This is a really intriguing situation. The Washington Nationals are one of the big surprises in baseball this season. A doormat for most of its existence, the Nationals are currently 72-44, which is the best record in baseball and many online “power polls” have Washington as the No. 1 team in the game. . They are a modern version of the Mets miracle waiting to happen. But baseball fans are wondering why the team is preparing to shut down its best pitcher for the rest of the season, the playoffs and even the World Series if they make it this far. And get this: There’s nothing physically wrong with that pitcher, Stephen Strasburg.

Strasburg, a 24-year-old right-handed power pitcher, is the pitching version of Roy Hobbs from the movie The Natural. Nats general manager Mike Rizzo has made it clear that the decision to end Strasburg’s season is made by one man, Rizzo himself. “It’s a health issue,” Rizzo told The Washington Post in May. “He cares more about the player and the person than the win-loss record.” It’s a tough decision, and frankly, I applaud you for making it. The plan has been underway throughout the year. Once Strasburg reaches 160 innings pitched for the year, bells and whistles ring and the staff ace pitcher is DONE for the YEAR. Without looking back, without jumps, without questions. He has pitched 127 1/3 innings so far and no health problems all year.

Strasburg was the No. 1 pick in the 2009 MLB draft and there was quite a stir when the Nationals selected him in 2010 after just a few innings in the minor leagues. It didn’t take long to see why, as he dominated major league hitters and it seemed like he was one of those once-in-a-generation pitchers. But that same year, after 68 innings of work, he developed soreness in his throwing arm and it was determined he needed the dreaded “Tommy John” surgery. That ligament surgery had become pretty commonplace and meant at least a year away from pitching and Strasburg actually missed all but the last part of the 2011 season.

It’s the year after the surgery that still has baseball people on edge. Some pitchers come back as strong as ever and maybe even better than before surgery. Others return perhaps too soon, get hurt again and are never the same. Nobody really knows. There is not enough medical evidence to help teams make this decision. Doctors disagree about how much work is too much and how soon is too soon for a pitcher to return. “It seems like the Nationals have replaced an old paradigm – letting pitchers pitch until they get hurt, which has actually gone out of style for a while – with something new that’s almost as ill-regarded as the old one,” Rob said of SB Nation. Neuer writes. “The only way to keep Strasburg healthy is to bench him after 160 innings and no time off?”

I like the decision that Rizzo and the Nationals made to protect Strasburg’s health and longevity because hopefully it will set a precedent when it comes to how to manage the workload of all pitchers, not just those as talented as Strasburg. It’s even more impressive that the decision was made before the season, when the Nats had to be thinking they would suck, but still stuck with the plan even knowing this could be THAT season every team plays for.

What would you do? Keep him in the rotation and push him to the World Series, or shut him down no matter what and look to the future? Comments please…