Well, it’s happened; the first of many heart palpitations for the ever growing body of Nationals fans (I think they may be 50 or 60 now!). Stephen Strasburg is on the DL with “shoulder stiffness.” This move is the result of an MRI showing slight inflammation in Strasburg’s pitching shoulder. During his pregame warm up for his scheduled start on Tuesday, Strasburg said that he “couldn’t get warm. The Nationals shut him down immediately and slipped Miguel Batista into the starting role that night. Strasburg then went to get the MRI.
Saying a 22 year old professional pitcher has inflammation in his shoulder is like saying the sky is blue, or Cubs fans are masochists. Strasburg, though, as the prodigal son messiah Tim Tebowesque Moses descended from the baseball heavens meant to lead the Nationals to glory (but only after their stadium cracks in half and rebuilds itself three days later), must be protected.
Even before this, the front office made it clear Strasburg is on an innings limit this season. It includes his work from the minor leagues (55.1) and the majors, 54.1. The limit imposed on Strasburg is believed to be 150-160, so some people may argue that missing two starts on the DL might not be the worst thing.
The Nationals are not a great team, and Strasburg has already become the face of the franchise. He is a ray of light to all 45 of the season ticket holders in Washington. Well, him and Bryce Harper. The front office is well aware of the fans’ expectations of growing talent now that Strasburg is signed and pitching (no small feat considering he was the first pick and was being “advised” by Scott Boras). They cannot ruin his arm. Hence the total overkill when leaning towards safety.
The stories of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior are too fresh in the baseball fans’ memory for the Nationals to be too cavalier with Strasburg. He has a good frame, but he has a violent motion. A stint on the 15 day DL, though, especially in light of the fact that Strasburg said he felt great the next day, seems like overkill.
Thankfully, we have two days until the trade deadline, so what I anticipate won’t happen immediately, but it will happen. As always, there will be a fight about the treatment of starting pitchers. As always, the old timers will say that pitchers should finish what they start. The younger, more stat based minds in the game will discuss the clear decline for almost every pitcher after 100 pitches, and how our scientific understanding of what the body goes through has changed. I think this time, the fight might pack more punch.
I think that the perfect storm has been brewing. For one, this 15 day DL stint is embarrassing. But let’s look past that. You have the top pick in the draft making an immediate, record setting difference for a club that has as much of a pulse as Vice President Dick Cheney.
The Context:
1.Baseball’s "Savior"
Perhaps you’ve heard – baseball has taken a bit of an image hit over the past several years. I think it might have something to do with lower home run totals…no that can’t be it. The TV ratings for Strasburg’s pro debut were one of the highest of the season. He has us excited to watch baseball again. Only this time, the pitchers are having their day, and the fireballers capture our imagination. No one plays catch in his back yard and imagines himself a crafty soft tossing righty. (Though we might be better off for it if more kids wanted to pitch like Greg Maddux.) The kids imagine themselves as Nolan Ryan or John Lester; blowing people away with ease.
Strasburg is phenomenally exciting to watch. He has fans interested in pitching again. He throws fireballs, and his curve and changeup are so devastating even a layperson can tell that they are filthy. Strasburg gets people who aren’t baseball fans to watch and enjoy it. The Nationals’ front office feels tremendous pressure to protect one of baseball’s most prized assets.
Strasburg didn’t get a chance to stretch his arm out. The progression of the minor league organizations is designed to give players just out of high school and college to gradually get better, build schools, but also to slowly get used to a longer season.
Tom Glavine faced this same problem his rookie year. He felt some shoulder soreness and stiffness early on his first preseason in Bradenton. Johnny Sain, a roving pitching instructor for the Braves (and immortalized in Jim Bouton’s Ball Four as the best pitching instructor Bouton had ever had), told Glavine he wasn’t going to shut it down—he made Glavine ramp it up a little bit. Sain had Glavine throw long toss for the next ten days in a row. Glavine felt soreness the first few days, but he was pain free by the end of the sixth day. By the tenth, Glavine was throwing 50 throws from 120 feet. Glavine was pain free for the rest of the season.
The notion of a pitching coach recommending that now is laughable. The coach would fired, if not shot, on the spot.
2.Poor handling of pitching Assets.
Some front offices go so far out of their way to protect their pitching assets that they may have ruined them. I have all the respect in the world for the Yankees front office, but need to use them here as an example of “room for improvement.”
Pitchers are creatures of habit if they are starters, and need to have a defined role if they are relievers. Joba Chamberlain was lights out as a reliever in 2007.
Then, the front office messed with his role several times, having him prepare as a stater then making him a reliever. Then he prepared as a starter and WAS a starter, but they screwed with his starts in the last five weeks of the season. No wonder the kid has lost confidence. Now, after two years of being screwed with, he is back in the bullpen and his numbers are suffering.
This is not to say that Chamberlain would have continued to be as for sure lights out as he was in 2007. I do think, however, that it would be more likely had the Yankees had a defined role and path for Chamberlain from the beginning.
Given those troubles, the “certainty” that innings limits must be imposed is not as infallible as it seemed a year ago. The blue print must have, at the very least, a defined path for the asset, so the true value and potential of the asset can be reached.
3.A Decade of Dominance
When I think the 90’s, I think two things: Yankees and Braves. The old baseball adage that pitching wins championships, or good pitching beats good pitching, was never more evident as it was when the Braves were stringing together that incredible run of 14 straight division titles. Leo Mazzone developed Tom Glavine, Steve Avery and John Smoltz in those early years. Greg Maddux also credits Mazzone for Maddux’s continued success in those years and later too.
The Braves faced unending arm injuries in the late 80’s. In an organizational meeting, Mazzone, who was a pitching instructor in the lower levels, presented a novel approach to a pitching regimen. Rather than playing long toss once and having one bullpen, the pitchers would throw a little more, but with a little less edge. Each starter would pitch two bullpen sessions, one at around 70%, the other around 80%. This allowed them to keep their arm stretched and loose, but also strong. It also allowed them to focus on feeling the seams and moving the ball, not just hurling it in there.
Throughout the 90’s and into the 00’s, this program not only worked for the core of the Brave’s staff, it also helped to revive some pitchers’ careers. Jaret Wright enjoyed resurgence after signing a one year contract with the Braves. He swore by Mazzone’s approach.
4.Everything’s bigger in Texas
While much of the league compiles data, counts innings and pitches like CPAs and looks for new brilliant ways to be called too progressive for baseball, one of the greatest pitchers of all time is on the cusp of purchasing his old baseball team. Nolan Ryan and his pitching coach, Mike Maddux, each believe in a more old school approach.
In 2008, Texas’s starting rotation pitched the fewest innings in the majors. They needed to improve. Nolan and Maddux decided that starting in spring training, pitchers would have tremendous focus on running to build legs and long toss and live batting practice to build arm strength.
Power pitchers such as Ryan use their legs to “drop and drive”, providing much of the power, and taking some of the strain off the shoulder. Running sprints and poles helps to build leg strength to do that. Long toss, especially straight days, builds arm strength while allowing pitchers to work on different grips. Pitching live batting practice also helps build up arm strength.
As applied to the Texas Rangers, this program took the Rangers from the least innings pitched from a starting staff to one that competed in innings pitched, taking pressure off the bullpen and proving that the return to old conditioning could be successful too.
Given all of those factors, once the baseball world is done talking trades, I think it might ignite an interesting debate. You know the baseball world can’t go four says without obsessing over Strasburg.
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