Strasburg seemingly will benefit from 2012 call

Almost exactly four years ago, as the early-season success of Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals captured national attention, Bill Shaikin wrote in the Los Angeles Times about the Nationals’ plan to shut down their young ace.

“You have a five-year plan,” Strasburg’s agent, Scott Boras, told Shaikin then. “Do you want to take the risk of pitching that starter for a full season and not having him for the other four years?”

It’s now 2016, the fifth year of the five-year plan.

Did the Nationals make the right decision in 2012, when Strasburg’s season ended Sept. 7 after 159 1/3 innings? Some say yes, because he’s healthy and thriving today, six years after Tommy John surgery. Others say no, because the Nationals have yet to win a postseason series, much less a World Series championship, since baseball returned to our nation’s capital in 2005.

The debate may persist for years, but the symbiotic relationship between the Nationals and Strasburg — at least, in its original incarnation — is about to end: Strasburg is eligible for free agency after this season.

Could he re-sign with the Nationals? Sure. But there’s absolutely no indication that Boras is working on an extension for Strasburg. It would defy logic, not to mention Boras’ track record, to forgo an opportunity at free agency when Strasburg, who turns 28 in July, is on track to be the most coveted pitcher on the open market this winter.

Thus, it’s entirely likely that, by taking measures to preserve his arm in 2012, the Nationals provided Strasburg the best opportunity to sign a lucrative contract somewhere else four years later. The best hope for managing principal owner Theodore N. Lerner and general manager Mike Rizzo is that Strasburg will help them earn a World …

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