Screw the Nationals, Stephen Strasburg Should Just Stay Home

Don’t worry you are not crazy. Because I also have a very vivid memory of Stephen Strasburg retiring last year. I was also sad to see his career come to an end, after bright and shiny memories of his first start being featured on SportsCenter (I was 14 and it was summer). And then middling away through injuries and terrible teams. Thank goodness he finally got his ring, even if it was because AJ pulled Greinke at the worst possible time.

I say all this, because the Nationals media team had me questioning whether I had seen Strasburg retire. I didn’t know if I was slightly losing my mind, seeing that Strasburg had a locker at Spring Training and apparently was expected to show up. Not to worry, I genuinely went back into profile on The Athletic to make sure I was correct. Turns out, I was, and I even have Twitter/X evidence to prove it.

Like most people who have given up on Strasburg finally beating the “broken body” claims, I saw he was retiring and kind of left it at that. I never really investigated further, because what more could there be? This was the end to one of those iconic “what if” careers. Turns out, the Nationals have refused to accept his three-month

Why Are We Talking About Stephen Strasburg?

Just a quick long story short: baseball contracts are a little too guaranteed. In 2019, Strasburg signed a new $245 million, 7-year deal with the Nationals. Any 10-year-old with a functioning brain and a bare assessment of the career of Stephen Strasburg would have told you any long term investment was a bad idea. The Nationals, though, are not known for making good decisions and thinking long-term. I might be the wrong person to be saying this (I was at the losing end of their World Series victory), but that was more of a bug than a feature of the organization. Turns out, Washington DC teams are dysfunctional as a whole.

The main problem with his contract is pretty obvious – all that money is guaranteed. Which, listen, I love Stephen Strasburg and all that could have been, but that is an insane amount of money to dish out to a pitcher who really had one good, injury free season. I’m all for rewarding guys for their service, and for thanking guys for the time spent in your organization. But be realistic, that man’s arm was made of manufactured cheese spread by the time they hit 2019. And he went on to barely pitch, pitching last time in June 2022.

Which leads the Nationals to where they are now. Because their either dementia-ridden or fresh-out-the-womb accountant decided to take a quick looksie at the numbers, and they did not get their money’s worth. It’s like paying for something from Temu, only to be met with a scaled-down plastic object that was made by a 2-year-old with great work ethic (thank you for my social credits Xi).

The National’s have now decided that Strasburg is not retired and should be at Spring Training. This is not only insane because Strasburg has decided not to pitch anymore, he’s a mid-30s man with a CVS-receipt level laundry list of injuries. It’s also insane, because the Nationals have a 40-man roster that is actively not being filled by someone who is there. They are literally wasting a roster spot because they signed a bad deal.

The Nationals have given him until February 24th to show up. But he shouldn’t, because it doesn’t make any sense.

Stay Home

There is one, extremely obvious solution: just don’t show up. When Strasburg signed that contract in 2019, he signed on to be a pitcher. The Nationals offered and signed that contract, knowing his injury list and knowing that they were not going to get affordable insurance on the contract. So when Strasburg decided to retire no one should have been surprised, less the Nationals who scheduled and then canceled the retirement press conference. Why would a guy who decided that his baseball career was no more come back when he clearly doesn’t want to? If Strasburg had wanted to be a coach, he probably would have made that clear. Or at least still be there.

Part of being a good athlete is knowing when it’s time to end the joyride. Strasburg knew the joyride was over, and it was time. He had signed on to be an athlete, not some glorified, overpaid bench coach. The Nationals realized that they overpaid, and cannot live with themselves, so they’re trying to force a player to coach evolution. But the decision was made, the jersey was hung up, and now there are wire transfers needing to be made.

And the Nationals are picking an incredibly stupid fight with a Nationals’ legend. And they’re probably screwing the team in the process. Sure, that one roster spot probably was going to go to some AAA or highly ranked AA guy who isn’t going to be a world beater. But, from the outside looking in, they clearly have already given up on the season. They’re not thinking ahead. They’re not thinking about how to win this season. The Nationals’ are picking a fight with an aging pitcher whom they made a bad deal with and are not reaping the consequences.

Stay home Stephen, and let a middling franchise fail again by somehow being the worst team in the NL East.

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