Stephen Strasburg will likely be heading to the operating table for some good ole fashion Tommy John surgery . Since the Nationals handled Strasburg with kid gloves when he first was hurt, it was kind of assumed (at least by me) they were just being careful again (wishful thinking?) but it now appears he has "a significant tear in his ulnar collateral ligament that probably will require reconstructive Tommy John elbow surgery." Yikes! This is obviously bad news for any baseball fan let alone Nationals fans who really have nothing else to root for now besides Bryce Harper's batting practice.
Everyone is obviously a little saddened by the news, but you would be hard pressed to find someone (who knows anything about baseball, pitchers, and injuries) who is surprised. The good news: there is a high success rate with TJ surgery (Chris Carpenter, Josh Johnson). The bad news: we won't see Strasburg on a baseball field for another 12-18 months, and it may be (and likely will be) longer than that until he is effective. Liriano had the surgery in 2007, and only now (2+ years later) is he back to form.
Strasburg is a once in a lifetime kind of arm, let's hope he has a smooth recovery and comes back stronger (hey, it happens) than ever.
why not just have shut him down after the first time he went on the dl? are they really that short-sighted that they were using him to sell tickets this year at the expense of the next 6 years or so? Does no one remember Mark Prior? excuse all these rhetorical questions
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming (maybe wrongly) that the Nats staff were as careful as they possibly could be. A possible reason why they would want to bring him back though would be for innings. Ideally next year he could have been ready to go 180+. Although they weren't going to be a playoff contender next year so even if he had to be on a limit again it wouldn't hurt the team really. Hindsight is 2020 but you really make it seem like it should have been obvious all along, and I can't say I disagree.
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