re: A pitcher hasn’t pitched 250 innings in 14 years. That's wild.

It will never happen ever again. That was then, this is now. And I don't romanticize what was, for everyone who survived like Ryan, there were four others who ended up on the junk heap. Ryan should not be held up as the standard, he was an absolute freak of nature.

The basic problem is the nature of the game has irrevocably changed. Back when people threw all those innings, every single solitary second of a game from the opening pitch of the first inning to the last pitch of the ninth inning was not a "game moment." As in winning and losing was riding on literally every action taken in the game.

There was a certain rhythm to the game, ebbs and flows, the pitchers may have been throwing a jillion pitches but they also would pace themselves, even Ryan. It wasn't balls to the wall, pedal to the metal all-out on every freaking pitch.

It is now, with little middle infielders like Altuve (not picking on him, he's a representative example that popped into my mind to amplify the point) capable of driving the ball 450 on any pitch. So teams want an arm out there capable of going balls to the wall, pedal to the metal all-out with every pitch.

Plus there's the fact that these people are business investments as much as they are athletes and competitors these days.