"We're still evaluating the situation with Stephen," said Rizzo. "But as of now, nothing has changed. He will detonate in a little over two weeks."
The Nationals decided to strap a bomb to their franchise pitcher "to protect him."
"He is coming off of arm surgery and we didn't want him to pitch too many innings," said Rizzo. "We considered putting an innings limit on him, but we knew he would want to pitch beyond that and — if we found ourselves in playoff contention — that we might also be tempted to let him pitch the whole season. But then we thought of the bomb idea. This makes sure Stephen doesn't pitch more than he should."
Strasburg says he has tried to disarm the device that is strapped to his back.
"I want to keep pitching," he said. "More than that, I don't want to die. But I went to San Diego State and didn't even graduate. I don't know what I'm doing. It just looks like a bunch of wires to me."
Rizzo says a decision will be made on Strasburg by the end of next week.
"Stephen is a good kid," he said. "I don't want him to be blown apart. But sometimes in this job you have to make the hard decisions. I accept that responsibility."
