Will Strasburg Live Up To The Hype?

June 29, 2010

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What is the deal with all the hype? I mean the guy has a .500 record so far in the bigs. What is all the fuss about? Another conspiracy by ESPN to overhype a young player before he has proven a thing?

Of course I am talking, just like everyone else is, about Stephen Strasburg.

I am already getting sick of Strasburg Mania. He is outpitched last night by Tim Hudson of the 1st place Braves, and all you hear about is Strasburg. Never mind the 5 hit gem that Hudson threw, how he surgically dismantled the pathetic Washington Nationals.

Strasburg for the All Star game! Wow, he has what 5 starts? And a 2-2 record? Sounds like all star stats to me. But the idiotic fans, most of which know nothing of baseball will vote, (it normally coincides with the baseball card market and value and popularity of players and has nothing to do with their actual performance on the field) so it will be interesting to see if he makes it in.

So before you all go out and spend all of your hard earned money on Strasburg rookie cards, let’s look at the facts

  1. The Nationals SUCK. They have some nice young talent but they are still a horrible team with no real pitching, very average hitting and average defense. This could change drastically in 3-5 years IF some of their draft picks continue to pan out and the organization would spend some money and get some better players into the house
  2. Strasburg is a pitcher! Why all the hype about a pitcher. I have a few words for all of you. Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Dontrelle Willis, and yes even Carlos Zambrano. All of these guys viewed as super studs and where are they now? All it takes is one arm injury and that is it, it is over. I would lay my money on a hitter any day over a pitcher.
  3. He is 2-2 with a 2.27 ERA. Strasburg can put up great numbers all year but it gets back to point #1. If the club can’t score and can’t play defense, he can’t win games no matter how good he might pitch.
  4. They need to be careful with him. Gone are the days when guys pitched complete games every night out. He will be on strict pitch counts every night and they will not overwork him. The Nationals cannot afford to. Can you imagine the gloss we would all be hearing if he got injured? Man it would make the Tiger Woods saga look like a back page story …

Of course I could be wrong, he could break Cy Young’s record of 511 wins … but I highly doubt it.

Go Nats!

3 Comments (+add yours?)

  1. kosmo
    Jun 29, 2010 @ 11:05:49

    I do think the Nationals are going to get substantially better in the next few years. Dunn was a good pickup. Say what you will about his strikeouts, but the guy provides power and walks a lot. Zimmerman and Willingham are good bats, too. Certainly they need some help on the pitching side, but it will be interesting to see how Chien Ming Wang bounces back. If he can be effective, he and Strasburg could be a good 1-2 punch, with Livan Hernandez soaking up some innings and rookie Drew Storen closing out games. That’s not a world class staff, but it’s an improvement from what they had.

    I like Stasburg, but it’s also important to note that he hasn’t faced very stiff competition so far:

    Start 1: Pirates (23-34 record before the game)
    Start 2: Indians (25-36)
    Start 3: White Sox (31-34)
    Start 4: Royals (29-43)
    Start 5: Braves (44-32)

    That’s three starts against awful teams, one start against an average team, and one start against a good team. That’s no accident, of course – his debut date was cherry picked to give him an early run against bad teams as a confidence builder. However, he’s destined to face a lot of good teams, and he won’t rack up 14 strikeouts against the.

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  2. Evan @ 40Tech
    Jun 29, 2010 @ 16:02:39

    He’ll be interesting to watch. The hype around him is bigger than any young player I can remember, so we’ll see. Regarding the All Star game – are pitchers now voted in, too? I thought it was only position players, and that the managers and league officials picked the pitchers, but it has been a while since I’ve followed things closely.
    .-= Evan @ 40Tech´s last blog ..5 Gmail Labs Features to Make Your Life Easier =-.

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  3. kosmo
    Jun 29, 2010 @ 22:37:34

    The fans vote for the 8 non-pitching starters for each game. Then the players select 8 pitchers and 8 reserves for each league. Then the managers fill out the roster (making sure that every team has at least one player), and finally the fans vote for the final player.

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