Washington Nationals Mike Rizzo reiterates shutting down Stephen Strasburg was correct decision-MLB
Even as Washington Nationals faced a painful end of their 2012 season expedition due to the poor starts from the pitchers, management believes imposing innings limit on Stephen Strasburg was the right decision.
For many experts, the logic behind shutting down ace of the franchise during the season was unacceptable.
It was more so due to the fact that the Nationals were heading into the playoffs, which means taking the ace out from the rotation could be tantamount to suicide.
As soon as the shut-down decision was announced, a sea of criticism emerged against the management.
Some experts even in advance predicted that the Nationals will never go deep in the post-season without Strasburg.
The intensity of the backlash of the fans as well as the experts was so high that the officials of the club had to give lengthy clarifications.
They had to explain the range of reasons that forced them to take the decision.
As Washington failed during the post-season, it proved fears of the fans correct.
The Nationals lost important games against the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series, mainly because reliable pitching options for starting the matches were limited.
Gio Gonzalez was asked to start twice in a series, which led to his rough-ups at the hands of the Cardinals.
The availability of Strasburg at that time will have allowed the manager, Davey Johnson to give Gonzalez some rest, without putting the whole campaign at risk.
Regardless of the miserable failure of the Nationals during the post-season, General Manager of the club, Mike Rizzo continues to assert that the withdrawal of Strasburg during the season was made to ensure the best interest of the organisation.
"Those are the unknowns. It's hard to respond to [those who say] with Strasburg we would have won the World Series," Rizzo said. "Whenever you take a great player off your roster, it doesn't give you as good a chance to perform as if you would have had him.
We would have been a better team with Strasburg in the rotation. I agree with that. But we made a decision for the betterment of the franchise and the ballclub and the player. And we stuck to it.”
Rizzo held the same view during the season.
He provides the rationale that Stephen is the future of the organisation. If he is not taken care of, it is akin to being unconcerned about future performances of the team.
Strasburg went through Tommy John surgery, which calls for care to his arms.
As the management fears, an overuse of him can result in the decline in effectiveness of the range of pitches that he throws.
Instead of putting immense burden on Strasburg at one time, the club is looking to increase his responsibility gradually.
Fans will be hoping that Strasburg continues his impressive run of form during the 2013 major league regular season.
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