On February 10, The Great Bloguin Baseball Debate topic was, "Should Stephen Strasburg start the year with the Nationals?" Joe Tetreault, from TetreaultVision argued that he should start the year with the big club and proclaimed opening day ‘Strasburg Day' while Slanch from The Slanch Report said He Shorn't.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said Wednesday that he was impressed with Stephen Strasburg's performance in his first start of the spring. Strasburg pitched two shutout innings, gave up two hits and struck two batters against Detroit. However, his performance didn't do anything to change Rizzo's plans for Strasburg.

"Regardless of what he did [Tuesday] and what he does in the future during Spring Training, it's not going to change my plans," Rizzo said. "It was good to see how happy he was to be out on the mound pitching. I think that's where he is most at home.

"The refreshing thing to me was the mature focus and preparation that he gave to that start. I didn't expect anything less, but it was fun to see it put into fruition."

Rizzo didn't say what the plans were, but it is believed that Strasburg will start the season in the Minor Leagues at AA. The reason everyone believes that to be the case is that during his more than 20 years developing prospects, Rizzo is known for not rushing players to the big leagues

Here's the thing. Why is it considered rushing him? Just about anyone who's seen the Nationals pitchers says that he's already the best pitcher they have. This is the Major Leagues and the point is to try to win the games. Who cares how old he is or that he hasn't pitched in the Major Leagues before? Is it better "rush" your best pitcher and win or throw someone else who has experience out there and lose?

Strasburg was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft and received a record $15.1 million, four-year contract from the Nationals. He went 13-1 in his final season with San Diego State, leading Division I pitchers in ERA (1.35) and strikeouts (195 in 109 innings).

I don't get it? The best players in the organization at the moment should be on the opening day roster and playing. If he's one of them, he should be there.

The Nationals are trying to build a fan base. When Strasburg is lights out in AA throwing 10 strikeout, five inning shutout performances, exactly what do you tell the fans when they show up at the stadium and the Nationals lose 9-4 as they see Livan Hernandez pitch 7 innings of 12 hit baseball? "Well, he gave us innings and that's what we wanted."

You are either trying to win every game or you are not. If they send this kid to AA and he doesn't start the year with the team, Mike Rizzo should just hold a press conference and tell everyone;

"Look, we aren't going to try our hardest to win right now, when Stephen gets here later in the year we will do that, but for now we just want to eat up some innings and pass time."

If I was the GM the kid would be my opening day starter. For a player with this talent and acumen, the Minor Leagues is just a place where he will be wasting pitches. The human arm only has so many pitches in it, and to waste them in the minors is silly. - Gregory Shapiro

Greg is an orthopedic surgeon that has a number of professional athletes including MLB & NFL players as patients. He's an avid MLB & NFL fan and fantasy participant with some unique insight into the world of professional athletes.

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