I don't know if this kid can continue to dominate like this for a whole career, but he was pretty good tonight. It gives Washington fans something to look forward to, and they haven't had that for many years.
One thing to remember- If not for the Pittsburgh Pirates domination over the Cubs, they would be the worst team in the National League. Even with all their wins over the Cubs, they are only 1 game better than the worst team in the NL. They have the worst team batting average in the major leagues, and have scored the fewest runs of any team in the NL. Strasburg looked pretty good tonight, and I think he is for real, but let's see how he does against some of the better teams.
The Nats are in last place with a 28-31 record - and their worst starter has only 1 win in 12 starts....
Had this kid Strasburg been in the starting rotation to start the season, then quite possibly he might have 6-8 wins.
The Nationals' record would then be maybe 34-25, they'd be in first place and possibly the best team and best record in the NL.
So why was he wasting time in the minors??![]()
The Nats are in last place with a 28-31 record - and their worst starter has only 1 win in 12 starts....
Had this kid Strasburg been in the starting rotation to start the season, then quite possibly he might have 6-8 wins.
The Nationals' record would then be maybe 34-25, they'd be in first place and possibly the best team and best record in the NL.
So why was he wasting time in the minors??![]()
The Nats are in last place with a 28-31 record - and their worst starter has only 1 win in 12 starts....
Had this kid Strasburg been in the starting rotation to start the season, then quite possibly he might have 6-8 wins.
The Nationals' record would then be maybe 34-25, they'd be in first place and possibly the best team and best record in the NL.
So why was he wasting time in the minors??![]()
With your ;-) emoticon, you probably know the answer,but just in case it involved $$$$$$$$$$$ and free agency in the future. I don't have time to find a legitimate link, but this link pretty much sums things up the way I understand the situation. Besides, the Nationals weren't expected to go anywhere this year.
"As with many things in life, the short answer is easy: money.
Baseball players become eligible for free agency when they have accumulated 6.00 or more years of Major League service with a team. This is based on the number of days on the major league roster (or disabled list). You can accumulate six years of service in a six years span, or you can bounce up and down for twenty years and never reach this threshold.
There is one wrinkle to this ??“ if you send a player to the minor for less than 20 days, he still gets credit for the entire season. Send him to the minors for 21 days, and he gets credit only for his actual time served.
If you aren??™t grasping the significance yet, it??™s this: if you can keep a guy??™s service time at 5.9 years instead of 6.0 years, you delay his free agency by a year ??“ saving quite a bit of money on the 7th year.
The point of having Strasburg start the season in the minors, then, is to delay his free agency eligibility until after the 2016 season."
http://www.observingcasually.com/why-did-stephen-strasburg-get-sent-to-the-minors/
ha - I have never been a Cubs fan and haven't watched them since the Ryne Sandberg days..
just one other thought...
judging talent in all other sports is far more precise...
virtually NO NBA player or NFL player is ever a star if he was picked outside the 1st round...(or so..)
but kids picked in the 50th round and even kids that weren't drafted frequently become stars in MLB - and the opinions vary widely - but one is that some kids' career are ruined in the minor leagues -- just ask ex-Brave Eddie Mathews...
A couple of thoughts. While it's true Strasburg was going up against the Pirates that was still impressive. 14 k's with no walks and less than 100 pitches in 7 innings is nothing to sneeze at. His fastball is electric and his curveball is as good as Marmal's slider. Baseball experts are already comparing him to Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez. I remember reading an article on him a few years ago and Tony Gwynn, who was his coach at San Diego State, took batting practice against him and said he was as good as any pitcher he ever faced. Apparently Washington is going to try and limit how many innings Strasburg pitches this year so he's not overworked. I'll be curious to see if they stick to that if Washington is still in the race in September.