THE PRIMARY OCCUPANT of the White House might be the only executive in the free world second-guessed more often these days than Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, known in many circles as The Idiot Who Shut Down Stephen Strasburg. As part of their ongoing effort to win today, athletes play with broken arms and legs, are shot up and have fractured extremities taped down. Rizzo, on the other hand, sidelined one of the best players in the world to protect him from an injury that might happen.
The sports universe may never grow accustomed to this kind of deferred gratification. Here's former pitcher and former Nats color man Rob Dibble on Fox Sports Radio this August: "You don't get second chances in life and/or professional sports. The arrogance of Mike Rizzo to think, Oh, we're gonna have this long run." Dibble went on, "He's telling everybody, he knows more than orthopedic surgeons, pitching coaches, everybody." The commenters on sports blogs have been less diplomatic. "The fans here in DC think Rizzo is a