Ladson has a column up that hits on the same thing we've all been saying the last 2 months. The Nats need another veteran arm. In short the post says the Nats tried to get Chan Ho Park or Braden Looper, but weren't successful with either.
On one hand it's nice to see that the Nats understand that you can't go into the season with only 2 legit starters. On the other hand their commitment to...uhh... something (Detwiler? Smoltz? Parsimony?)... has led them to the point where this is what they have to look at. Chan Ho Park hasn't started regularly since the 2007 minor league season, and he stunk there. Braden Looper is an innings eating 4th/5th starter who has been living in a cave this offseason, expecting a contract with both a secure starting role (ok, maybe) and for something probably around 4 million dollars (no way).
This didn't have to happen. There were good affordable guys out there earlier in the off-season. But the Nats didn't move and now they find themselves again struggling to fill the majority of the rotation with guys you feel will toss a decent enough 170 innings to last a season. There's still time left to fix this, but not much.
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The other thing that having another veteran arm does: it allows Strasburg time to mature and grow in the minors and lessens the need to rush him into a starting role.
No one is going to clamor too loudly for the young guy to be the #5 starter, not early in the season, anyway.
However, if you lose a pitcher early, you have what, one or two legit starters? Its not hard to imgaine a scenerio where the pitching starts off terrible and the pressure to bring a hot Strasburg up on May 3 is overwhelming.
It seems like the Nats are stuck in a bad middle. They didn't want to go out and sign another "real" pitcher for whatever reason (a 1-yr deal wouldn't have hurt ANYTHING), but they also don't want to have to deal with the Strasburg issue you bring up. (I don't think they would bring him up that early regardless of how bad things are going, but they'd rather not deal with it).
They were probably hoping that one of Stammen/Detwiler/Martin would cover a spot with decent pitching, but with Detwiler now out they are seeing the flaw in that plan. Now they are scrambling.
So, you're telling me if Strasburg goes 2-0, .37 ERA in 2 games of A ball, and 1-0, 1.45 ERA in 3 games of AA ball, every freakin mailbag won't be "when will we see Strasburg?"
If the team starts out winning at a .250 clip with no pitching, it will be an order of magnitude louder.
It's not that the chorus will be softer, it's that the earplugs will work better. With each pitcher the Nats sign they increase their chances of not having a sucky rotation and close off a spot with a contract and a legit pitcher. Every mailbag is going to be about Strasburg, but with a decent rotation it'll be easier to not deal with it regardless of how aweseom he is.
Things that ruin my day from the Washpost: Chico's blogbit of the how the Nats have 33 pitchers with 18 guys or so having started in the Majors. It's somewhat surprising that we still want another vet arm. I pretty much agree. Let's run Estes out there for a month or two. Yikes.
Things that ruin my day part 2 from Zuckerman:
Also, though the club is looking at a potentially shaky rotation to open the season, Rizzo and Co. know that's likely only going to be a temporary problem, with Chien-Ming Wang and Stephen Strasburg targeted to join the rotation sometime in May/June. Why spend money on another veteran pitcher now, knowing his services might only be needed for one-third of the season?
Hoo again: Strasburg in June of this year? So much for the go slow, build development and arm strength approach.
Hoo - yeah read that. I have to hope that's a joke.
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