Screen grab via Nats Enquirer
LOL.
Not a big laugh out loud guy, as I generally prefer a good haha or a snarky witticism to convey a hearty chuckle. But, sometimes a good ol' LOL just fits. Like a new pair of boxer briefs before they get all stretched out and shit (from my huge dong, of course) and turn into nothing but homoerotic-looking shorts.
Anyway, that strange lede aside, I’m laughing at the Washington Nationals. Again.
I think shutting Stephen Strasburg down was moronic. But, until this week, I didn’t really care, since it didn’t appear like it would affect the Phillies in any way, shape or form. Now, however, it might, and I’d literally get off on the Phils beating the Nats in the deciding game of a playoff series that could have been pitched by Strasburg.
The Nationals’ reasoning for shutting him down, they say, is to save his arm following Tommy John surgery. That’s great and all, but as this excellent Grantland article points out, it’s more likely that the Nats shut Strasburg down to prevent him from suffering a fate similar to that of Kerry Wood or Mark Prior– overuse at a young age which led to injuries. The problem with that thinking is that baseball – with pitch counts, late-innings specialists, and the general coddltry (word?) of starting pitchers – has likely already saved pitchers, like Strasburg, from throwing their arms off. And even if the Nats were shutting Strasburg down solely because he’s coming off Tommy John surgery, that, too, would be silly– the procedure generally strengthens the elbow, and if Strasburg was healthy all season, there’s no reason to think his arm wouldn’t be as strong (or stronger) than the next guy’s. So, it’s dumb. The Nats are saving Strasburg for the future, even though their future is now. Like, literally right now. RIGHT FUCKING NOW, YOU GUYS.
Oh well. Their loss.
Today their handling of the situation became even more hysterical, as Strasburg’s doctor – the surgeon who performed his Tommy John surgery – says he hasn’t spoken to Nats GM Mike Rizzo or Strasburg in, like, months. Go, LA Times:
The doctor who performed elbow surgery on Stephen Strasburg said he did not tell the Washington Nationals to shut down their ace pitcher.
“I wasn’t asked,” Dr. Lewis Yocum told the Los Angeles Times.
Yocum said he had not talked with Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo since last year and had not talked with Strasburg since spring training.
Yocum said that, had he been asked, he would not have been able to provide conclusive information about whether Strasburg’s long-term health would be best served by shutting him down.
“There’s no statistic as far as studies,” Yocum said.
Soooo… the Nationals, who have the best record in Major League Baseball, and who will jump through hoops and do dog and pony tricks just to sell a few extra tickets, didn’t even take five minutes to call a doctor to check and see if shutting down their best pitcher before entering the playoffs with the league’s best record was a necessary step. LOL.
via (@dcsportsbog)
The Sox are throwing Chris Sale because who the hell knows when they’ll be back in this position? It’ll be a real kick in the dick if they don’t get back to the playoffs for a good long time and they wasted their chance by leaving their best arm on the bench.
Doctors can only tell whether an arm is healthy or not – they cannot predict injuries from overuse.
They shut him down for one reason: Scott Boras told them to shut him down and threatened that he would never sign with them if they didn’t comply.
i gotta agree with hawkfan. i bet that has some legitimacy to it. boras is an asshat.
Imagine how pissed he would be if his team won the WS & he wasn’t allowed to pitch
You have shit in your boxer briefs? Gross.
Read the LA Times story for the facts on this, not the selective summary of out-of-context quotes.
As for the Phillies playing the Nats in the postseason this year — keep dreaming. It’s cute.
Hawkfan has a point. But then, Boras was going to have Strasburg hit free agency, then sign a megadeal with the Yankees regardless.
No Cosmo, you’re an idiot
He won’t have to worry about playing in the World Series, nor will the rest of his team.
Nationals will go out in the first round anyway.
There’s no guarantee whatsoever that the gNats can or will “contend for years”. You never what will happen in the future, arms might break down, talent might go south, young players might get full of themselves and bolt to the first team that offers them the closest thing to a blank check when they get free agency. For all we know, Washington could be nothing more than a one season wonder and be back in the NL East basement NEXT year, they need to go for it all right now, and that’s why their decision to shut down Strasburg makes no sense.
The Nationals need to watch themselves. They’re this season’s 2011 Phillies, barely had to fight for a damn thing all year.
If *knock on wood* the Phillies turn out to be this season’s 2011 Cardinals, they’ll be heading into game 163 and *knock on wood again* the playoffs full throttle. Whether the Phillies win or lose, they won’t be obliterated by dumb shenanigans the way they’ve been in every postseason since 2009.
The Nationals have been playing great baseball this year, not taking anything away from that, and if their management and front office weren’t so arrogant and douchey, I would be following them (NOT fanboying them) with a great deal of interest. I’m just wondering if this Nationals team really has it in them to win even one short series.
And if *knock on wood yet again* the Nationals meet the September 2012 Phillies for the division series, they might not know what hit them. Or even if they meet the Cardinals, who are suddenly fighting for their lives against the Phillies, Dodgers, Brewers, and Pirates (not necessarily in that order yet) for a chance to face the Braves for the winner-take-all game 163.
The headline of this post is misleading. They consulted several doctors actually. They are 4-1 without Strasburg. Lannan did well last night and will suffice the next two weeks. Not too worried about it. Would be nice to have Strasburg in there during the playoffs but what can you do. It’s over and he’s out. Time to move forward.
And LOL at the Boras conspiracies. Of course he wants Strasburg benched. His job is to protect his client so he can make as much money as possible.
I do agree if the Phillies can sneak into the playoffs, that’s trouble for the Nats, and every team for that matter. Phillies are hot and could easily go deep. In a classic twist of fate though, my prediction is the Phillies are eliminated by losing to the Nats that very last series in DC.
I applaud the nats for doing the right thing with this kid.
Hey, douche Kyle, shouldn’t you cover the followup?
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-strasburg-yocum-nationals-shutdown-20120913,0,5407151.story
By Bill Shaikin
September 13, 2012, 3:08 p.m.
The doctor who performed elbow surgery on Stephen Strasburg said Thursday he has worked with the Washington Nationals on the rehabilitation strategy that led the team to shut down the pitcher last week.
Dr. Lewis Yocum had told the Los Angeles Times that he “wasn’t asked” by the Nationals about whether to shut down Strasburg and had not discussed the subject with General Manager Mike Rizzo since last year.
On Thursday, Yocum clarified his comments by saying he and the Nationals — as well as Strasburg and his agent, Scott Boras — had agreed last year that the team would limit Strasburg’s innings this season. Over the course of this year, Yocum said, he has spoken with Rizzo and the Nationals’ medical staff but has left to the team the decisions about how and when to shut down Strasburg.
Yocum and Rizzo spoke on Aug. 13, as Strasburg approached his innings limit. The Nationals ended Strasburg’s season after his Sept. 7 start.
Yocum said he stands behind the Nationals’ decision to shut down Strasburg.
Rizzo declined to comment.
Yocum also issued the following statement:
“I would like to correct the misimpression generated from today’s L.A. Times article, that I have not been a participant in discussions with the Washington Nationals regarding the recovery strategy for pitcher Stephen Strasburg. In fact, I have been contacted repeatedly and have had numerous discussions with the Nationals GM Mike Rizzo and the team’s medical personnel, as recently as mid-August. While the final decision was up to the team, as is standard practice, I was supportive of their decision and am comfortable that my medical advice was responsibly considered.”
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… It is interesting that the Nats keep daeling with this particular problem. Once is a coincidence; twice a problem; three times a pattern. Is it something that develops after the Nats sign them (i.e., coaching) or (as an earlier poster asked) is it a high-risk, high- reward draft strategy? He will be pitching competitively by next season (albeit, in the minors), right? Next full season 2014? February 28, 2012 10:24 AM It is a coincidence but the diagnosis or flawed diagnosis or difference of opinion is a bigger set-back to the inevitable. Non-operative alternatives are done all the time for non-pitchers. This young man’s profession is PITCHER.Why can’t this team get it right the first time. The test where they shoot the Gadolineum dye into the elbow is 100% accurate if read properly. I don’t get how you blow the call on this. The call to go home and ice it and take 1600ml of Motrin doesn’t make this better for this situation.This team needs a standardized procedure. The Gadolineum dye is conclusive as it will show what you can’t see on the MRI sometimes. Some cases are clear cut and I suppose Solis wasn’t, but if you do the procedure in November, he is fully ready for Spring Training next year and that’s the bigger issue here.
As long as Rizzo and Co. wish to be in denial about the more rneect research in the biomechanics of pitching, they will continue to have to stall the careers of their young pitchers.They seem to think that it’s all about ‘pitch count’—and it isn’t. As a result, they fritter around and pretend they know what they are doing with their phoney interpretation of medical data. Solis will probably come back and continue on the trail of a promising career, but at what cost??Rick Petersen, is only one professional advocate of the more advanced understandings of pitching mechanics, but it’ll be interesting to see how young talent in the Orioles organization progresses in comparison to the Nats. The Rays also seem to be on the right track with their pitching talent.Rizzo seems to have scouting and signing down pat; now he needs to get the rest of the picture.
The nats need to get all their pitchers evaaeltud at asmi so they can have thier mechanics checked.the O’s just hired rick peterson(works for asmi).They put sensors on the joints and find out the amount of tourque each pitcher puts on thier arm.the also have proven a pitchers velocity comes from thier hip rotation in their delivery.Also the pitchers who throw with an inverted w have signifigantly higher levels of external rotation(bad) in their arm during thier delivery.All the o’s pitchers are now doing the biomechanical evaluations.The rays and brewers also do this as well