To Whom It May Concern:
On behalf of the city of San Diego, I would like to formally request that the Washington Nationals bring up Stephen Strasburg to make a start against the San Diego Padres during the series taking place May 26-29.
As his hometown supporters, we have seen Strasburg rise from a barely-recruited high school pitcher to national phenom in just a few short years. We are the people who packed Tony Gwynn Stadium just to get a chance to see a future ace in the making, and we were the ones who were sad to see him go when you gave him the richest contract in the MLB Draft’s storied history.
Before the season started your General Manager, Mike Rizzo, said that he planned on Strasburg pitching at least 50 innings in the minors before turning in around 100 for the big club. Strasburg is now up to 40 1/3 innings this year with an astonishing 0.89 ERA and 49 strikeouts compared to just 10 walks. But, as we have been exposed to from our own “thrifty” team, we also understand your reasons for leaving him in the minors for the beginning of this season. You want to save money. That’s fine. In fact, I encourage it.
However, now that the clock is turning to late May, the time has come to expose the league to the best pitching prospect anyone has ever seen.
By keeping him out of the majors for the first 20 days of this season you managed to delay his free agency an extra year, all the way until after the 2016 season – brilliant. Then, by leaving him down just a little longer he has successfully avoided the dreaded “Super Two” status, which enables a player to receive much more in an arbitration case than in his early years with a team – fantastic.
But now, it is time.
Conclusion of the Letter After the Jump:
We can look at the comparable cases of other young phenoms and see that your organization is in the clear.
In 2007, when the Giants called up Tim Lincecum, they miscalculated his service time that he would acquire that season by just a week, and it has already cost them a cool $9,000,000 this season as opposed to the $700,000 that he would have otherwise made. But his first major league game was on May 6 of that season. 
If you look at the case of catcher Matt Wieters — a top pick from the Orioles organization — he was called up last season on May 29 and avoided earning “Super Two” status by almost two full weeks. I admit, delaying free agency is an inexact science. Nevertheless, the buzz has lasted long enough. And what better place will you find for Strasburg to make his debut? He would be pitching in the most pitcher-friendly park in the league against the one of the lowest scoring teams in all of baseball.
Currently, most experts are guessing that Strasburg will make his debut in a June 4 start against the Cincinnati Reds in Washington. The first-place Reds are a high-powered offense who, while striking out their fair share, offers much more power and offensive potential than the Padres. While I cannot guarantee a win for Strasburg in his first career start, if it were to come in San Diego I can tell you that he would be cheered for just as if he were playing in his home park. It would be a comfortable landing spot for the young fireballer, and a night that many San Diegans would appreciate for a long time.
In addition, if he were to make his first start on Saturday, May 28, it would likely be a matchup with Mat Latos of the Padres and easily headline every sports highlight package for the next few days. 2010 has proven that you are no longer the whipping boy of the Braves, Phillies and Mets out in the NL East. Now is the point where you join the Tampa Bay Rays as a team that has crawled out of years of mediocrity and baseball irrelevance to take your place as one of the young and exciting teams.
It is time Nationals. But it all has to start with one roster move.
Jeff Creps is a contributor to 619 Sports from our media partner SDNN.
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