The Washington Nationals pitching sensation has a significant tear in his right elbow and will likely require Tommy John surgery. That means you won’t be able to bet on Strasburg vs. the offshore betting baseball odds the rest of this season and probably all of next season as well.
Bookmaker odds had favored Strasburg in almost all of his starts this season. He was simply amazing for Washington but his season is over. Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said that he expects Strasburg will require 12 to 18 months of rehab. That would put him out for the rest of this season, all of next season, and he would not return until 2012.
Strasburg’s Numbers: Strasburg signed a record $15.1 million dollar contract a year ago with the Nationals. He looked worth every penny this season as he struck out 14 batters in his big league debut. He was 5-3 with a 2.91 ERA with 92 strikeouts in 68 innings and he dominated opposing hitters.
Pitchers Can Still be Great after Tommy John Surgery – Just because a pitcher has Tommy John surgery does not mean his career is over. St. Louis starting pitcher Chris Carpenter has been great since coming back from the surgery. He is 31-9 with a 2.55 ERA. A.J. Burnett, John Smoltz and Kerry Wood are three big name pitchers who have done well after having the surgery. Not to be left out of that discussion are Tim Hudson of the Braves and Francisco Liriano of the Twins who are both having excellent seasons.
Washington without Strasburg: The Nationals were actually worth watching when Strasburg was on the mound. They were also worth betting at Sbg global.com when he was pitching. The Nationals are still not a good team and now they have no real hope of being a .500 team next season without Strasburg. They will have to hope that his surgery goes well and that he is ready for the 2012 season. That is the next time the Nationals can actually have hope of getting out of last place in the National League East and be worth betting more often than not.