The Official Stephen Strasburg needs Tommy John Thread

[SoxAce]

 

Good god.

[StrangeSox]

I feel sorry for all hitters in the NL East.

 

Nice to see someone living up to the hype, even if its only one start so far.

[smalls2598]

Some pretty good trivia from Stark on ESPN.com

This one really stood out:

 

"Then again, as the Elias Sports Bureau points out, the heck with debuts. Only five other pitchers since 1900 have had a 14-strikeout, zero-walk game in ANY game, at any point in their careers, in which they went seven innings or less. Those five: Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Javier Vazquez, Mike Mussina and Brad Penny. We're guessing you've heard of them."

[Balta1701]

Some pretty good trivia from Stark on ESPN.com

This one really stood out:

 

"Then again, as the Elias Sports Bureau points out, the heck with debuts. Only five other pitchers since 1900 have had a 14-strikeout, zero-walk game in ANY game, at any point in their careers, in which they went seven innings or less. Those five: Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Javier Vazquez, Mike Mussina and Brad Penny. We're guessing you've heard of them."

A steroid abuser, a guy who's arm went out, a HOFer, a near- HOFer, and Javy Vazquez.

 

That doesn't sell me too hard on this kid.

[daa84]

A steroid abuser, a guy who's arm went out, a HOFer, a near- HOFer, and Javy Vazquez.

 

That doesn't sell me too hard on this kid.

if you aren't sold on this kid, then there just isnt any young player you will ever be sold on

[Balta1701]

if you aren't sold on this kid, then there just isnt any young player you will ever be sold on

Didn't say I wasn't sold on it. You can put out a crappy commercial for a great product.

[Rowand44]

 

Good god.

That's just not fair.

[flavum]

He may no throw a no-hitter, but the Sox will not score on him. That won't happen.

[LittleHurt05]

The hype machine was a bit ridiculous and how many times can Costas compare to him to Walter Johnson, ugh. That being said, the guys stuff was nasty and hes gonna be damn good. I don't care if its the Pirates, 14 K's in 7 innings on only 95 pitches is sick. I agree with Rock that he reminds me of Kerry Wood and I forsee some arm issues coming up in his career, although not having Dusty as manager will work in his favor.

[SoxAce]

I firmly believe if he went 9 innings, he would of K'd 19.. maybe 20 hitters. Had what 7 in a row before he was replaced?! Noone was even close to touching him. Shame he was on a pitch count.

[kev211]

I firmly believe if he went 9 innings, he would of K'd 19.. maybe 20 hitters. Had what 7 in a row before he was replaced?! Noone was even close to touching him. Shame he was on a pitch count.

Maybe it's a good thing he was on a pitch count. He wouldn't want to end up like this.

 

[SoxAce]

Maybe it's a good thing he was on a pitch count. He wouldn't want to end up like this.

 

 

No it was good, wasn't saying it wasn't. Just for the sake of a fan watching though, he makes you want more of him when he pitches. I don't think he had more than 80 pitches in a game in the minors so he was on a strict count.

[Jordan4life_2007]

No it was good, wasn't saying it wasn't. Just for the sake of a fan watching though, he makes you want more of him when he pitches. I don't think he had more than 80 pitches in a game in the minors so he was on a strict count.

 

I wonder does the innings/pitch count restriction go out the window if the Nationals are legitimately in the playoff hunt? It'd be pretty impossible to justify pigeonholing your best pitcher with a playoff birth in reach.

[Balta1701]

I wonder does the innings/pitch count restriction go out the window if the Nationals are legitimately in the playoff hunt? It'd be pretty impossible to justify pigeonholing your best pitcher with a playoff birth in reach.

I don't think there is any out for it, and I wouldn't be surprised if Boras's people had been 100% insistent on that.

 

Hypothetically, let's imagine that the Nationals start off the season near .500, and that they keep Stras in the minors for 2 months to save themselves the arb year, so he pitches say, 55.1 innings.

 

The most innings Stras has ever thrown before this year was 128, counting last year's AFL stint (Where, IIRC, some of the Sox minor leaguers actually got to him). He threw 109 in college last year.

 

So, now the Nats call Stras up, he helps pitch them into the playoff hunt, but he comes up on 100 innings. Now he's thrown 150 innings this year, an increase of 22+ from last year, and they've been presumably harder innings (pennant race, MLB level).

 

It's Verducci Effect territory.

 

The only reason that kind of clause would show up in his contract is that Boras's people projected exactly how the season would go, and they knew that the Nats, in a playoff hunt, would have the temptation to Dusty Baker him in order to make their first playoff round in D.C., if they got close at all, and they weren't going to let the team risk his arm on one season.

[Jordan4life_2007]

I don't think there is any out for it, and I wouldn't be surprised if Boras's people had been 100% insistent on that.

 

Hypothetically, let's imagine that the Nationals start off the season near .500, and that they keep Stras in the minors for 2 months to save themselves the arb year, so he pitches say, 55.1 innings.

 

The most innings Stras has ever thrown before this year was 128, counting last year's AFL stint (Where, IIRC, some of the Sox minor leaguers actually got to him). He threw 109 in college last year.

 

So, now the Nats call Stras up, he helps pitch them into the playoff hunt, but he comes up on 100 innings. Now he's thrown 150 innings this year, an increase of 22+ from last year, and they've been presumably harder innings (pennant race, MLB level).

 

It's Verducci Effect territory.

 

The only reason that kind of clause would show up in his contract is that Boras's people projected exactly how the season would go, and they knew that the Nats, in a playoff hunt, would have the temptation to Dusty Baker him in order to make their first playoff round in D.C., if they got close at all, and they weren't going to let the team risk his arm on one season.

 

Interesting. Well, they'll be A LOT of pissed off people (mainly Nationals fans) if the difference between making the playoffs and sitting at home came down to an innings limit.

[Balta1701]

Interesting. Well, they'll be A LOT of pissed off people (mainly Nationals fans) if the difference between making the playoffs and sitting at home came down to an innings limit.

And I think they'd be more pissed if he hit the DL next year.

[Jordan4life_2007]

And I think they'd be more pissed if he hit the DL next year.

 

So if he gets through this year unscathed the possibility of him ever landing on the DL the rest of his career disappears?

[lostfan]

I saw a bunch of people saying "yeah but it was just the Pirates, and that's not a major league team, I could strike out about a dozen Pirates if I was having a good day." If that were true then there would've been a bunch of other pitchers who've done this against the Pirates already this year right? But there's not... not even one...

[Jordan4life_2007]

I saw a bunch of people saying "yeah but it was just the Pirates, and that's not a major league team, I could strike out about a dozen Pirates if I was having a good day." If that were true then there would've been a bunch of other pitchers who've done this against the Pirates already this year right? But there's not... not even one...

 

Haters are gonna hate. I don't know how anybody could look at his stuff and say to themselves (well it was just the Pirates). I don't mind the hype if it's warranted. It was warranted with Lebron. And it's certainly warranted with Strasburg. He's here and he's here to stay.

[fathom]

Haters are gonna hate. I don't know how anybody could look at his stuff and say to themselves (well it was just the Pirates). I don't mind the hype if it's warranted. It was warranted with Lebron. And it's certainly warranted with Strasburg. He's here and he's here to stay.

 

Agreed...he's a can't-miss performer right now.

[Balta1701]

So if he gets through this year unscathed the possibility of him ever landing on the DL the rest of his career disappears?

No, but it goes up dramatically if they're stupid with how they handle him this year.

[iamshack]

Strasburg struck out the most men with the least pitches in the history of the game.

 

No one has ever struck out 14 hitters in 95 pitches or less.

 

Javy did it with 96 in 2003.

 

Strasburg did it in 94 in his first start ever.

 

Fangraphs

[GoodAsGould]

Strasburg struck out the most men with the least pitches in the history of the game.

 

No one has ever struck out 14 hitters in 95 pitches or less.

 

Javy did it with 96 in 2003.

 

Strasburg did it in 94 in his first start ever.

 

Fangraphs

 

How many pitches were Wood and Clemens at after their 14th K in their 20K games.

[iamshack]

How many pitches were Wood and Clemens at after their 14th K in their 20K games.

Good catch.

 

Wood was at 93 pitches and Clemens was at 92 in his second 20k game.

[kev211]

I bought Strasburg Player tee today. I figure even if he falls apart and becomes a bust its still a wearable shirt.