For chrissake Rizzo. Call him up. Life is short. He's going to get old and retire at some point. You don't bench Michael Jordan. You don't put a Picasso in the basement. You're depriving the world of a cherished, special thing. Somewhere in DC, there's a lifelong baseball fan in a hospice who won't ever get to see Strasburg pitch if you wait another week. Call him up now. You'll have a better chance of getting into heaven.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
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You're depriving the world of a cherished, special thing.
Oh, the humanity! I'm pretty sure Harrisburg and Reading are still (loosely) part of the world. And Rizzo doesn't have to worry about getting into heaven. Phil scouted St. Peter, and he's slow going to his left.
I believe this may have something to do with your vested interest in the situation. To wit:
1) Scott Olsen, your personal nemesis, may be occupying his spot
2) It ain't your money
3) Will you be in town for the first start if it doesn't happen sooner rather than later?
Come on. Rizzo earned his wings by re-signing Livan.
As much as I (and every other Nats fan) want to see Strassburg pitch for the Nationals, I'm willing to leave the call to Rizzo and the rest of management. Our starting pitching is stabilizing for the moment and Livo isn't the only bright spot in the rotation anymore. I would much rather the team hover around the .500 mark and get the kid up in June sometime than rush him and any number of things happen. If we had a pitching staff full of Marquis-es(?) and Brunies, then I would be singing a different tune, but for right now, I'm fine with the way they're handling him.
Hahaha. I love how the only guy to reach base did it on a passed ball strike 3. I guess that's going to happen every once in a while when you're throwing 98 with movement.
I would love to hear an interview with one of our catchers about blocking his stuff.
The 5th spot in the rotation won't be needed again until May 8th vs Florida - at home. Which is also the 5th game out of 20 in a row between 5/4-5/23.
If Atilano struggles tonight I wouldn't be surprised to see Strasburg called up for that game then sent back for the COL & STL roadtrip (they can spot start someone else 5/13 & 5/18) then start him again (and keep him up for the rest of the year) 5/19 vs the Mets.
5th spot in the rotation? Strasburg is the #1. You move whoever you need to make room for him. We're not talking about breaking in Collin Balester. We're talking about one of the best pitchers on the planet. They're squandering precious days of a special career.
I think it's shitty that he is still in bumfuck PA...
Steven, are you absolutely gol-darn sure that if they called him up NOW to burn his remaining 130 professional innings for the season in the Show, then shut him down- that this has the same effect on his aribitration/FA clock as waiting until June 1 or whatever?
REALLY sure?
That just seems like a strange rule, that the clock can stop and start in segments.
FA is pushed back. I don't care about arb. But yes service time is cumulative, only counting the time a player is up. The clock doesn't run when the player is down. That's why Jay Bergmann isn't arb eligible yet, even though he first came up in 2005.
Let's all start being reasonable adults, recognize there is a "plan" (oh that dirty word!) for Strasburg and it means they aren't going to risk Super 2 status with him. So he's not coming to DC in the near-term.
So let's all start screaming about Strasburg moving to SYRACUSE. This is where he needs to be right now. Though I did find it interesting in some of the recent articles that Strasburg really is learning how to be a professional athlete, and that Storen is like his handler...
The biggest concern of the FO should be for his long-term arm health as he adjusts to a five day pitching schedule.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100417&content_id=9370438
Sure, money may be an issue, but everyone seems to zero in on the money and ignore what is best for Strasburg's development.
I was only commenting on what I think will happen, not what I think should (which would be to have him start Sunday in Florida).
Any request to call up Strasburg now is purely the result of absurd short term thinking.
The giants could have kept Lincecum in the minors for a few extra weeks; now they're on the hook to him for $8M this year and #13M next (instead of probably $800k this year and $10M next).
That's a LOT of money to a team with a $66M payroll; that's about $12M a season. That's a significant slugger or a #2 FA pitcher.
So, 4 years from now when he's still under our control and cost contained, we can say that the team did the right thing by keeping him in the minors a few more weeks. We're talking FIVE weeks at this point.
Lets all be honest with ourselves; 75 wins this year would be an ecstatic finish. There's no reason to leverage the future to get 2-3 extra wins in april of 2010.
That's why Jay Bergmann isn't arb eligible yet, even though he first came up in 2005.
Bergmann avoided arbitration by signing for $750K this past January.
I thought you were talking about Storen! Its relievers the Nats need, not starters.
Ask me again after Atilano gets blown off the mound this afternoon...
Sec314
@TPC--facts are stubborn things, aren't they. Thanks for the correction. Anyway, example was wrong, but the rule is what I said. Jason came up in 2005. Because he didn't stick, however, it took until this year to qualify. Cots has the details: http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/washington-nationals_01.html
@Todd Boss--The Nats are losing money, at least in DC, by keeping SS in the minors. Assuming attendance goes from 17k to 37k when he starts (reasonable assumption) and each xtra fan generates, say $100, that's roughly an extra $2 million per start. If he makes a half dozen starts in Syracuse, that's $12 million TODAY, not five or six years down the road. Rizzo is not blowing smoke when he says it's not about the money.
I've got a great way they can save money. Keep him in AA forever! They'll save millions!
Look, I've made the opposite argument many times. I was against calling up Zimmermann before June for this reason. Here's the difference. Zimmermann is good. Strasburg is a once in a generation talent. It's an embarrassment to baseball that teams do this with the very best most exciting players on the planet.
Agreed. While it's fun to watch SS blow away AA guys, I'd much rather see him in the show. The guy is going to make the club plenty of money. So what if he gets his next pay day sooner.
The Nationals are missing out on the “phenom” affect that might be generated by Strasburg pitching, aka, Strasburg mania, similar to Valenzuela and Gooden. Another affect by holding him out will be that it will make it much harder for him to win ROY or possibly a Cy Young. I know these are only personal accomplishment but being ROY is a type of baseball immortality and it is a feather in the cap for the Nationals organization.
Look I don’t want to rush him to the big leagues or burn out his arm but clearly he has nothing to gain by pitching in AA. We are now only talking about his arbitration years and by then most likely he will have signed a long term contract and it will be difficult to tell how much money was saved because Scott Boras is his agent. Let the kid pitch at the level that he is able to perform well at, you can limit his innings but the experience he gains at that level will be invaluable to him in the future. As for the Lincecum comparison yes he was brought up early and the Giants lost out on a year of control, however he did win back to back Cy Young’s after that so I think the experience he gained was well worth it.
I have to say, flippin's math makes a lot more sense than saving 8 mill in the arbitration process. On top of which, flippin's numbers are quite conservative. The Nats have dropped below 12,000 tickets this year multiple times, so a starting point of 17,000 fans might be high. They will make up that difference in 4 MLB starts max... Also, the Nats could lock him up through his arbitration years the way the Giants did with Lincecum to guarantee costs in that process. It won't be cheap, but as long as Strasburg stays healthy, nothing will be cheap no matter what they do. The fans have to stop worrying about how much Strasburg will cost because he will generate more money than he costs without question through the arbitration process (again, as long as he stays healthy). Now the profit margin for his contract after the arbitration years is a differnt story...
Apparently, SS is not helping Harrisburg...
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-12/harrisburg-authority-will-miss-may-1-payment-on-2002a-bonds.html
From what I understand, Strasburg's contract restricts him to 100 ML innings this year. Heyman reported it here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_heyman/04/28/pujols.contract/index.html?eref=writers
It's near the end. It says "permits" 100 innings, but the context suggests that he means Strasburg is restricted to 100 innings.
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