Strasburg Speaks

I somewhat blame myself for Stephen Strasburg's seemingly inevitable Tommy John surgery. My unhealthy man crush and unrealistic expectations must have put an ufair amount of pressure on him. Of course I assume he reads my little blog and read many of my dedicated posts to him. I should also point out that my ego is only two notches below Lex Luther on the Super Villain scale. Anyway, Strasburg had his cast removed about two weeks ago and had a little chit-chat with real media types on a conference call that I assume included an iPhone...

"I'm chalking this year up as a great success," Strasburg, 22, said in a 15-minute conference call with media members Tuesday afternoon from his San Diego home. "It's unfortunate for this to happen. But . . . I stirred up the baseball world well enough to have more people become Nats fans. And I know they're going to be there when I come back in a year."

He's right to some extent. I did hop on the Nats' bandwagon hoping to catch a National League version of the Rays in enough time to seem cool. I tried the same thing with the Brewers a few years ago but it didn't work out so well. Strasburg should bounce back just fine but let's keep in mind that it took Francisco Liriano two years to get close to his former self and the Nats' second best starter, Jordan Zimmermann, is just a year removed from his own TJ. But Strasburg remains optimistic about a speedy recovery...

"If I'm doing well, things could get sped up," he said. "There is a target date, but right now it's way too early [to talk about it]. It is a tough process, but I keep telling myself as each day goes by, I'm getting closer to being back out there battling and winning games."

I can't wait for his return. He was almost better than advertised in his first 12 professional starts. His 2.91 ERA was a little bloated according to his 2.10 FIP and the 12.18 K/9 is must see baseball. He's good for the game and great for Nationals' attendance. Godspeed young Jedi. Oh and Stras, I'd also appreciate if you left your over/under on Aroldis Chapman starts before his Tommy John in the comments. Thanks Stephen!