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amp316 said:
Train wreck said:

Kerry Wood had arm problems long before he came to the Cubs.  Right after the Cubs drafted him, his coach at the time pitched Kerry back to back in games in a doubleheader against the Cubs wishes.  He has had arm problems on and off since.  Jim Riggleman is the one who really messed Kerry up, though.  He had him pitch a playoff game for the Cubs before he was going to have offseason surgery.  Eventually Kerry came back and pitched two years before having arm problems several more times.  They didn't shut him down at the end of the 2003 season...  

Here's the thing with arm problems.  They happen to almost every pitcher sometime in their career.  It's what happens when you whip your arm down violently in a way that isn't normally meant for the human arm.  What the Nationals are doing is unheard of.  Let's shut down a guy that hasn't had any discomfort in his arm at all.  If they want to put him on a pitch count or shut him down now and bring him back for the playoffs as a precaution I understand, but putting a guy on an IP for year cutoff has never been done by anyone ever.  The guy's in his early 20's and they're already pamering him this much?  By the time that he's 30 (if his career lasts that long)  his arm will have a lot more mileage on it.  What will his IP limit be then?

What the Nat's are doing would be the equivalent of the Broncos sitting Peyton Manning 12 hames into this season with a 10-2 record because he has a count on how many throws he can have this year.  Imagine how that would go over in Denver.   

If the Nats make it to the 7th game of the World Series and lose this year, you will wonder what would have been.  I don't care what you say. 

 

Believe me I never think in sports in the way of "what would have been", that is perennial loser talk.  I look at it as what does the team need to do to get better next year.  When LeBron James lost in the NBA finals back in 2011, I didn’t say "OMG what if he played the 4th quarter as normal", I was thinking that he was not ready to win a championship and that he and the team needed to improve.  Sure enough adjustments were made and they won their championship this year.

Dusty Baker killed any chance of the Cubs going far in the 2003 playoffs because he pitched Mark Prior and Kerry Wood a ridiculous amount of innings over the course of the season (especially late). They ran out of gas in the end.

Davy Johnson has allowed one complete game this year from his main starters, we don’t need IP and high pitch whores, we rely on consistency.  If that means shutting down Stephen after 160 IP so he can play full throttle next year, I’m all for it. Baseball is a team sport; he can’t start all 7 games in a playoff series.   He is unknown on 3 days’ rest.  I am sure Gio Gonzales or Jordan Zimmerman can fill his role if need be.  Ill rather let him heal up another year before testing those rigorous demands than try to win it all now.

 


Perennial loser talk? Ha!  Because the Nats are winners?  In case you didn't know, Mark Prior was rolling and the Cubs were five outs away from being in the World Series before the Steve Bartman incident, Gonzales booting the ball, and then Prior losing his composure while Dusty watched.  He didn't run out of gas all of a sudden.  I blame Dusty for the Cubs losing, but not for the reasons you did.  He needed to go to the mound and settle the team down before everything fell apart.  They weren't ready for a deep playoff run?  Five outs from the World Series is a deep playoff run.  Probably deeper than the Nats will manage this year or any time in the near future.

You still haven't answered me how the Bronco's fans would react if they babied Manning like the Nats do Strasburg?  Why's that?  You guys should be angry and are settling for this.  You'd rather not try to win it all this year and let a healed guy heal?  Makes sense to me.  I'm sure that you guys will be this good next year and ready for a World Series run.  I'm also sure that the Cubs will be in first as well.  

You're talking wait 'til next year and that's perennial loser talk.   

The nationals are a young team trying to build a fanbase here in Washington of course they are going to struggle out the gate.  Prior management and coaches did not take the necessary steps to make the team a winner so we were the floor mats of the NL East.  Once they got rid of those people, they have been improving ever since.  Ill rather have our team mirror the 90 braves with awesome pitching, decent hitting and a good farm system and trips to the playoff every year than an win it now team anyday.  The Washington capitals are a good example of that structure not working.

Dont know why you are trying to compare Peyton situation with that of Stephen's.  Peyton signing was a mistake on the part of the Broncos, he is at the twilight of his career, he is part of a win it now mentatily in Denver that is going to fall flat on their face and he is one small hit away from ending his career.  Complete oppsite of Stephen's.