenty of golf on days 2 and 4 though

This is not Little League. This is not the bush leagues. This a pennant race in the BIG leagues.

Guys aren’t getting hurt because of their workloads. It mostly has to do with what pitches these guys are throwing. The splitter was originally intended to be an easy-grip changeup. Instead, guys are jamming the ball as far as they can in between their fingers which puts huge stress on the elbow. They put further stress on their elbows by throwing sliders that start way inside and end up outside. Jeez Kerry Wood had a slider that almost started behind hitters and broke way outside. In related news, Wood was never healthy after his 20 K game.

Strasburg throws a big slider. Limiting his innings doesn’t change the fact that it’s his pitches and not his workload that led to his Tommy John surgery. Maybe you limit his innings down the stretch so that he’s fresh for the playoffs. If I’m Strasburg, I’m counting down the days to when I can leave skid marks on my way out of town.

Sure, you’d like the Nats to pitch Stras for the rest of the season: that way, he blows his elbow out and doesn’t continue to terrorize Phillies hitting for the next decade.

Sorry, pal. Not buying the Kool-Aid you’re selling.

But I digress – nobody has said it yet, but the real crux of the Mazzone issue is: was he oscillating like an unheld orphan the whole time, or what? I can’t believe the Orioles let him go before he fixed their pitching staff. He was going to be their savior or something.

http://www.natsinsider.com/2012/08/boras-refutes-mazzone-on-strasburg-avery.html

The Nats are just taking the next logical step in what has been a slow evolutionary process.