A National Nightmare?

[RickD]

The Washington Nationals are winning.

They currently have a 4 game lead in their division and, despite the bump in the road called the New York Yankees, don't appear to be slowing down.

Enter GM Mike Rizzo into the fray.

Before the season began, Rizzo declared that Stephen Strasburg would be on an inning limit this season. He declared a 160 inning cap for Strasburg who currently has 77 innings in the can.

As the Nats keep winning, there are fans concerned about the limit. Rizzo came out this week to say he will not talk about this issue any more. The cap is in place no matter how successful the Nats are this year.

This creates a few items of interest:

1. If you are Davey Johnson, do you protest the handicapping of your team?
2. Strasburg has an 8-1 record and a 2.45 era. I think it's safe to say he has recovered!
3. If the team makes the playoffs for the first time and your best pitcher is shut down, do you as a fan start hanging National officials in effigy?

Thoughts?

[soberdennis]

Personally, I hate placing limits on pitchers. I can see doing so in the short term when they are just coming back from injury. But pitch counts and innings limits were never in place for people like Spahn, Hunter, Marichal, and the like. Those guys had pretty fair careers that I don't think were shortened by not placing limits on them.

[yankeebiscuitfan]

It is the Nats' choice. If Johnson will limit Strassburg starts to 6 innings per game he can still start about 26/27 games (season total).

With the remaining 77 innings that would be about 12/13 starts remaining.

They should let the play offs out of this limit.

[RickD]

I just think, when your team is playoff bound, that it makes zero sense to cobble your best pitcher with a silly rule that could hamper heir playoff chances.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

If there gonna shut him down then they hopefully will be big buyers at the trade deadline to replace him. I would be irate if I was a fan and they lost out on the playoffs because of a goofy move like that.

[Mr. Baseball]

Strasburg is a grown man, he should be able to make his own decisions regarding his health.

[RickD]

Yes and No. He can say he is healthy but it is up to the team to use him or not. I know Davey Johnson has been accused of burning out pitchers before ("Doc" Gooden) via overuse. I just think capping a guy at 160 makes no sense. Especially when pitchers of old would go on until their arms fell off!

[soberdennis]

Could Cy Young have won 511 games only pitching 160 innings a year?
How about Walter Johnson and 416? Warren Spahn and 364?
The answer is obviously no. And each of the above pitched for over 20 years. Spahn threw two no hitters after the age of 40.
Again, it is one thing to limit a pitcher coming off an injury for a brief period of time. But IMO, Strasberg has already proven this year that he is fully recovered. The problem to begin with, IMO, is that they rushed him to the majors. Let him pitch. If the Nats make the playoffs, we would want to see the best team they can put out there, and that would definitely include Stephen Strasberg.

[RickD]

Agreed. Pitch count limitations are nuts. I understand an injury recovery period and even pulling a guy who doesn't perform but let a guy finish what he started IMO

[RickD]

John Smoltz came out with a unique idea for Strasburg to get around this issue:

His suggestion: Fake an injury and miss starts in July/August and to stay in the rotation in September, and possibly the postseason.

"Honestly, I know this is gonna sound, well, I'm a little bit different anyways," Smoltz, now a TBS analyst, told ESPN Radio's Scott Van Pelt today. "I'd create my own little gap. I'd have a blister one day, maybe a hangnail the next start. You know, I think there's ways to do it. And I get it — their statement is every game counts. Well, it does, but it doesn't count as much as in September.