I sure hope Stephen Strasburg gets better signals from his catchers than he's been getting from his organization.
Despite every indication that he will begin the season in the minor leagues, Washington Nationals manager Jim Riggleman refuses to give a direct answer on the subject, reports Bill Ladson of MLB.com, leading us to believe that he has yet to make a decision on the immediate future of the team's top prospect. Riggleman's best quote:
"I think it's going to come down to a philosophical decision more so than a performance decision."
That's correct, it should. But shouldn't the philosophy already be in place? If Strasburg's performance really has no effect on where he ends up, what's the harm in just announcing where he will begin the season?
Maybe they've told Strasburg their plan in private, but I fail to see the benefit in keeping the decision a mystery from the public. Perhaps they want to see how he responds to being in a competition for a job, but if they lead him to believe that he's in a competition, they're going to be hard pressed to convince him at the end of the spring that he wasn't one of the five best pitchers in camp.
And if they really haven't made up their mind yet, then shame on them for failing to have a pre-determined philosophy for how to handle what they have already decided is a philosophical decision.
