Rizzo claims Strasburg’s award for himself, taking away yet another thing from Strasburg that he deserves to experience.
Earlier tonight MLB announced their Silver Slugger award winners. The Nationals won big, with Adam LaRoche, Ian Desmond, and Stephen Strasburg taking home the honor.
I’m really happy for Adam. He had a amazing comeback year for us and deserves credit. Though I worry about him having a shiny object like this around the house. Probably doesn’t help him keep his ADHD in check.
Ian winning this honor was a nice reaffirmation of how good his season was. He took great strides towards becoming a versatile offensive player. He can hit for power, hit for average, steal bases, AND produce runs for the other team with his errors. Few players are as all-around offensively minded like that. Probably for the better.
It was no surprise that Strasburg took home this honor, having been our offensive leader for quite some time this season. I think we can all agree that when Rizzo shut down Strasburg we worried that it would negatively impact the quality of our pitching, yes. But first and foremost, we were afraid that with less playtime the voters might not recognize Strasburg for this award that he deserved. Thankfully Strasburg at least came away with the biggest thing that matters to players, especially pitchers. No, not a playoff win. No, not a world series ring. But a Silver Slugger award.
