The Washington Nationals have canceled a press conference for Stephen Strasburg to officially announce his retirement scheduled for Saturday, according to a report Thursday from The Athletic's Britt Ghiroli.
Strasburg, the former No. 1 overall draft pick and 2019 World Series MVP, was set to be honored by the club and have his jersey number retired by the club, but, according to Ghiroli, those plans have now changed.
Strasburg's plans to retire were first reported by the Washington Post in late August. The 35-year-old had managed to pitch just 31.1 innings since he signed a seven-year, $245 million contract in Dec. 2019 due to numerous injuries including surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in 2021.
According to Ghiroli, the Nats approached the pitcher about retiring and paying him the full amount remaining on his contract. "The team wants to change the terms," Ghiroli posted on X the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
The Post reported later on Thursday that Strasburg and the club had targeted Saturday for a press conference when the two sides discussed his plans to retire in August and that the pitcher's plans to retire have not changed, but both parties "have not finalized key details of his retirement terms."
Washington general manager Mike Rizzo was asked about what happens with Strasburg's contract and how it impacts the Nationals moving forward on Wednesday by The Sports Junkies.
"Well, first of all, Stephen Strasburg was one of the great pitchers of all time when he was on the mound. When he pitched he was elite and as good as anybody," Rizzo said on 106.7 The Fan. "His record is indicative of that... he's one of the elite playoff pitchers of all time and the only issue we had with him is that he didn't post as much as he wanted to or we wanted him to. But when he was on the mound, let's get this straight, he was as good as anybody in the game. I just want to get that straight before we move on to anything else.
"Yeah, he's under contract he signed a seven-year deal. I think he's got [3.5] years left on the deal and he'll get paid for that [3.5] year deal until he makes a decision on what his future is gonna be."
At the time of the Post's story about Strasburg's planned retirement, manager Dave Martinez said he would not "make any comments about what's going on" out of respect for the pitcher and his family.
“What I do know is that he means a lot to me, this organization and the fans. So I’ll just keep it at that," the manager said in late August, via the Post.