STRASBURG NEAR SHUTDOWN The absolutely ridiculous case of Stephen Strasburg appears to have finally reached it's conclusion. For MONTHS the Nationals have said that Strasburg has an innings pitched limit, but that's all they would say. It had been reported that he would be shut down at 160 innings. The club denied that was the case. It was then reported that 180 innings was his limit. The club denied that. Well, guess what? It's gonna end up being about 165-170 which, what do you know, is pretty much what EVERYONE thought it would be despite the Nats doing their darnedest to deny it since March. Up to 156.1 innings on the year, manager Davey Johnson told the press that it looks like Strasburg will make two more starts before having his season shut down. Currently Strasburg leads all NL hurlers with an 11.23 K/9 mark, and his fastball velocity of 95.7 mph also leads the way. The Nationals will stick to the plan though, flawed as it might be. They're telling their team, currently with the best record on the NL, that 2012 doesn't matter. They're going to shut down their best player for the last three weeks of the year and through the playoffs. Sorry everyone else, but we have to protect Strasburg for the future (as I've written many times it doesn't matter how closely they monitor his workload, pitches an innings aren't the issue. The problem is that Strasburg has faulty mechanics). I don't get it. When the Nationals season ends short of the World Series their club, front office, and fans will be left to wonder what could have been if the team had continued to pitch the best arm they had. BUSY 24 HOURS FOR CARDINALS That title is certainly apropos... Lance Berkman's knee isn't close to 100 percent an as such he will likely be limited to mere pinch hitting duties over the final month of the season. Even at less than 100 percent I'm still betting the old fella can swing the stick well enough to have a few big hits the rest of the way. It seems like this might be the end of the line for the switch hitter so he'll be motivated to do whatever he can to help out. Chris Carpenter hopes to be able to return from neck and shoulder woes before the end of the 2012 season. To that end he will face live batters Tuesday as he continues to work his way back from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in July. I don't know if it's reasonable to expect him to make it back, and I wouldn't be counting on him to enter the starting rotation, but NL-only leaguers can hope. Rafael Furcal's elbow is jacked up. At this point surgery is not indicated since his UCL is not torn, and there is a flicker of hope that he might be able to get back out onto the field by the end of the month. Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma will fill in until Furcal proves capable of playing. Shelby Miller, a legitimate top-10 prospect in baseball on the hill, will be promoted to the big leagues Tuesday. Owner of 70 Ks and just seven walks over his 59.1 innings, he's on the mother of all rolls right now. Miller isn't slated to start with the big league club this year, he'll work out of the pen before vying for a rotation spot in 2013. Oscar Taveras, one of the best outfield prospects in baseball, might be called up to help off the bench when the 2012 Double-A season ends for Springfield. All Taveras has done is hit .323-23-94-83 with a .957 OPS and 10 steals in 123 games on the farm. The Cardinals are 9.5 games behind the Reds in the NL Central and tied with the Braves for the NL Wild Card lead. THIS AND THATJ.P. Arencebia (hand) looks likely to return to action for the Blue Jays at the end of next week. He's been out since July 25th which might cause you to forget that he had 16 homers and 50 RBIs in 81 games this season. Hand/wrist injuries can sap a guys power, so be wary of him picking right up where he left off. Francisco Cordero's injured toe is better, but now his shoulder is acting up being described as “cranky.” My questions. Do you even know what team Cordero is on? Hint, it's the Astros. Do you even care? Need a .300 hitter at catcher? Ryan Hanigan is hitting .285 on the year but over his last 100 at-bats he's sitting at a cool .300 with a .405 OBP. You could do a lot worse for your second catcher, even if he doesn't have any power (two homers in 270 at-bats). Speaking of Reds' catchers, Devin Mesoraco has been recalled. Look for him to see some game action, though he's been a major disappointment this season hitting .210 with five homers in 52 games. John Mayberry just wrapped up a solid month of August. The Phillies outfielder hit .290 with a .838 OPS over 27 games as he went deep five times, knocked in 13 and scored 12 times. He's started off September in the same productive manner with four hits and two runs scored in two games. Speaking of Phillies' outfielders, boy is that Juan Pierre washed up. Wait, he's hitting .300 with 32 steals. Never mind. Carlos Santana is hitting .248 with 14 homers, 61 RBIs and 55 runs. Those are solid totals for a catcher, but for a backstop who was taken #1 or #2 in the majority of drafts this year that clearly isn't what was hoped for. Still, the young Indians catcher has been killing if for weeks now. Over his last three games he has five hits, five RBIs and four runs scored. Moreover, going back to the All-Star Game this guy has gone deep nine times with 31 RBIs over 40 games. He's also hit .287 with a .919 OPS. Killing it like I said.Dan Uggla is likely to lose playing time the rest of the way. Batting .208 with a .713 OPS on the year, it was only a matter of time before the Braves made the decision (newly acquired Jeff Baker would likely pick up some extra work). History is a powerful thing, and Uggla has never failed to go deep 27 times with 82 RBIS and 84 runs in any of his previous six big league seasons. There's no way he'll get to those numbers this season, but even with all the horrible work at the dish he's still driven 17 balls into the seats, produced 64 RBIs and scored 72 times. If he gets those numbers up to 20-75-80 on the season, it will be the 7th straight year that he will have reached all three totals. No second baseman in history has done that 7-years in a row (Uggla is currently tied with Jeff Kent for the longest streak of all-time for the position).Joey Votto is close to a return from his knee issues. Many thought it would happen this past weekend, then we were told Monday, now we're hoping for Tuesday. It's not that he's had any setbacks mind you, it's just that the Reds refuse to let up and with a nearly insurmountable lead of 9.5 games over the Cardinals why not give Votto a couple of extra days if he needs it? Of course, his fantasy owners hate the decision. Ray Flowers can be heard daily on Sirius/XM Radio on The Fantasy Drive on Sirius 210 and XM 87 from 7-10 PM EDT, Monday through Friday. Ray's baseball analysis can be found at BaseballGuys.com and his minute to minute musings can be located at the BaseballGuys' Twitter account.