Kuzul

Somehow, I saw this coming. It wasn’t what I was hoping would happen, but I just had a feeling this kind of news was coming.

Today, it did come. Brent Gambill, an executive producer of MLB Network Radio, is reporting that former San Diego State standout, and the first overall pick of the Washington Nationals in the 2009 Amateur Draft, Stephen Strasburg, will undergo Tommy John surgery.

Gambill, via Twitter, says the team will get a second opinion before going ahead with the surgery, which would be performed by the same doctor who did the surgery for Jordan Zimmermann.

At the beginning of the 2010 MLB season, there was a lot of talk about Strasburg being brought up to the big leagues after a short stint in the minor leagues. It wasn’t something I was keen on. In fact, I was opposed to the youngster being thrown into the fire so soon after his college career.

He had never faced the kind of hitters he’d faced in college and wouldn’t be used to the kind of grind that is required in the major leagues. He had already gone on the disabled list once this season, and when it was reported that he was put on the DL again, most knew something was wrong.

Though there were those who wanted to be big shots and tell the young right-hander to “suck it up and pitch,” it was revealed in an MRI this morning that he had a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm. That’s not something a pitcher “just pitches through.”

While it hasn’t been decided officially by the Nationals if or when their star will undergo surgery, it seems like it’s the only option with this kind of an injury.

William Ladson, who covers the Nationals for MLB.com, says Strasburg knew about the possibility of Tommy John surgery last night but did not want to make an announcement until today.

This surgery isn’t a stranger to Major League Baseball. It’s one that’s been performed on several pitchers over the years.

However, it’s a surgery that normally keeps pitchers out of baseball, even from throwing at all, for more than six months. Sometimes, depending on the severity of the injury, it could take a full year before a pitcher is back at full strength.

This is the first time the young pitcher will undergo this surgery, and you have to believe that he will lose a lot of velocity on his fastball, the velocity that made him the first overall pick in last year’s draft.

It’s not known just how this is going to affect Strasburg and the rest of his career. If he goes under the knife to have the ligament repaired, it will be a long road to recovery, but it’s a road the Nationals need to take very seriously.

They brought him up too soon, and now they’re paying the price for it. They should have shut him down long ago, especially since they were so far out of the race. They have no one to blame but themselves.

They had nothing to play for, but ticket sales were up when he pitched, so they kept running him out there.

I’m not saying the Nationals or their management mishandled Strasburg. But I do believe they might have rushed him through the minor leagues too soon because of all the hype that surrounded him.

I understand that fans get excited about a player like this, as they are already excited about their second No. 1 overall pick in Bryce Harper and want to see him in a Nationals’ uniform soon, but rushing a player is a risk that a lot of teams take. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it backfires like it has here.

SI.com’s Jon Heyman spoke to a friend of Strasburg’s who said the pitcher will be back for the 2012 season as good or better than he is now.

We know he will at least miss the entire 2011 season, according to that information. You have to wonder if this could have been avoided.

I have no doubt that the young right-hander will work as hard as he can to come back from this injury and be stronger for it. He’ll learn the hard way what it takes to keep his arm in shape.

Who knows, maybe this was the best thing for him. Not to go under the knife, but to learn just what it takes to perform at the highest level of baseball, all while staying as healthy as he possible can.

How or when he comes back is something we’ll have to wait and see. Maybe, by the time he’s ready to return to the starting rotation, Bryce Harper may be close to making his debut. Though that’s a little unlikely at this point.

Strasburg is a talented young pitcher with a bright future ahead of him. This might be a hard lesson, but one that may help him throughout his career.

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Just when things were beginning to look up for the Washington Nationals it is being reported (via twitter) on ESPN 980 in Washington D.C. that Stephen Strasburg has a significant ligament tear in his right elbow and may need Tommy John surgery.

Tommy John surgery or ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction is where a ligament in the elbow is replaced by a tendon from the patient’s forearm.

In the past this would almost spell the end of a pitching career or hamper it.

However, the full recovery rate from this surgery is now between 85 and 92 percent.

That is indeed good news for Strasburg and the Nationals, but the bad news is that full recovery takes about one year.  So any hopes of a Strasburg-lead run at the postseason might have to be put off until 2012.

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On Tuesday night, some friends and I went out to celebrate our friend Carrie’s birthday.

Actually, when we celebrate her birthday it’s usually a dual celebration. My birthday is the next day (yesterday), so the night always turns into a fun night.

During the night’s festivities, I was talking to Mark, our resident Brit and our friend Jen’s new husband. We started to get into a conversation about sports because the New York Mets and Florida Marlins game was on the big screen at the bar.

He was talking about soccer, rugby, cricket, and other sports myself and most other Americans could really care less about. Then we got to the topic of baseball.

He was having a hard time understanding what attracted people to the game because the pace is very slow and the action could be few and far between. My response is that there is action on every pitch, it just depends on what you as a fan appreciate more—offense or pitching.

Now, trying to explain the art of pitching to someone who doesn’t understand the game of baseball is a useless endeavor, though if we had sat down yesterday to watch some baseball, I could have shown him the beauty of baseball from two different perspectives.

Yesterday, we saw a slugfest in both San Francisco and Colorado and we saw a solid pitcher’s duel in Washington.

The Colorado Rockies overcame a nine-run deficit to beat the Atlanta Braves 12-10. It was an old-fashioned, straight from the mid-90s offensive explosion in Colorado.

Todd Helton (3-for-5), Seth Smith (2-for-4 with a HR), and Carlos Gonzalez (2-for-4 with a walk) led the comeback for the Rockies. And the Rockies by the way, are only four games back of the Wild Card race. Here they come again.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Ryan Dempster and Jason Marquis engaged in a solid pitcher’s duel in Washington.

For seven innings, Dempster and Marquis matched each other goose egg for goose egg.

The game had action, but in a different way.

The game featured two pitchers who don’t have overpowering stuff, but both were keeping hitters off balance and making solid pitches when it mattered most.

The Cubs eventually broke through in the eighth to beat the Nationals 4-0.

Yesterday was another great example of why people like me love baseball. Every game offers something different, but offers aspects that everyone can appreciate.

Once you can figure out what aspect of the game you want to appreciate, then you will fall in love with the game of baseball. Even if you are British.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @theghostofmlg

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Remember the last time a loud-mouth, no-talent jackass from Cincinnati decided to make scarce from this franchise?

When Dibble “resigns” do you think he’ll blame the media? Either way, Zuckerman might have to update that list of the best days in franchise history.

Nats Announcer Dibble Requested Time Off

WASHINGTON (AP)

Washington Nationals announcer Rob Dibble will take some time off two days after making comments critical of rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

MASN spokesman Todd Webster said Dibble would not work Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs and is ”taking a few days off.” Webster said Dibble requested the time off, but did not say whether the absence was related to the comments about Strasburg.

Dibble on Monday lashed out at the young pitcher, who has been placed on the disabled list twice in the last month. Dibble said on Sirius XM Radio that ”You can’t have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow.”

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The announcement was made yesterday that Nationals rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg is once again heading to the disabled list with a forearm strain.

After going on the disabled list in late July with an inflamed right shoulder, Strasburg was making just his third start since returning from that injury when he was pulled with the forearm injury.

With so many over-hyped, can’t miss prospects flaming out in the last few seasons, one has to wonder: Is Strasburg the next Hall of Fame hurler, or is he heading for an injury-shortened career that falls far short of expectations?

Why He Is the Next Great Pitcher

The fact of the matter is, the Nationals have nothing to play for right now, and they have no reason not to be overly cautious with a hefty investment such as Strasburg. This could simply be a matter of the Nationals making it clear to him that he is to tell them whenever something does not feel right, regardless how minor it is.

It is important to note that these are unrelated injuries, and there is no reason to think that something like a forearm strain will not be cleared up and no longer an issue after his 15 days are up.

The fact of the matter is, when Strasburg has been healthy, he has been nothing short of amazing and has lived up to the hype. With a sparkling ERA of 2.91 and his as advertised repertoire of pitches racking up 12.2 K/9, he has shown that he can dominate since his 14-strikeout debut.

The Nationals are an up-and-coming team and should be on their way to playing competitive baseball within the next few seasons.

With a solid core of players like Ryan Zimmerman, Josh Willingham, Nyjer Morgan, Ian Desmond, Tyler Clippard, and Drew Storen among others, and fellow phenom Bryce Harper heading up one of the better minor league systems in baseball, the Nationals will certainly be a fun team to watch in the years to come.

Why He Is the Next Epic Flop

While the forearm injury is most likely nothing serious, the earlier shoulder injury is a concern, as there may be no bigger red flag for a hard-throwing pitcher than a shoulder problem.

Strasburg seems to have smooth enough mechanics, but the same was said about the effortless way in which Mark Prior pitched, and he is perhaps the most epic flameout of all-time.

Looking closer at Prior’s case, while he did suffer various other injuries early in his career, it was a shoulder injury in 2006 spring training that led to his downward spiral. He missed three months to open the season and was then shut down in August when the shoulder injury flared back up.

The beginning of the next season ended for Prior before it even started, as he underwent shoulder surgery in spring training of the 2007 season and never pitched in the big leagues again. While this is only one case, it shows how significantly a shoulder injury can flare up time and again. With Prior and Strasburg put on equally high pedestals coming out of college, it is a fair comparison to make.

The Verdict

While it is certainly too soon to write Strasburg off or anoint him the next Hall of Fame pitcher, the early injury problems are certainly enough to make Nationals fans squirm a bit. With the team looking to the future and having little to play for this season, the Nationals have no reason not to be overly cautious with their prized arm.

Time will tell if the arm problems continue, but one thing is for sure: The future of the Nationals will greatly hinge on the health of Strasburg’s right arm.

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Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals’  “Baseball Jesus” has been placed on the disabled list for the second time this season, and the team’s management and fans are understandably quite concerned.

Some people say that it is normal for a pitcher to have some arm soreness, especially since this is his first year of professional baseball, and his body is merely adjusting to his new pitching schedule.

That might have been the case for his initial shoulder injury.  But the latest injury seems much more ominous.  When a pitcher feels pain in a forearm tendon, that is not a good sign.  That feels like the first step towards Tommy John surgery and over a year of rehabilitation.

Many experts have said that Strasburg was at high risk of injury.  Even for pitchers with “perfect” mechanics, the act of pitching a baseball is unnatural for the human body.  Any pitcher is going to suffer a bit.  But some claim that Strasburg’s mechanics are not good, and they leave him at greater risk of injury.  They point to former Cubs phenom Mark Prior as a case of another talented pitcher whose poor pitching form derailed his potentially great career.

Even if the injury is not a long-term concern, it is still disappointing.  He was having an impressive rookie season, and more importantly, seemed to revitalize baseball in Washington.  People actually talked about the Nationals and for perhaps the first time since the team debuted in 2005, there was genuine excitement about them.

His debut might have been the greatest moment in Nationals’ history.  While the team has had a full stadium before, it was usually due to a high drawing opponent like the Red Sox.  But for Strasburg’s debut, there was actually a full crowd cheering for the Nationals.

Even better, Strasburg was amazing that night.  He absolutely dominated the Pittsburgh Pirates, and showed pitching ability that the league hadn’t seen in some time.  The closest comparison that anyone could make was to a young Dwight Gooden.

The rest of his year hasn’t quite matched that first start, but he’s still done well.   Like any pitcher, he’s had some games where his best stuff simply wasn’t there.  And he’s also had some games where the opponent found ways to hit him.  But for the most part, he looks capable of living up to the hype.  That is, if he can stay healthy.

If this injury turns out to be no big deal, and he comes back next season to embark on a long career, what can reasonably be expected from him?

1. He will have some games where he absolutely dominates.  He might have the best “stuff” of any pitcher in baseball.  Even if you disregard the near-100 MPH fastball, his curveball and changeup are also devastating.  If he is in command of these pitches, he will be near unhittable.

2. He will have some games where he walks a lot of guys.  With that much power behind his pitches, it’s difficult to assume that he’ll be able to maintain perfect control.

3. Teams that have a disciplined plate approach, and try to go opposite field against him may have some success.  When he pitched against the Royals, they took this approach and hit a lot of singles.  They didn’t score many runs, but just enough to win the game.

4. He’ll give up a fair share of home runs.  Power pitchers are normally susceptible to giving up home runs (the faster the pitch, the harder it can be hit) and Strasburg is about as powerful as they come.

But once again, this all depends on him staying healthy.  If not, he’ll just be another phenom who flamed out.

In more positive news, they added another potential phenom when they came to terms with Bryce Harper, their first round draft pick in June’s amateur draft.  He’s been called the “LeBron James of baseball” and his talent level has been compared to a young Alex Rodriguez.

They signed him for $9.9 million, which is the highest total ever given to a non-pitcher amateur draft pick.  And yet, it is far below what some people estimated that he might get from the Nats.  His agent Scott Boras claimed that Harper was a “once-in-a-generation” talent, and would deserve a record contract.  This is not especially surprising, since every year, Boras seems to declare one of his clients to be a “once-in-a-generation” talent. 

Last year, he was saying the same thing about Strasburg.  It was obvious that Harper wasn’t going to get anywhere near Strasburg’s record deal for an amateur.  Strasburg was an accomplished college pitcher who looked to be almost ready for the majors when he was drafted.  As good a hitter as Harper may be, he’s still only 17, and will need at least a couple of minor league seasons, especially since he will be switching positions from catcher to right field.

In addition to signing Harper, the Nats also signed a few of their lower draft picks to large contracts, going well above the suggested amount provided by Major League Baseball’s slotting system.  For those unfamiliar with the slotting system: MLB comes up with a suggested signing price for each draft pick and encourages teams to stay near those figures when agreeing to terms.

Conforming with the slotting system is a great way to keep your minor league system free of high-end talent.  Basically, the players’ agents look at the suggested slot cost and say “That’s nice.  But here’s what it is really going to take to get a deal done.”  If the two sides can’t come to an agreement, the player can re-enter the draft the next year and the team is awarded a compensation pick.

While this might seem to be a lose-lose situation, it’s really much worse for the team than it is for the player.  A high school player has the option of going to college (and in some cases improving his draft position).  College players obviously have less leverage.  When they go unsigned, they usually end up playing a season in an independent league, which can often be comparable in talent level to the minor league that the team would have assigned them to.

So the Nationals did the right thing, paid the necessary money, and they now have Harper in their system.    If his development goes as planned, he is expected to make his major league debut in 2012.  Of course, since he is only 17, his development could take much longer.  So don’t count on him carrying the Nationals’ lineup anytime soon.

One final word about the Nationals: Their TV announcers are bad.

The usual announcers are play-by-play man Bob Carpenter and color analyst Rob Dibble.  Now I understand that a team’s announcers are going to be “homers,” and they will be rooting for the home team.  And I also understand that trying to be optimistic about a team that constantly loses must be a bit wearing.  

But here’s a few suggestions: 

1. If a call goes against the Nationals, it is not a “travesty”.  Dibble acts like every close call that is not in the Nationals favor is a crime against the sport.  Especially when it comes to borderline balls and strikes.  This leads to…

2. Enough with the pitch tracker.  Over the past few years, TV broadcasts have started to use on-screen graphics to show a projection of the strike zone, and determine if a pitch is in the strike zone.  The Nationals’ broadcasts seem to use their version, the Qinetic Pitch Track on just about every pitch. 

The problem is that these projections aren’t really exact, and don’t take into account the variability of each batter’s strike zone.  That doesn’t stop Dibble from ranting every time a strike call that goes against the Nats doesn’t match what the pitch track shows.

3. Please stop with the overbearing praise of Ryan Zimmerman.  I realize that he’s been the shining hope for the franchise over the past few seasons.  But the announcers can’t seem to praise him and his accomplishments enough, even when unmerited.

If Zimmerman strikes out after fouling off a few pitches, he did not “hang tough” or “give the pitcher a battle.”  He struck out.  And yes, he is a good fielder.  But is it necessary to act as if every routine grounder he fields was a highlight worthy play?  I don’t think a ball has been hit to him all season that didn’t prompt them to mention that he won a Gold Glove last year.

It’s a shame because Zimmerman is a talented young player.  But after listening to the Nationals announcers, I have grown to dislike him.

Then again, after hearing fill-in announcer Johnny Holliday this past weekend, I have a new appreciation for Carpenter.  Holliday may be an accomplished football announcer, but listening to him call a baseball game was painful.  It came across like someone said, “Hey, my uncle is a big fan of the team!  Why don’t we let him call the game?”

The happiest possible resolution to this problem is if Strasburg and Harper actually come through and lead the Nationals into contention.  Then, while the announcers might still be bad, at least they’d be doing bad announcing for good baseball.

Originally published on my blog: Stranger in a Strange Land

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There’s one thing that you never, under any circumstances, want to hear when scouting a pitcher.

Raw? That’s not a big deal. The pitcher can be developed in the minors, as long as it may take, and it can still work out.

Wild? That’s a problem, but again, it can be worked out, whether it’s just a wild arm or something psychological.

Lack of Passion? We are getting close, but even this is not the worst; if the pitcher has talent it can still work out. After all, Rube Waddell was a Hall of Famer.

The answer, of course, is “injury prone.” Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and so many others have had their careers shortened drastically due to injuries. Yet, before these injuries, they were highly touted prospects that pitched extremely well in the majors. Stephen Strasburg is in that same situation. He has pitched very well in the majors so far, yet in his rookie season, he has now been on the disabled list twice.

Some of this is the result of the Nationals being cautious with their star, and you can’t fault them for that. You never want to overexert your star. After all, how different would things be if Walter Johnson continued to have Joe Cantillon as his first manager? Well, for starters, it likely would have been his only manager, and he would have flamed out after four or five seasons.

Unfortunately, you could be as cautious as possible with Strasburg, but if this becomes a continuing trend, then it will be time to panic in Washington.

Do I have any particular reason to think that Strasburg is injury-prone apart from his two DL stints? No. Then again, no one had any reason to worry about Kerry Wood in 1998, and look at what has happened since.

Let’s say that, hypothetically, is does land on the DL again next season and this starts to build up. What’s the solution? All the Nationals can do is limit his innings and pitch count, but just as importantly, he may have to modify his pitching from trying to strike everyone out and turn into a Greg Maddux-type pitcher. He has the ability to do it should he ever have to.

Until then, let’s just shut him down for the season. We’ve seen he can pitch, let’s just make sure he’s 100% for next year. No need to risk another injury to move up to fourth place.

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When you’re a fan of a team that never wins and has no real chance of winning, it’s hard to get really excited.

There’s no real point in hoping for a winner, so there are other things you have to get riled up about.

And it’s doubly hard as a fan base to find things other than wins to really be passionate about as a united group.

Everyone has their own opinions about what the team should do and what brand of beer they should sell at the park, but from time to time, we as Nationals fans have been able to come together passionately around certain causes: firing Jim Bowden, loving Ryan Zimmerman, spoiling the Mets, hating the Phillies, Clint.

Now, we have another: Rob Dibble. Dibble has been a polarizing figure for a long time. Some love him, some hate him.

Charitably, I’d say he’s a big personality and inspires strong opinions. That’s not a bad thing.

But now that Dibble has put himself squarely on the side of hating Stephen Strasburg—he started by bad-mouthing him last summer during his contract negotiation and amped it way up this week by criticizing his toughness—I predict that Dibble will be the next cause for celebration to bring Nationals fans together.

You didn’t hear it here first, and this won’t be the last, but for the love of god, Stan Kasten: fire Dibble.

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Here we are in late August and it is to no one’s surprise that the Washington Nationals are once again cellar dwellers with no shot at the post season.

However, unlike last year they’ve played a lot better, have gotten several big time wins against strong opponents and with the pitching of rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg and the signing of Bryce Harper there is hope that by this time next year the team will be competing for a play off spot.

With that said Strasburg’s pitching arm is once again causing him pain.  A month ago it was his shoulder that landed him on the disabled list (DL) and now his forearm may cause him to miss his schedule start on Thursday.

Instead of him missing a start or another trip to the DL the Nats should just shut him down for the rest of the season.

Sure when he pitches he packs the house, but there is way too much invested in him to blow out his arm in his rookie season.  The team isn’t playing for anything so why risk the future?

I can’t think of one plausible answer the Nats or their coaching staff could give that would warrant sending him out to the mound one more time this season.

Simply just pat him on the back and say “Nice job kid,” and that’s that.

The franchise finally has more up side than down and shouldn’t gamble that just for ticket receipts.

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I sat down to watch the Washington Nationals—Philadelphia Phillies game early Saturday night and once again, I was impressed with what I saw out of phenom Stephen Strasburg for the first 4.1 innings.

Strasburg was rolling through the Phillies’ lineup, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out six. His fastball was touching the high 90s and he was mixing in his curve and his change to really dominate the Philly lineup.

Then the fifth inning happened.

On a 1-1 pitch to fellow rookie Domonic Brown, Strasburg threw a ball that tailed low and away to Brown, but Strasburg appeared to be hurt on the pitch. He kept flexing his arm and immediately the trainer came out to see what the issue was.

Strasburg left the game with what later was diagnosed as a strained tendon in his right forearm. Strasburg underwent an MRI on Sunday, but the results of that test are still not known.

I don’t know what the MRI will show, but if a strained tendon in his forearm is all that happened, then the Nationals are darn lucky. With Strasburg’s reaction, I thought he had blown out is elbow.

Regardless of what the MRI shows, Strasburg’s 2010 season should be over. The Nationals are going nowhere the rest of the season and there is no point in pushing Strasburg.

The Nationals have too much invested in Strasburg and they can’t be that desperate for a gate that they would threaten his career by sending him back out there.

For those who want to already want to compare him to Mark Prior—pump the breaks. Prior suffered injuries and had surgeries that prematurely ended his career. Strasburg hasn’t even landed on the DL yet.

I am not going to come close to putting Strasburg in the Prior category just yet.

As soon as the results of Strasburg’s MRI are announced, I will have an update on this post.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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