Live Q&As

Pulitzer?! Whoa, slow down there. But thanks! I actually think his make-up is fine. More than fine, actually. The fact he doesn't enjoy the media thing is ultimately not a big deal. The fact is, he is "coachable," he takes a warrior mentality to the mound with him, and he is not the type to get into any sort of trouble off the field. So, I'd say his make-up is excellent.

As far protecting him, the Nationals have already taken some extraordinary steps and are prepared to go even further, if events warrant it.

I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest. There is always a process of attrition with pitching -- as we saw with Marquis. Injuries happen. Performance declines. Trades are proposed and consummated. If June comes, and Strasburg is ready, and everyone is pitching lights-out, they may make a trade (or two -- because, remember, Chien-Ming Wang and Ross Detwiler may also be ready by thend). But that's the least of their worries right now, believe me.

No question, there is tons of hype (and hyperbole) surrounding this guy. In my story, I tried to convey the excitement being generated by this amazing talent, but also to point out the dicey history of pitching prospects. There are simply no guarantees with pitchers -- or else David Clyde, Brien Taylor, Todd Van Poppel and Mark Prior would all be in the Hall of Fame.

I think we should see how things go this summer before we start talking about a book.

Actually, I tackled this very subject with a long piece on Wood and Riggleman during spring training. A couple of points: One, even if Riggleman were inclined to over-use Strasburg, the organization would not allow it. Strasburg's pitch-count and innings total will be an organizational decision, not the manager's. And two, Riggleman acknowledges he would have used Wood more conservatively, if he had it to do over again. We're all smarter now about pitch-counts and innings counts for young pitchers than we were 12 years ago, Riggleman included.

That said, injuries happen even when an organization does everything correctly -- see Jordan Zimmermann, 2009.

I have found that Mike Rizzo, in particular, is very big on character. Look at what he has done with his moves -- almost all of them have resulted in a net gain in clubhouse character. So, yeah, I think character will come into play with the No. 1 pick this June. That said, I have not heard the same doubts about Harper -- or at least not to that degree.

By my count, his current schedule (counting every fifth day) lines up with June 5 -- and it seems as if the Nationals are intent on keeping him on that schedule. (They altered their rotation after yesterday's rainout for the Senators in order to keep him on schedule tonight. Of course, rain is also in the forecast for tonight -- so it would be interesting to see if they moved him to tomorrow, if tonight's game is rained out.)

No guarantees, obviously.

If you're determined to find a "weakness" here (and honestly, I'm not sure there are any) -- then, yeah, inexperience would be something to seize on. That's also something that's completely out of his control. But I'm not so sure he couldn't gain experience at the major-league level just as easily as he has at the minor-league level.

Storen is amazing, no question. He's probably more polished at this point than Strasburg, due to the fact he signed early and spent the second half of last season pitching in the minors. The fact he is back at Class AA (after dominating there in 10 appearances at the end of 2009) has more to do with the organization's desire to have him tag-team with Strasburg than with any sort of personal shortcomings. On a strictly performance basis, he probably belongs at Class AAA (if not the majors) right now, but the Nationals like the influence he has on Strasburg, and I'm guessing they will be promoted in tandem to Syracuse when that time comes.

It's always difficult to get an accurate read on attendance in April because the weather is so unpredictable and the schedule is so incomplete. (Some opponents draw bigger crowds than others.) The Orioles have the Yankees and Red Sox at home this week, so I presume they will get some good crowds (albeit pro-Yankees, and pro-Red Sox). A lot of people want to write off Washington as a baseball market, using the attendance woes as ammunition. But I'm not willing to make that leap until the franchise puts a good product on the field (I'm talking for a full season, not a few weeks). Let's see what the Nats draw when they get good, before we start condemning the market.

I got a couple of e-mails about this subject after the story ran. It's true -- it appears as if Stephen isn't signing very many autographs for fans at the stadium. I've seen him do so only a couple of times. This could be because of his shyness, or the team's security concerns. But I know he's signing a lot of requests via the mail. Maybe you could take a chance with your ball, explain the situation in a note, and mail it to him.

I also agree that the scrums of autograph hounds are pretty unseemly. As  you can imagine, his signature is fairly valuable right now, because the market isn't flooded with it.

I hear all sorts of good things from scouts and other executives about the Nationals. The gist: the solid start is not a fluke. They may not be a .500 team at season's end, but they won't lose 100 games. People also realize what the Nationals have coming in the pipeline -- Strasburg, Wang, Detwiler, Zimmermann, Storen, etc. I expect they could play .500 ball the entire second half of the season.

I also don't know exactly how to answer this. But I'll take a stab. With anyone besides Stephen, I'd tend to agree with you. And I can tell you that some people within his inner circle were somewhat taken aback when he and Rachel decided to get married.

But all that said, I think it's a good move for him. Look, Rachel knew him before he got rich and famous. She has been described to me as his "emotional foundation." He had never lived away from home in his life until this year, so having her around must be a real comfort.

I hear what you're saying. But Stephen is a unique case.

Yeah, that sounded wrong to me, too. Thanks for looking it up.

I think it's fair to say he was more highly thought-of than either Price or Matusz coming out of college (as evidenced by their respective signing bonuses). But I wouldn't say he is "ahead" of them now -- simply because those two have put in significant time in the majors. In terms of pure ability and "ceiling," Strasburg is ahead of them, but until he actually does it, it's all just potential.

Actually, I think I'll pass -- because the examples I'm aware of involve security issues that are better left unsaid. Otherwise, I would have put them in the story!

Let me see if I can add a link here...

In case that didn't work: basically, by waiting long enough to prevent Strasburg from reaching "Super Two" status after the 2012 season (basically, the cut-off is late May), the Nationals could save somewhere between $15 million and $20 million (I used the example of Tim Lincecum and pegged the amount as $18 million) and can also delay his free agency by a year, thus gaining an extra year of his services.

Hope that explains it.