Barb’s Burblings

My thoughts about Stephen Strasburg are fairly obvious, so you can imagine my reaction to him going on the DL for the second time in the 2 months he’s been in the major leagues. Honestly, my problem isn’t with him. It’s just that I fear that people have him built up. Just because he’s really, really good doesn’t guarantee him a spot in the Hall of Fame or in the next 10 All-Star Games.

Or, you could just read what Joe Posnanski wrote:

There is an endless list of names … players who could have been in Cooperstown with the great stuff they had … Roger Salkeld … Dean Burke … Les Rohr … Brien Taylor … David Clyde … Bill Pulsipher … Todd Van Poppel … these are not cautionary tales. These are not exceptions to the rule. They are the rule. These are the reality pitchers, the ones who had their great careers ended before they began.

All of which is to say that Stephen Strasburg fights the odds. But he was fighting the odds anyway, long before this latest injury. Pitchers get hurt in a thousand different ways. And it isn’t the ability to endure pain that gets them through even if a lughead like Rob Dibble thinks Strasburg should just “suck it up” and “stop crying.” No, it’s preparation, and it’s luck, and it’s taking care of yourself, and it’s luck, and it’s maintaining form, and it’s luck, and in many cases it’s surgery.

So I wish Strasburg luck. And if his career is one of flashes of brilliance and extended stints on the DL, I’ll be saddened. But not surprised.