Why Washington Fans Shouldn’t Worry About Shutting Down Strasburg



(Alex Brandon / AP)        

By Carlos Collazo | @CarlosCollazo__

How’s it going guys? Man it’s been a while since I have managed to write anything about baseball and let me tell you; it’s good to be back. For those of you who don’t know (probably a large number of you), I have just recently moved into college. I have been getting my dorm set up, getting accustomed to classes, eating a lot of food, and getting my internet set up. That last little part turned out to be extremely cumbersome, but I have some great tech guys around here to help me out.

Regardless of all of my issues, I’m back and, more importantly, ready to talk some baseball.

Today’s column—which is actually my first column for the Daily Site—is going to cover one of the best teams and one of the best pitchers in baseball. If you haven’t already deduced from the title, it is Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals of Washington.

The Nationals are 77-47 so far during the season, helped out significantly by Strasburg and his 15-5 record in 25 starts. So, clearly he is a good pitcher right? He’s got a lot of wins and not a lot of losses, so he must be. If you know me then you know that I don’t put too much stock in Wins and Losses for pitchers (say hello, Felix). I like to look a little bit deeper.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that most of you know about Stephen Strasburg and are aware that he is an elite pitcher. We won’t need to analyze all of his advanced stats because there is no real need. He is good, we know he is good, and we know why he is good. He throws ridiculously hard, has a ridiculous curve ball, and a ridiculously cool beard to top it off (the high socks he normally wears can’t hurt either).

Lucas Giolito Will Likely Need Tommy John Surgery

 

By Jim Pratt | @BigLeaguesMthly

On the Wednesday morning edition of The Mike Rizzo Show, the Washington Nationals general manager confirmed that Lucas Giolito would likely need Tommy John surgery.

(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

During his appearance on 106.7 The Fan in Washington, Rizzo said, "It looks like he is going to need Tommy John surgery. He's seen our medical people. We're going to give him a second medical opinion. Dr. Lewis Yocum is going to see him this week some time and we anticipate that he will have Tommy John and if and when he does, it will be done by Lew Yocum. We'll have a rehabilitation schedule in place the same as we've had with Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg and Sammy Solis and in a year he'll be a young 19-year-old guy that's come off Tommy John surgery and will begin his ascent up the minor league system."

Giolito, the 16th overall pick in the June draft, appeared in only one game for the Gulf Coast League Nationals before reporting soreness in his right elbow.