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Should the Washington Nationals really sit Stephen Strasburg?

The short answer? No. I understand Washington's concern with allowing their young ace - Stephen Strasburg, who's coming off Tommy John surgery, to throw more innings than was recommended. However, who knows if/when the Nationals will again have this kind of opportunity to not only make the playoffs, but to have home-field advantage throughout (including the World Series, since the National League won the All-Star game)? This is a young club who has never made to the playoffs before. With a large lead over second-place Atlanta in the National League East, the Nationals will likely win the division with or without Strasburg playing the rest of the season. However, what about the playoffs? Are they really going to sit their ace in the playoffs? I also think it'd be a mistake to sit Strasburg in the regular season (maybe skip one start) and play him in the playoffs, because he'd likely be rusty to a certain extent.

Just look at Strasburg's numbers for the season. He's been limited to an average of just under 95 pitches per start. In those starts, he's gone 145.1 innings, allowed 119 hits, walked 43 batters while striking out 183. He's 15-5 on the season, with a 2.85 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and .224 batting average against. If he kept this up, he'd end up going 20-7 in 189.1 innings.

The Nationals are just two games up on Cincinnati for the top seed in the playoffs and home-field advantage throughout. While I can understand Washington management's perspective, in trying to make certain that their young star pitcher's career isn't a short one due to injuries, I think that sitting him for part of the regular season and especially the playoffs would be doing a disservice to the team, the city and Strasburg. I can all but guarantee you if you asked Stephen Strasburg - "Would you prefer that you sit out the end of the regular season and playoffs or to play through?" he would emphatically answer in the affirmative.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/30373/stephen-strasburg
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