Would you shut Strasburg down?

[Hornsby]

This is a guy who has a potential half a billion in earnings for his career if he stays healthy, and the best way to do it is to listen to what the doctors say they SHOULD do to protect him. No complaints about how they handled Zimmerman last year, but suddenly because the playoffs are in the picture, they should change their plan? Now THAT would be stupid. And the best way to get him to be a Nat for life is to make sure that he understands that you have his best interests in mind, no matter what the situation.

[chancellor]

As a bor-ass client, no shot he is with the Nats in a few years unless they pay a crazy price so why waste a rare playoff run opportunity ?

Huh? These aren't the Oakland A's we're talking about here...the Nationals have a ton of cash and have shown to be willing to spend it. Plus, in their division, it's going to take the Mutts and Phillies 3-6 years to rebuild from the mess they've made for themselves, and the Marlins management blows up their club every time the price starts to go up, so I expect the Nationals will be in playoff runs a lot in the next half dozen years.

[wannabegriffey]

Huh? These aren't the Oakland A's we're talking about here...the Nationals have a ton of cash and have shown to be willing to spend it. Plus, in their division, it's going to take the Mutts and Phillies 3-6 years to rebuild from the mess they've made for themselves, and the Marlins management blows up their club every time the price starts to go up, so I expect the Nationals will be in playoff runs a lot in the next half dozen years.

Nothing is a given and if the player says he wants to pitch (which he is saying publicly), you have a shot at the world series, and the guy feels fine, let him pitch.

[Don Quixote]

I suspect that a lot of the "they're right to shut him down" supporters here would be singing a different tune if he pitched for their team. This guy is one of the best pitchers in the game, not a Josh Beckett.

[madducks]

Yeah, i reluctantly agree that shutting him down is the right thing to do. Two of his last three starts (both vs. Miami) were bad. So, he may have been showing early signs of fatigue. And that is when the risk for injury is greater. Too bad he just missed 200 strikeouts. But, the 197 k's and 15 wins are nice totals.

The Nats still have a very good playoff rotation with Gonzalez, Zimmerman, Jackson, and Detwiler. Strasburg will be thankful for being shut down after he wins the NL Cy Young next season and becomes the first pitcher to get a $200m contract.

[Don Quixote]

As a bor-ass client, no shot he is with the Nats in a few years unless they pay a crazy price so why waste a rare playoff run opportunity ?

In fact, I think this is one in the dumbest decisions I have ever seen in the world of sports.

While I disagree with the decision, I don't think it qualifies as one of the dumbest. There have been so many dumb ones...