All Cousins did was come to town with no fanfare, endure a primadonna RGII, keep his head down, and get better every year.

Strasburg on the other hand came to town with all of the fanfare, did not protest his 2012 shutdown (it was also endorsed by Scott Boras), gets hurt all of the time, and signed a random extension in the last year. His expectations are higher and he deserves a lot less benefit of the doubt.

Today was an example of why getting your story right before you tell it is important - it was a clusterF. But it also came as no surprise to anyone that Strasburg may have declined the opportunity to pitch.

I'm holding out hope that he isn't THAT mentally fragile and this was just a botched attempt at gamesmanship by Dusty.

but, again, the only way this doesn't blow up in their face is if they advance.