Innings Limit?

[murphydog]

I know Strasburg and possibly Moore might be on one this year. What about any other pitchers? Wainwright?

[themather]

Though I haven't seen a specific number attached to them, I have to think Tommy Hanson and Josh Johnson are at the very least going to get an extra day's rest here and there.

Johan Santana will certainly be on a limit as well, but that's provided he even makes it to inning #1 first.

[Element]

I was watching the Nationals game yesterday and they had Mike Rizzo on & the topic of Strasburg's innings cap came up. He said that there is NOT an exact innings cap on him this season. It could be 160, it could be 140 or it could be 170. They're just going to 'treat him like a young pitcher' and when he begins to look tired they'll shut him down. They will not skip starts unless needed like they attempted to do with Zimmermann last season. They want him on a normal schedule.

[interchange]

Should Strasburg remain healthy and strong all season, could he go all the way? I think the nats have a fair shot of competing for the playoffs, so they will want their ace.

[Element]

Should Strasburg remain healthy and strong all season, could he go all the way? I think the nats have a fair shot of competing for the playoffs, so they will want their ace.

Based on his tone during the broadcast, I would think that he wants to shut Strasburg down, but wants to leave it open in the event that the Nats are in the hunt. How would the media take it of they were just a few games back in August and they shut down their best starter? 'Throwing in the towel' could certainly cost the franchise a lot of money with the potential high leverage games that they could be playing in late in the season.

[bayside]

pushing him anywhere close to 200 innings seems absurd.

[lane_anasazi2]

I'd think Neftali Feliz would be on some kind of innings limit.

[Skin Blues]

pushing him anywhere close to 200 innings seems absurd.

Is there any actual precedent for pitchers returning from TJ surgery getting re-injured from pitching too many innings? I see all these limits but I don't see any justification for it. As far as I can tell an arbitrary line was set and eveyrbody conforms to it, because if you do what people expect and it goes wrong, it's bad luck. But if you don't follow the arbitrary guidelines and something goes wrong it was your fault. For that reason (I'm sure some philosopher has come up with a term for it) I can't say I really blame the managers but it still doesn't make much practical sense.

[silverZ]

Moore is a good bet for ~200 IP. Any RP turned SP should have an IP limit. Sale, Bard, Crow, Feliz, etc.

Then you have the post injury players coming back. If they don't have a hard IP cap they'll probably at least end up on the DL at some point. I wouldn't trust a guy like Strasburg to hold up for a full season. So even if they take the kid's gloves off and let him pitch you would be gambling to expect 150+ IP.