2009 number one overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals is toying with the Minor Leaguers at Double-A Harrisberg. He pitched five no-hit, no-walk, near perfect innings on Tuesday night (his catcher dropped a third strike that resulted in a base runner). So what’s keeping him from joining the Big League club?

It’s always about the money. By waiting until mid-season to summon Strasburg, it would delay his eligibility for arbitration for another year and thus saving the team potentially millions of dollars in salary.

According to Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post, he’s expected to make a handful of starts at Class AAA Syracuse before the team calls him up around early June.

I really don’t buy this arbitration logic. The Nats are 12-10 and 1 game out of first place in the NL East. This kid could inject new life into this team and potentially win them 5 additional games if they called him up now versus calling him up in June. Every little thing counts in baseball and they need to take advantage of Strasburg now.