On many things I feel Senator Bunning is off the rocker. A lot of people do not know that Bunning was an accomplished Hall of Fame player so I do not totally dismiss his credibility on this subject.

 

A lot more is at stake now with Strasburg and a team is building an entire franschise around him. I believe Bunning was calling out the whole pampered culture of pitchers. We have almost gone overprotective to the point where it is equally as detrimental to a guy's career if he is never put in a situation to fight through the aches and pains. And really that is all Starsburg was enduring.

 

Ill go ahead and agree with the latter half of your post and we wont delve into the first half because this is a sports forum, not a political one. Pitchers in today's game are babied to the point where it hinders them from ever truly reaching their maximum pitching capability. I remember back when I pitched I always threw better when I was throwing every 3-4 days and not every 6th day while having a pitch limit. Managers need to let their pitchers fight through this so their arms can be in prime condition. And the argument that Strasburg is young is ludicrous, he has been pitching intensely since High School. The MANAGEMENT needs to let him play through it. The decision was not totally his. So Bunning's argument would be better directed at the executives of the Nationals.

Ill go ahead and agree with the latter half of your post and we wont delve into the first half because this is a sports forum, not a political one. Pitchers in today's game are babied to the point where it hinders them from ever truly reaching their maximum pitching capability. I remember back when I pitched I always threw better when I was throwing every 3-4 days and not every 6th day while having a pitch limit. Managers need to let their pitchers fight through this so their arms can be in prime condition. And the argument that Strasburg is young is ludicrous, he has been pitching intensely since High School. The MANAGEMENT needs to let him play through it. The decision was not totally his. So Bunning's argument would be better directed at the executives of the Nationals.

 

Is that you Dusty, hiding behind that wildcat avatar?

Don't you think Kerry Woods, Mark Prior or the Cubs would like a mulligan ? "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". I think the era of playing through the pain has long passed us by, and for sound medical reason and practice. I have no problem with Strasbourg or the Nats shutting it down for a couple weeks. They're not in a pennant race, and he is a rookie working through the arm stress of his first MLB season. Inflammation and pain is your body saying, "we've got a problem here", why not take a minute to evaluate what the problem is. I think the Nats would've been vilified if they "made him pitch", some would have said it was a money grab issue.

Is that you Dusty, hiding behind that wildcat avatar?

Don't you think Kerry Woods, Mark Prior or the Cubs would like a mulligan ? "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". I think the era of playing through the pain has long passed us by, and for sound medical reason and practice. I have no problem with Strasbourg or the Nats shutting it down for a couple weeks. They're not in a pennant race, and he is a rookie working through the arm stress of his first MLB season. Inflammation and pain is your body saying, "we've got a problem here", why not take a minute to evaluate what the problem is. I think the Nats would've been vilified if they "made him pitch", some would have said it was a money grab issue.

 

So today players are getting paid for what they might do, more so than what they can do, correct?

I suppose Bunning has dinner with Dusty weekly?

So today players are getting paid for what they might do, more so than what they can do, correct?

 

I didn't say that or mean to imply that, nor was not part of my argument; however, yes that is a factual statement. In Strasburg's case, $12.5 million of his contract was really a guaranteed signing bonus - before he threw a pitch. He "only" makes $2m this year, I'm saying that it wasn't

a short term, monetary decision on the Nats behalf.

 

There was an article in the Enquirer today that said that Leake (rookie) will skip his turn in the rotation, and they will reduce his pitch count. I read that thinking Jockety was putting a short leash on Baker. The thought never crossed my mind that Leake was soft or the Reds were capitulating to a modern day diva athlete; keep in mind, they only have a fraction of the investment in Leake that the Nats have in SS.

If they had pitched him I would have equated that to buying a brand new Ferrari and seeing how fast and hard you could drive it after you see the oil light come on. Protecting an investment is all they were doing. If he had a few more innings or years in the majors and they were in a pennant race I'm sure he wouldv'e taken the mound.

Is that you Dusty, hiding behind that wildcat avatar?

Don't you think Kerry Woods, Mark Prior or the Cubs would like a mulligan ? "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". I think the era of playing through the pain has long passed us by, and for sound medical reason and practice. I have no problem with Strasbourg or the Nats shutting it down for a couple weeks. They're not in a pennant race, and he is a rookie working through the arm stress of his first MLB season. Inflammation and pain is your body saying, "we've got a problem here", why not take a minute to evaluate what the problem is. I think the Nats would've been vilified if they "made him pitch", some would have said it was a money grab issue.

 

Wood and Prior had mechanical issues with their pitching motion, ask any sports doctor. These guys threw against their body and it finally caught up with them. And inflammation and pain dont mean we have a problem, it means throw on some icy hot and take the hill. Resting is for the offseason. Ask Bunning what happened when he took the mound with a little bit of arm pain. He'd tell you he soaked it in ben gay and worked his slider more then his fastball. The best pitchers are the ones who get wins when they dont have their best stuff. Im more upset with the Executives then Strasburg though.

Wood and Prior had mechanical issues with their pitching motion, ask any sports doctor. These guys threw against their body and it finally caught up with them. And inflammation and pain dont mean we have a problem, it means throw on some icy hot and take the hill. Resting is for the offseason. Ask Bunning what happened when he took the mound with a little bit of arm pain. He'd tell you he soaked it in ben gay and worked his slider more then his fastball. The best pitchers are the ones who get wins when they dont have their best stuff. Im more upset with the Executives then Strasburg though.

 

Wood, maybe...Prior, not so much.

 

When your team is in last place you don't allow a 22 year old making 15 million dollars over the next 4 years to pitch. There's no reason to. Allowing him to pitch would have been stupid. Theres a huge difference between going out and pitching without your best stuff and going out and pitching with inflammation and pain in your arm.

Wood and Prior had mechanical issues with their pitching motion, ask any sports doctor. These guys threw against their body and it finally caught up with them.

Not so with Prior ... I remember reading a few years ago about some baseball people thinking that Prior's sound mechanics may help him overcome the workload issue.

 

Look at Prior's pitch counts in the last two months of 2003 ... it was disgraceful treatment of a franchise pitcher.

And inflammation and pain dont mean we have a problem, it means throw on some icy hot and take the hill. Resting is for the offseason.

Dusty, is that you?

I guess I just have an old school mentality when it comes to baseball. And coming from a pitcher's standpoint its not on him, but as I have said, the executives.

I guess I just have an old school mentality when it comes to baseball. And coming from a pitcher's standpoint its not on him, but as I have said, the executives.

 

I believe the Nat's execs are experiencing a lot more pain than SS, since their gravy train is on the shelf. I don't think they would've put him on the DL unless it was absolutely necessary. Remember Volquez threw 196 innings in '08, then went straight into the WBC. This was in spite of having some tenderness and against the wishes of the Reds management. He was determined to pitch for his country and played through the pain.

I guess I just have an old school mentality when it comes to baseball. And coming from a pitcher's standpoint its not on him, but as I have said, the executives.

 

I highly doubt you'd be upset at all if the Reds scratched Wood, Leake, Volquez, Cueto or Bailey if they had trouble getting loose or had pain and inflammation in their shoulder.

Anybody care to look up the money they make on the nights he pitches compared to the nights he doesn't? How about the money they make of his unis compared to other National players. He is their franchise. You don't loose risking everything over your ego to start him a couple of starts where you could get him better with nothing to gain out of it. If your ego is first in that situation I sure wouldn't want you running any of my businesses.

With total respect to Mr. Bunning, he should "refuse to take the mic", it will only lead to greater injury .

 

One of the funnier quotes I've read on here in a while.:thumb:

Bunning needs to balance the budget, get more funding to education, etc and not worry about if Strasburg should pitch or not.