The inevitable, controversial shut down of one Stephen Strasburg has arguably been the biggest story in baseball's second half. Only now, it's no longer inevitable. It's happened.
As reported Saturday morning by Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, Strasburg has been shut down for the remainder of the season.
The 24-year-old right-hander's last pitch came Friday night, a poor outing in which he surrendered five runs on six hits, including a pair of homers, in three innings against the Marlins and registered more walks (three) than whiffs (two) -- for the first time in his career.
John Lannan will take Strasburg's spot, starting Wednesday at the Mets.
In all, Strasburg pitched 159 1/3 innings for the season, which is right in line with the number that was rumored, both before and during the season, to be his limit in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery.
Of course, this means the club will be without its top arm down the stretch and in the postseason. The former isn't a huge concern -- the Nats are six-and-a-half games up in the NL East -- but the latter will be a continuous point of discussion and debate throughout the playoffs, with the only possible way for the club to avoid being second-guessed is to win the title. Is that something the Nationals can survive? And will GM Mike Rizzo be able to handle the heat?
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