Washington Nationals Reportedly Cancel Stephen Strasburg's Retirement Announcement

According to a report from The Athletic, the Washington Nationals have changed course and won't honor Stephen Strasburg on Saturday as initially scheduled.

The Washington Nationals have canceled Stephen Strasburg's upcoming retirement press conference, The Athletic's Britt Ghiroli reported Thursday.

The club had initially scheduled a retirement press conference for Saturday, which would reportedly be followed by a jersey retirement ceremony and farewell at Nationals Park. According to Ghiroli, however, the Nationals have "changed course."

Initial reports of Strasburg's intentions to retire first surfaced on Aug. 24.

Strasburg is in the fourth year of a seven-year, $245 million deal that he signed with Washington after winning World Series MVP in 2019. However, severe nerve damage and a string of other injuries have limited the 35-year-old right-hander to just eight starts and 31.1 innings since he put pen to paper.

As sources told Ghiroli, the Nationals were the ones to approach Strasburg about retiring and paying him the full value of his remaining contract. The team reportedly now wants to change the terms.

According to The Washington Post's Jesse Dougherty, Strasburg's plans to retire have not changed.

The Nationals just extended manager Davey Martinez in August, but have yet to reach a deal with general manager Mike Rizzo, who has held the position since 2009. Owner Mark Lerner was open to selling the team last offseason – even fielding a $2 billion offer from Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics owner Ted Leonsis – but those talks were put on hold heading into the season.

Lerner inherited the Nationals from his father, Ted, in 2018. Strasburg and Rizzo had both been part of the organization for nearly a decade at that point, as Rizzo selected the eventual three-time All-Star with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2009 MLB Draft.

Strasburg went on to play 13 seasons with the Nationals, going 113-62 with a 3.24 ERA, 1.096 WHIP and 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Although he may not be in line to make the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Strasburg was still one of the most dominant pitchers of the 2010s.

Since the franchise ditched Montreal for DC in 2005, Strasburg ranks behind only Max Scherzer and Ryan Zimmerman in WAR while donning a Nationals jersey. Thanks to the current strife going on behind the scenes, it remains to be seen when Strasburg's No. 37 will hang from the upper decks in Washington.

The Nationals have only retired one jersey in their current state – Zimmerman's No. 11, in June 2022 – while all of the other retired numbers belong to former Montreal Expos players. According to Dougherty, there have been discussions about retiring Strasburg's jersey in 2024.

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