Stephen Strasburg, as we all know, is heading toward Tommy John surgery that will keep him out for 12-16 months.

People had speculated that his “inverted W” pitching style would break down his arm, the only question was when. He puts so much pressure on his arm as he cocks from a karate-kid like stance, leading with his elbow, before firing it in at 100+ MPH its actually surprising that it didn’t happen sooner. But looking on the bright side, at least this is “fixable” to some degree. Plenty of players come back from the surgery and do great, the namesake of the surgery showed you can be even better and last longer. Had it been his shoulder the dark clouds would be circling a lot longer over Nats ballpark.

Rob Dibble, who took two days off after he was placed in hot water for criticizing the team’s handling of Strasburg and not allowing him to play hurt (note, he didn’t say he should play “injured” but still felt they were babying him), will probably have to eat his foot for the time being.

But now we have 2011, a year in which we likely won’t have much more success but a necessary step nonetheless to getting to a playoff contending team. Dunn may be gone. Bryce Harper surely won’t make the scene, he can’t even buy porno or cigarettes yet. Jordan Zimmerman is back and may find himself as the defacto ace of the club for the time being, should we hang on to Livan and try to maintain the rotation as it was. But young players like Ian Desmond will improve, prospects will fill out the bullpen, and coaching (which we need to remember Riggleman has only had one season and a month to serve as the manager) can continue to grow together…Pat Listach better start sending runners as well, come on Nyger Morgan could be all the way back to first base before some of those balls make it to the infield when he puts up the stop sign.

But there is still an air of optimism in the Nats faithful however, no one expected 2011 to be “the year” and with Harper floating around there will be a second big debut in the future with the return of Strasburg…. perfect for the “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” marking plan featuring Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, and Strasburg (respectfully).

Bottom line: Come back soon and come back healthy Stephen, we miss what glimpses of a potential future winning team you gave us.