Stephen Strasburg

[Big Sexy]

According to ESPN Strasburg has a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament and will most likely require Tommy John surgery. This is a huge blow to both Strasburg and the Nationals. He will miss 12-18 months recovering so that basically wipes out all of next season. He was having a great year and with him as the ace of the rotation the Nationals future was actually looking decent for the first time. Strasburg if healthy has a chance to be one of the all time greats with everything in his arsenal.

Now people are all going to be questioning whether he can come back and be as dominant or if this injury is going to start a trend. He has started on the Mark Prior route and doesn't even have a full season under his belt. The positive thing is that he is still young and has a lot of years ahead of him.

So what are your thoughts on the situation? Is this an isolated incident that he will come back from? Or will this start a trend and is Strasburg's future not as bright as it seemed just a week or two ago?

 

[Megatron]

I hope for the kids sake that he is able to recover and still have a great career. However, I'm having my doubts. Tommy John is one of the worst injuries to have in the game for a position like a pitcher. They showed a few guys records after having TJ - Carpenter, AJ Burnett, and Kerry Wood. It's kinda a mix of good (Carpenter) average (Burnett) and bad (Wood) after the injury. Hopefully he recouperates next year and is able to bounce back, but now I'm not positive.

 

[gd]

Well that sucks, for everyone involved. As a fan, I was hoping for Strasburg to be successful. He just looked so great in his first few starts. You could tell there was something special. Now?

He'll probably just be another Prior, Kerry Wood, etc. This is a major injury and it's not like you can just come right back from it and be exactly the same. Everything is going to change for him. I don't see him ever regaining what he was in his first few starts. He'll still hang around for awhile, but likely will be suffering injuries for the majority of his career. What a shame.

 

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

Thats the problem with these low-level teams. Whenever they have a really good prospect, they call him up almost immediately because he is the "savior" of the ball club. More often than not, they end up doing more harm than good to the kid. Thats exactly whats happening to Strasburg. If the Nationals let him prosper in the minors for a few years, he probably wouldnt be having this problem because he would get used to having to throw really hard to players. This is a huge blow for both the Nationals, and Strasburg. I really dont think that he can come back and be successful. However, the kid has PLENTY of time to work that out.

You Just Got Stung!

 

[Big Sexy]

Thats the problem with these low-level teams. Whenever they have a really good prospect, they call him up almost immediately because he is the "savior" of the ball club. More often than not, they end up doing more harm than good to the kid. Thats exactly whats happening to Strasburg. If the Nationals let him prosper in the minors for a few years, he probably wouldnt be having this problem because he would get used to having to throw really hard to players. This is a huge blow for both the Nationals, and Strasburg. I really dont think that he can come back and be successful. However, the kid has PLENTY of time to work that out.

You Just Got Stung!

What are you talking about? This has nothing to do with the fact that he was called up. Strasburg isn't a guy who was going to dumb down his pitches just because he was in the minors. He pitched the same there that he did in the majors. Injuries happen especially when you're a pitcher. It's not like the Nationals were overdoing anything with Strasburg. In fact they did a good job of bringing him along slowly and making sure his pitch counts weren't too high.

 

[INDYjon22]

This is a tough break for Strasburg and for the Nationals organization. It always sucks to see players get major injuries. Hopefully he can rehab and get back sooner then later. However, it will be an uphill battle from this point on. Who knows how his arm will be upon return. Plenty of top pitchers have suffered arm injuries and have never quiet returned to where they were. I hope he can get healthy and will able to return to the Nationals with no issues and continue on what looks to be a very promising career and I think he will.