Strasburg's debut

[backwardsk]

Stephen Strasburg made his debut with the Nats this afternoon and tossed 2 scoreless innings.

On the drive home, they had the pitching coach for the Nationals on. He was asked what the timetable for Strasburg to reach the majors was. He said that if it has been decided by management, it hasn't been relayed to him or Riggleman. He made it sound like the Opening Day roster wasn't out of the question. I seriously doubt that would happen, but I was surprised that he didn't flat out rule it out.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AualbXQLCNxU7p_BIA0giCc5nYcB?slug=ap-nationals-strasburgsdebut&prov=ap&type=lgns

[olehippi]

It wouldn't surprise me to see him on the opening day roster. The Nationals are desperate to put fans in the seats and having Strasburg on the team guarantees that happening every 5th day....at least until the novelty wears off, or he gets his socks knocked off by ML hitters.

[Can_of_corn]

It wouldn't surprise me to see him on the opening day roster. The Nationals are desperate to put fans in the seats and having Strasburg on the team guarantees that happening every 5th day....at least until the novelty wears off, or he gets his socks knocked off by ML hitters.

The amount of money from a few sellouts < the money saved by getting him for another year and even more money will be saved if they hold him back from super 2 status.

Also keep in mind he was up and down in the AFL, I think it would serve him well in the long run to spend the first half of the season in the minors even if he dominates. It will also be easier for the Nats to keep a tight handle on his innings.

[Mackus]

Their fans should revolt if they put him on the Opening Day roster, that'd be an incredibly stupid decision. Leave him down for 2, maybe 3 starts max, and you get an entire extra year of service time. I know the novelty and desire to see him is huge, and I bet he's pretty much ready right now, but 7 years minus 2-3 starts is definitely much better than 6 years. Especially when you've got a Boras client who will almost certainly not extend (and he's a pitcher anyway, so the risk is higher even if you could extend him, go the arb route and get 7 years control, not 6).

[NickM21]

I remember Scott Boras said Strasburg isn't the best college pitching prospect he's ever seen. I still can't imagine who he is refering to. He said it wasn't Prior either.

[O's84]

I remember Scott Boras said Strasburg isn't the best college pitching prospect he's ever seen. I still can't imagine who he is refering to. He said it wasn't Prior either.

Ben Mcdonald?

[Old#5fan]

Two scoreless innings is what you would expect out of him. It sure would be nice to see our top guys able to do that. (At least one of them anyway!)

[Frobby]

I saw the highlights, and he looked awesome. He's the best pitcher the Nats have right now. But I'd still keep him in the minors until Memorial Day to gain an extra year of service and avoid Super-2 status. It's not like the Nats are going to contend.

[ShaneDawg85]

Two scoreless innings is what you would expect out of him. It sure would be nice to see our top guys able to do that. (At least one of them anyway!)

Wait a minute. I thought spring training games were irrelevant? I thought it was better to get slumps out of the way before the season started? Boy the lack of consistency and hypocrisy is shocking to no one and staggering to all.

[Old#5fan]

Wait a minute. I thought spring training games were irrelevant? I thought it was better to get slumps out of the way before the season started? Boy the lack of consistency and hypocrisy is shocking to no one and staggering to all.

I don't know how many times I have pointed this out but I was speaking of the VETERANS getting their slumps and bad pitching out of the way. I also clearly said that prospects or guys trying to make the team need to do well, as they aren't experimenting or working on new things like some of the veterans are doing (especially pitchers).

To give you an example, I am fine with seeing Millwood get lit up in ST as he is tinkering around but I don't want to see the same thing from Matusz, Tillman, Arrieta, Bergenson, Hernandez, Mickolio, etc. They should be making a good impression not a Hayden Penn impersonation.

[backwardsk]

I don't know how many times I have pointed this out but I was speaking of the VETERANS getting their slumps and bad pitching out of the way. I also clearly said that prospects or guys trying to make the team need to do well, as they aren't experimenting or working on new things like some of the veterans are doing (especially pitchers).[/QUOTE]

Then why was Tillman only using two pitches in his first outing?

[Old#5fan]

I don't know how many times I have pointed this out but I was speaking of the VETERANS getting their slumps and bad pitching out of the way. I also clearly said that prospects or guys trying to make the team need to do well, as they aren't experimenting or working on new things like some of the veterans are doing (especially pitchers).[/QUOTE]

Then why was Tillman only using two pitches in his first outing?

I have no idea why he was only using two pitches in his first outing. Maybe he was told to do so by Kranitz. Maybe the weather had something to do with it. There are all sorts of reasons. Sometimes when a pitcher warms up he may have only two that are working that day or he feels comfortable with.

[backwardsk]

I have no idea why he was only using two pitches in his first outing. Maybe he was told to do so by Kranitz. Maybe the weather had something to do with it. There are all sorts of reasons. Sometimes when a pitcher warms up he may have only two that are working that day or he feels comfortable with.

Or they wanted him to work on his fastball location and didn't want him to rely on his full arsenal to get out of jams. In other words, he's working on things, just like Guthrie when he only used his slider once against the Red Sox.

[Old#5fan]

Or they wanted him to work on his fastball location and didn't want him to rely on his full arsenal to get out of jams. In other words, he's working on things, just like Guthrie when he only used his slider once against the Red Sox.

Maybe, but your guess that he is doing that isn't any more likely to be right than any number of reasons as I have shown (and there are more than that even).

[backwardsk]

Maybe, but your guess that he is doing that isn't any more likely to be right than any number of reasons as I have shown (and there are more than that even).

Or he was working on his fastball...

http://masnsports.com/2010/03/tillman-on-tillman.html