For those of you who don't know or don't follow baseball, which will make this a difficult read, Stephen Strasburg is a 21-year-old pitching phenom for the Washington Nationals. There was a whole lotta hype when he made his major league debut June 8th against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He angered the Huffington Post because senators took a break from hammering out the extension of unemployment benefits, because they were to busy being caught up in watching baseball, more specifically, the most exciting major league debut in a long, long time. You see, all the experts told us that when Stephen Strasburg makes his debut, and begins mowing down big leaguers, we would finally understand why everyone was so focused on this kid. ESPN would halt all other programming to cut to a minor league game in some northeastern town somewhere, where the phenom was making a start, and we would witness the kid delivering some sick pitches, shutting peers at an alarming rate. But that was the minor leagues, what can the kid do in the bigs? Try a win, 14 strikeouts and zero walks in his major league debut. All very impressive, indeed. As I documented before, and if you clicked the link above, you would understand why my excitement was muddled a bit. It was the Pirates, which is MLB's minor league team anyway. So then he faced the Indians, and slapped them around as well. Let's not forget that a few weeks prior, young Armando Galarraga basically threw a perfect game against that weak ass line-up. Eight more strikeouts, a couple walks and another win later, we're all creaming our jeans over the kid.
The reason the kid don't stand a chance is not because the teams mentioned above which he played against, but the team mentioned above that he plays for. The first reason is that the Nationals play in the National League east, and I am biased because I am a Braves fan, whom is in that division, but included also in the division is the defending National League Champions in the Philadelphia Phillies, also the off and on powerhouses in the Marlins (two championships in 16 years of play) and the Mets (who I hate, but they're good sometimes.) The Nationals are the team on the outside, the other team in the division. Will the addition of a 21 year old phenom into their rotation fix all the other problems on the team when he only pitches once every five days? No sir, not right now. That isn't to say that the team won't go on to dominate the division in the near future, but if he actually played for Pittsburgh, in the weak Central division, he would stand a better chance, just for the lack of quality opponents.
The Nationals rank 23rd in opening day payroll, which means they don't exactly have the money to get talent to surround the kid. This problem of him being the only star on the team is not likely to change anytime soon, in my opinion. And if they don't win in the next few years, yet he continues to pitch the way he has in his first two starts, there is no chance the team will be able to retain his services. He will demand too much money for them to be able to afford to keep him on the roster. There are only a handful of other teams that will be able to afford the massive amounts of money he will demand.
Stephen Strasburg will look great in Yankee pinstripes. It's a dirty fact of the game. If not pinstripes, he will be playing with a green monster behind him.
So if Strasburg is really as good as they say he is, than the Nationals might be able to make some noise in the division. Maybe all the excitement will awaken the baseball atmosphere in the nation's capitol, and perhaps attendance will go up, then revenues go up, and then ability to land star players goes up, thusly making the team competitive...But it's doubtful. The team has always been bad. They were bad when they were the Expos and played in Stockholm. (just seeing if you were paying attention) And the reality is, Strasburg doesn't stand a chance in Washington. He got a no-decision against the White Sox this past Friday night, and his next start is against the near-town "rivals" the Baltimore Orioles, the worst team in baseball. (OriLOLs). After that he will have his first true test. A Tuesday night game on June 28th, at Turner Field, against the team with the best record in the National League.
The Atlanta Braves.
We're gonna crush the kid. Mark my words.
Here is the deal with a kid like Strasburg: if he can keep his mindset straight through the beatings he will take from Philly and Florida and the Braves and the Mets, then he stands to become an even better pitcher. Think of all the great talent that came out that of organization when they were losing in Montreal. Those guys - the Pedro's of the world - learned by facing great talent and watching great talent day in and day out. It's like being forged in the fire. And he will help the Nats, if it is only in the way Hershel Walker helped the Cowboys.
ReplyDeleteWord. I can agree with that. Pedro is a great example. But that also plays into what I'm saying. Pedro was eventually a great pitcher...for the Red Sox. He doesn't stand a chance in Washington.
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