Forget the old narrative: D.C. is Strasburg's home for life

SAN DIEGO - Stephen Strasburg always wanted to go home to the West Coast. He wasn't an East Coast guy. He didn't like humidity, and his stats in hot and sticky weather would back up that claim. He was only a National because that's the organization that drafted him in 2009, not because he chose to play in Washington. Surely he'd want out as soon as the opportunity arose.

Oh, and he wilted under pressure and couldn't be trusted to come through in a big game.

Remember when that was the narrative surrounding Strasburg? Remember when he was thought of as a disappointment, a head case, a guy who would never live up to the massive hype that greeted him with his ballyhooed arrival to the big leagues?

Boy, has he changed that narrative over the years. Never more so than over the last two months, when he not only delivered the biggest starts of his career to lead the Nationals to their first World Series title but then chose to re-sign with them and ensure he will never throw a pitch for another major league organization.

That Monday's announcement of a record-setting, seven-year, $245 million contract came in Strasburg's hometown of all places - while the pitcher himself was back in suburban Washington with his family at their year-round home - well, that should forever answer any question anyone might still have about his priorities both on and off the field.

"I think some of the greatest players in the game, they have the origins of where they're raised and their home that they'll never forget. Then they also have their baseball home," agent Scott Boras said. "And I think winning this championship, and the relationship with the Lerner family and with Mike (Rizzo) and his staff, it's been a continuum of communication. Of really listening to the needs of players. And really watching and trusting that they understood who Stephen Strasburg was so that they could reach the pinnacle of both his performance and their objectives.

"The patience required to do that for ownership and the organization to go through something like that, it took on a heavy burden. And I just think that throughout this relationship, Stephen has recognized that and has now signed two contracts with them to continue his legacy with the franchise."

Indeed. Strasburg first made his intentions clear in May 2016 when he signed his first seven-year extension with the Nationals, only months before he would have been eligible to become a free agent. He didn't choose to go back home to San Diego, or somewhere nearby on the West Coast. He chose to stay in D.C. and complete his long journey to personal and team success that began when he was a 21-year-old rookie with a triple-digit fastball and his original elbow ligament.

Strasburg mentioned back then how he appreciated the way the Nationals took care of him along the way. That, of course, included the organization's controversial decision to shut him down late in the 2012 season, preventing him from pitching in the playoffs in order to protect that elbow ligament, which had been replaced via Tommy John surgery in August 2010.

He didn't like it at the time. And his teammates didn't like it, either. We can debate until the end of time whether the Nationals would've had a better chance of winning the World Series that year with Strasburg pitching than without, but it certainly didn't help their chances.

Strasburg, though, understood the Nationals (specifically, Rizzo) were doing what they felt was best for his long-term chances of staying healthy and avoiding another major arm injury. And though his career has included its share of stints on the injured list, he hasn't suffered any more major arm injuries. His elbow has remained intact. And this year he made 33 starts and led the league with 209 regular season innings pitched, then added another five starts (plus one relief appearance) and 36 1/3 innings while becoming the first pitcher in history to go 5-0 in a single postseason.

This was the payoff for the shutdown seven years ago.

"We came to them with doctor's information about protecting a player that caused great concern about the team's performance that year, but the club took a long-term interest in that player," Boras recalled Monday. "I think that Stephen Strasburg has rewarded the Nationals with a championship. His performance, a World Series MVP, because of the position that this organization took to take the medical advice and protect the player long term, even though the immediate effect caused a great deal of angst among the club and the fans.

"I must say that, for Stephen, for him to establish a legacy and wear the curly W for his career, was something that was very important to him. And I think it was because he knew that people in this organization cared deeply about him, and always cared about his interests and the interests of his family. And because of that, he decided to stay at home and stay in one uniform and remain a Washington National for the remainder of his career."

When it's all said and done, Strasburg - who because of his lengthy service time now has full no-trade rights - will have spent 17 years as a National. Here's the full list of pitchers who spent an entire career of at least 17 years with one franchise: Walter Johnson, Ted Lyons, Red Faber, Mel Harder, Jim Palmer, Mariano Rivera, Bob Feller and Bob Gibson. Only Palmer and Rivera played in the free agency era.

The Nats never even really pondered a future without Strasburg.

"It wasn't a question," manager Davey Martinez said. "I really felt that, if things go all right, that he'll be back."

Not that there isn't some risk for the Nationals here. It was a bit of a gamble to give him a seven-year contract that ran past his 35th birthday. His new deal now has him signed past his 38th birthday.

"I'll say the same thing I said when we signed Max Scherzer and Jayson Werth: There's always risk with seven-year deals. With seven-year deals for pitchers, even more risk," Rizzo said. "We felt that the reward greatly outweighed the risk. It was a position of need. It was the player that we identified and wanted. And we knew him better than any other player in the market, maybe better than any player in the league. And we made a commitment to him, and he made a commitment to us."

The Nationals have been making commitments to Strasburg for more than a decade now. And Strasburg has been making commitments to the Nationals this entire time as well. It's a relationship that has worked out as well - if not better - than either side could reasonably have predicted all those years ago.

And now that relationship officially is for life.

Stephen Strasburg will never pitch for another franchise. And if he keeps up his current rate, he might just wind up in Cooperstown someday wearing a curly W cap on his plaque.

How's that for changing the narrative?