MILWAUKEE – The crummy news that Washington Nationals rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg likely would require Tommy John surgery had to send chills through the Pirates organization today.

If this could happen to Strasburg, 22, then what was to prevent a similar occurrence with Jameson Taillon, 18, Stetson Allie, 19, and/or Luis Heredia, 16, the stud pitchers that it spent $11.35 million to sign earlier this month?

Answer: Not a dang thing.

As Pirates manager John Russell said before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, “Yeah, you never know. You never know. You try to protect guys as best as you can, but there are certain things that are unforeseen.”

Some optimists have tried to put a positive spin on the situation. A bunch of guys in the last All-Star Game had Tommy John surgeries in their careers, they pointed out. See, no problem.

Back at Reality, history tells us that Strasburg isn't likely to be the same again. Even if he does make a complete recovery, his career will be set back at least one year and probably longer. Meanwhile, the franchise invested $15.1 million in the kid, not to mention the 102 losses that it took to secure the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft, none of which it will get back.

What's more, the Nationals hoped to lure free agents based on the presence of Strasburg in the rotation. Now what? Hey, we have Sean Burnett and Nyjer Morgan still!

The ordeal points to another massive flaw in the the Major League Baseball system. The major-market teams invest their money in the CC Sabathias and Roy Halladays, proven megatalents that have no history of significant injuries. The mid-market ones are supposed to build around kids that have no major league track record, health or otherwise.

If I'm the Pirates, then the first thing that I do on Sunday is get down on my knees and say a novena.