Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo made it official Monday. With pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, the offseason is officially over. And Rizzo told reporters in Viera, Fla., what we already suspected: Ace pitcher Stephen Strasburg will not undergo any schedule changes to keep him in the rotation all season.
What does that mean? The big right-hander likely will be on the mound Opening Day on April 5 in Chicago. He will take his turn every fifth day provided he remains healthy, and when he hits his team-mandated innings limit — in the range of 150 to 160 innings, according to manager Davey Johnson — he will be shut down.
The same thing happened to Jordan Zimmermann last season. He, too, was entering his first full season after Tommy John surgery. But by the time late August rolled around, the Nats told him to pull up a seat on the dugout bench. They weren’t going to risk a young arm with a 200-inning season right out of the chute. It will be no different for Strasburg, who had his surgery just shy of 18 months ago.
Where this gets interesting is if Washington is in playoff contention in mid-to-late August. Because in that case the temptation would be enormous to keep Strasburg going. There are options. The Nats could start Strasburg in mid-April — essentially make the him the No. 5 starter initially — and then skip starts throughout the season. For example, if he pitches right before the All-Star break, then make sure he’s the last starter to go after the break, giving him around 10 days off. They did that with Zimmermann last season, too.
But to what end? Even if they squeezed the 160 innings so that Strasburg could pitch well into September, the club would have to go beyond its innings limit to throw him in the postseason anyway or shut him down for the most important games of all. In their opinion, all that starting and stopping would be just as stressful as pitching 200 innings anyway. Strasburg won’t like it, and his teammates will be distraught if they really are in contention. But the Nats have made their decision.
– Brian McNally
