Are the Nationals fooling anybody?

In the wake of Stephen Strasburg's latest round of dominance - he's allowed one lonely single in twelve innings at AAA - it may be time for the Nationals to reevaluate their course of action.  When Washington send him down at the beginning of the season, they insisted it has nothing to do with his arbitration clock.  They wanted him to develop his arm strength in low-pressure situations.  They wanted him to work on a third pitch, his changeup, which had been utterly irrelevant during his college career.  And they wanted him to increase the speed of his delivery in the stretch and work on holding runners.

At this point, however, one has to wonder whether there is any utility for Strasburg pitching in the minors.  Assuming he's throwing his changeup consistently - and the scouts say that he is - it must be working pretty well, because he's got 40 strikeouts in 34 innings.  Presumably, they aren't too worried about developing his arm strength any further, considering they're pulling him after six innings, even when he has a no-hitter going.  And it's damned hard for him to work on holding runners when he's only allowing about three per start.

Strasburg's given up only one extra-base hit (a double) and has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 4-to-1.  I'm certainly not ready to argue that he'll immediately dominate the National League the way he's dominated the Eastern and International Leagues, but I just don't see how we can call what he's doing at AAA "development."  Pitchers "develop" by working out of jams, by responding to adversity, by facing hitters who are capable of beating them when they make even the slightest mistake, perhaps even when they don't.  None of those things are happening in Syracuse.

So, at this point, the only logical reason for Strasburg remaining in the minors is fiscal.  Don't get me wrong: that's a good reason!  The Nationals are not a probably not a contending team this season, despite their respectable record thusfar, and, learning from the Rays, Rangers, and Rockies, they are no doubt aware that team with their budget cannot make fly-by-night promotional decisions.  As soon as the Nationals are comfortable that Strasburg won't be making Super Two status, he'll be in the big leagues.  But for fans, both in Washington and across the country, that's really not soon enough.

What I see here is a problem that's going to need to be addressed at the next round of collective bargaining.  The Super Two rule was clearly put into effect in order to get more players to the arbitration earlier in their careers.  But one has to question at this point whether it is having that effect.  More and more teams delay the arrival of top prospects in order to get an extra four months of cheap labor.  Sure, the Cubs, who constantly throw money at their problems, can afford to promote Starlin Castro in May.  And the Rangers, seeing a division title very much in their grasps, are willing to bring Justin Smoak to the majors in April, future costs be damned.  In recent memory, however, there are a number of instances when a late promotion damaged a team's shot at contention.

For instance...

Fantastic Thoughts: Breeding Backstops

One of the much-publicized trends in contemporary baseball is the growing tendency of organizations towards grooming starting pitchers from within.  Teams like San Francisco, Colorado, Minnesota, and Toronto have dedicated themselves to building rotations out of pitchers who've never worked for another franchise.  Less observed, however, it the parallel trend: the homegrown starting catcher.

The poster-boy for this trend is Joe Mauer, who was born and bred in Minnesota, has won three batting titles for the Twins, and is now looking to spend the next decade or more as their field general.  Many pitcher's on the Twins staff have been throwing to Mauer regularly since they were in the minor leagues, and will continue to throw to him, tens of thousands of pitches, for as long as they remain with the organization.

Mauer is the best, but he's hardly the only.  Brian McCann has spent his whole career thusfar in Atlanta.  Yadier Molina has never worked for anybody but Tony LaRussa.  Russell Martin is the heart and soul of the Dodgers.  And, of course, there's Jorge Posada, who's spent a dozen seasons behind the plate in the Bronx.

All told, nearly two thirds of major-league organizations will open the 2010 season with a catcher they drafted, developed, and brought to the big leagues.  Compare that to other positions in the free agent era and you'll see it's a remarkably high percentage.  And, it's not likely to go down anytime soon.  Some of the most highly regarded prospects in the game are catchers.  Matt Wieters reached the bigs midway through 2009 and looks to be the O's backstop for most of the twenty-teens.  This season he's likely to be followed by Buster Posey in San Francisco, Carlos Santana in Cleveland, and Jason Castro in Houston, each of whom is widely considered their organization's #1 prospect.  Not far behind them are Max Ramirez (Rangers), Jesus Montero (Yankees), Angel Salome (Brewers), and Tyler Flowers (White Sox).

The rationale is quite straightforward.  The catcher has more leadership responsibilities than any player on the diamond.  He needs to have a intimate relationship with his pitching staff and, to a slightly lesser extent, his infielders.  His competency is greatly assisted by having a long track record with most of his teammates, in a way that a slugging first-baseman's isn't.

How is this relevant in fantasy baseball?  Well, the best way to groom a catcher who you anticipate counting on for years to come is to give him big-league experience, preferably in slightly lower intensity scenarios.  As such, many of these rookie backstops may break camp as backups or even get sent to AAA, but as their teams drop out of contention, more and more will become regulars.  In deeper leagues which require two catchers or in keeper leagues, all of the players mentioned above are relevant even on Draft Day, and those who don't get drafted should be watched closely, because your league could come down to whether you get your August production from Jason Castro or Jason Kendall.