Tired of all the Stephen Strasburg speculation? Yahoo!Sports.com's Tim Brown(@TBrownYahoo) got the Twitterers retweeting again this morning with a message which reported that a, "Source close to Strasburg on debut: [Said] It looks like June 8, but that could change." The Nationals, as of yesterday afternoon, have to decided to keep their decision to themselves as Washington Post writer Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) reported Wednesday afternoon that:
"Manager Jim Riggleman says the #Nats have a pretty good idea when #Strasburg will debut. he said they'll wait to announce it, if at all."
One thing is for sure, as both Dave Nichols from the Nats News Network in an article entitled, "J.D. Martin to Start Saturday in San Diego" and Mr. Kilgore again at the Washington Post in a Nationals Journal post entitled, "J.D. Martin likely to start Saturday", reported last night that the Nationals would bring the titular 27-year-old right-hander, J.D. Martin, out to San Diego to start on Saturday in place of the injured Scott Olsen. In 6 starts and 36.1 IP for Triple-A Syracuse, Martin's (2-1) with a 2.97 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 1.5 BB/9 and 5.2 K/9 so far this season.
Which means the Chiefs could be losing two starters in the next two weeks, if Strasburg gets the call to join Martin on the Nats' 25-man roster, meaning one or two Double-AA arms could be looking to make a jump while some on the Nats' major league roster might assume new roles. The Nats' Skipper Jim Riggleman was asked in a pregame press conference last weekend if he'd been following Martin's recent starts with Syracuse, and Chiefs' Skipper Trent Jewett was asked by MLB Network Radio Inside Pitch hosts Jim Bowden and Casey Stern in an interview yesterday whether or not Strasburg was ready, here's what they each had to say:
• Jim Riggleman on J.D. Martin:
Jim Riggleman: "...J.D. Martin is a guy you pull for, you know, he really did a good job here last year, and got the short end of the stick a little bit this year and didn't get great consideration for the rotation, and we went some other directions with some people and then we needed a starter, it wasn't his day to pitch, so we brought [Matt] Chico up and Chico did a great job. We definitely, if we need a pitcher, we definitely will give strong consideration to J.D. cause he's certainly earned it and he's been a loyal soldier down there for us."
• Chiefs' Skipper Trent Jewett on whether or not Strasburg can help the Nats in the big leagues now:
Trent Jewett: "Without a doubt, no question in my mind that he could help. He's well beyond his years, I think mature in every regard, he understands, I think, the concepts of pitching, which a lot of times don't come until later in a guy's career. His stuff in unquestionable, but the fact that he knows how to utilize it, the fact that he's a good self evaluator, he handles pressure, so there's no doubt in my mind that when the time does come he will be a big piece and he will be a positive piece of that ballclub, so I would answer you, yes, he's ready when you want him and you will be very happy with the results that come from Stephen..."
June 8th? 9th? 10th? Who knows, but Strasburg will be ready when he does, and Martin will be on the mound Saturday in PETCO.