Running 2011 Baseball Thread, Vol. I: Dedicated to spnited

Meh. We're talking about No. 3 and No. 4 starters behind two stoppers. You're not going to get big-timers there unless you reside in Philadelphia, maybe San Francisco.

 

Whether he pitches tonight or not, Strasburg is off the DL a mere 368 days after Tommy John surgery. Everyone's impressed except hondo, who still thinks he's a kitty cat for not knowing the arm is a muscle that needs to be used.

 

I'm impressed. Hell, I'm a fan.

On the other hand, I know that this surgery appears to be such a sure thing these days that teen-agers with healthy arms have it done early on to get it out of the way. And a LOT of them are coming back as strong, if not stronger, than ever.

 

I think Tim Hudson came back in about the same amount of time. He made a few starts late in the 2009 season and was pretty much back to normal by 2010.

Here's hoping Strasburg's return is as smooth.

 

I do know that the Nationals are going to continue to treat him like a china doll next year, and their fan base's patience is going to run just a little bit thin by then.

I can't recall who pointed it out, but Gooden had four killer seasons by the time he was Strasburg's age now. The kid only has one career, and it's time to get on with it. He's not going to get another year at the age of 42 because he shut down early at the age of 23.

Let him pitch.

 

Davey Johnson said years ago that someone high up in the organization ordered Gooden's delivery changed to better keep runners in check, and that he never had the same movement after that.

 

And he blew his shoulder out at age 24.

 

Couple weeks back, SI had an article on Trevor Bauer and how he refuses to baby his arm. He plays long toss a day after he starts, etc.

It cost him in the draft, but some teams are starting to buy in to that philosophy, to strengthen the arm, instead of babying it.

To be honest, it's probably best taken on a case-by-case basis. Some arms and bodies can handle it, some might not.

 

Beckett is great but he's more delicate than fine china. He's 31 w/three 200-inning, 30-start seasons under his belt and always seems to be one pitch away from the 15-day DL. He's probably not going to get more durable as he gets older.

 

And Strasburg's had his blowout. If he has another, he's prone to it.

At some point, pitcher gotta pitch. Stretch out.

 

Before we entirely blame Davey Johnson, let's remember a.) Doc's conditioning surely wasn't helped by all the cocaine he ingested and b.) it was a different time. Gooden threw 218 innings as a 19-year-old rookie, 276.2 innings as a 20-year-old in 1985 and more than 248 innings three times in four years from 1985-88. Justin Verlander, pretty much the standard for hard-throwing durability these days, didn't reach 218 IP until his fourth full season and might reach 248 IP for the first time this season. CC Sabathia has thrown 248 innings once, and that was the crazy 2008 when he was the Brewers' horse down the stretch.

Point is Strasburg is years from throwing well over 200 IP, if ever. It's a baseball thing, not a Strasburg thing.

 

And that's the bottom line. They're never going to let him be the workhorse that Strasburg himself has said he wants to be.