After a 65 win season, which placed the Nationals in last place in the National League East, the wish list for Washington could be two pages long. While there is room for improvement at several positions, and we hope for a reasonable Juan Soto extention (not going to happen), we pencil in just one request this year for Santa Claus.
A healthy Stephen Strasburg.
We must have been bad last year, as we penned a similar letter to Santa, asking for a clean bill of health for Stras. Maybe it is the Strasmas nickname ‘Ol Saint Nick isn’t a fan of. What we got for the 2021 season was anything but a healthy right hander.
For the second year in a row, we ask Santa Claus for a healthy Stephen Strasburg for the Nationals year ahead.
Strasburg made all of five starts in 2021, a season which was eventually shutdown because of a nerve issue in his neck. The Nationals haven’t seen Strasburg at his best since he was winning the Most Valuable Player Award in the World Series. In 2019.
We could have a lot or requests for the short term, though the Nats aren’t in a position to be competitive in the short term. They need Strasburg to be healthy now (and for the remainder of his contract in fact), or risk having a lot of dead money sitting on the payroll. You think the Will Harris contract has hamstrung the Nats (3 YR/$24M), try the $245M over 7 years Strasburg is attached to. The Nats have gotten all of seven games over two seasons (pandemic shortened year of 2020) from Stras thus far.
All I want for Christmas is a fully healthy Stephen Strasburg for the rest of his career pic.twitter.com/yy369X4d4E
— Kev (@OnePursuitTakes) December 19, 2021
We have come a long ways since the vaunted three headed monster which propelled Strasburg to his huge contract. Max Scherzer now plays in the Big Apple and Patrick Corbin seems to have given up a home run to every batter in the league.
Nationals fans need some stability from the starting rotation. The type Paolo Espino just can’t provide. Santa, if you are filtering through FanSided posts in the days leading up to Christmas and see this note, please deliver a healthy Stephen Strasburg this year.