Down Goes Strasburg

[ashie62]

http://mlb-facts-and-rumors.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/24154518

I truly hope he recovers better than Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

68 ML innings and now Tommy John surgery...yikes..

[Guest Edgy DC]

They couldn't have handled him any more gently.

Sometimes I think the best strategy is to start all draftees off with Tommy John surgery and get it out of the way.

[metirish]

WOW.....but hey the Nats got a spike in tickets sales when they brought him up.

[DocTee]

As I mentioned elsewhere, a big FU to Rob Dibble, who questioned the kid's toughness after he was removed from his last start.

[seawolf17]

You never like to see guys get hurt, but you know what? Screw him, and screw the Nationals. This helps the Mets.

Maybe -- just maybe -- babying these young pitchers doesn't work.

[MFS62]

When I first saw him pitch, I thought his arm motion wasn't as fluid as it should be for someone who throws as hard as he does. It is a "short arm" motion (down, Fman, down!) that puts stress on the elbow.
His motion reminded me of a Pitcher the Mets got from KC (Appier ?) who threw the same way, and writers used to say he was an arm injury waiting to happen.

Later

[metirish]

DocTee wrote: As I mentioned elsewhere, a big FU to Rob Dibble, who questioned the kid's toughness after he was removed from his last start.

yeah , what a jerk he is...." suck it up kid and go pitch".......

[MFS62]

metirish wrote: DocTee wrote: As I mentioned elsewhere, a big FU to Rob Dibble, who questioned the kid's toughness after he was removed from his last start. yeah , what a jerk he is...." suck it up kid and go pitch".......

I hope Dibble sucks up a lot of crow for that comment.
Later

[DocTee]

"So for me, a little bit has to be put back on Strasburg here," Dibble said. "OK, you throw a pitch, it bothers your arm, and you immediately call out the manager and the trainer? Suck it up, kid. This is your profession. You chose to be a baseball player. You can't have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow. ... Stop crying, go out there and pitch. Period."

[seawolf17]

Rob Dibble only had six productive seasons. I would have thought he was a ten- or twelve-year vet.

[Centerfield]

Pitching phenom goes down with Tommy John.

Dibble says something stupid.

It must be summer with all these reruns.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Holy geez. What a dirtbag.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

seawolf17 wrote: Rob Dibble only had six productive seasons. I would have thought he was a ten- or twelve-year vet.

A couple of arm surgeries, and only four of the six were injury-free.

It's like Miss Havisham conducting relationship counseling. He's not worth our hat.

[metirish]

i remember Bobby V had some choice words for Dibble when he was Mets manager, can't remember the circumstances though.

[DocTee]

Dibble complaines after Estes thre behind Clemens instead of at him following a Piazza beaning in the WS.

"I have no use for this guy...Get him off the team" or words to that effect.

[DocTee]

God, I miss Bobby.

He was the most unprofessional player to ever play, or one of them," Mets manager Bobby Valentine told the New York Daily News, referring to the former relief pitcher-turned-commentator. "He threw bats in the stands, threw balls in the stands, fought with his manager. When he hit people it was because they hit a home run off him, not protection for his teammates." "This is the reason people switch off ESPN, because you have people with no knowledge of the game or the English language presenting the game we love." Valentine lamented how sports television is becoming a venue for controversy, rather than informed analysis. "When I was in uniform with him in Cincinnati (as a coach in 1993) he was known as anything but an enforcer," Valentine told reporters. "But he was known for what he's known for now, as a big mouth."

[Frayed Knot]

Dibble has been "on vacation" for a couple days. No one at MASN is saying why, but it's thought to stem either from the Strasburg comments or some other questionable on-air diarrhea (I forget the details) for which he later had to apologize.
I think the official explanation is that he's "spending time with his family" or something like that.

Well, at least we know what the lead story in the Washington Post sports section will be tomorrow ... seven pages on the Redskins pre-season game of course.





All this comes the day after they introduced Bryce Harper to the media.
Now it may be a race to see who gets there/back first.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Frayed Knot wrote: Dibble has been "on vacation" for a couple days. No one at MASN is saying why, but it's thought to stem either from the Strasburg comments or some other questionable on-air diarrhea (I forget the details) for which he later had to apologize. I think the official explanation is that he's "spending time with his family" or something like that.

Who marries that?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Ray Knight providing Rob Dibble cover:

"Rob is a tough guy," Knight said of his MASN co-worker. "I saw him endure a lot of things. I know he went on the DL a couple times. I mean, he's speaking from a place through experience. He's tough and very, very strong mentally. But you can't force or even take a miniscule chance with something like this. "You know, it's not about being babied. I've known Rob a long time, and sometimes he says things out of passion, because he loves this team. I mean, he loves this team. He pulls for these guys so hard. And there's sometimes I can just tell when he's on the air, he gets a little quiet when he gets perturbed with the team not playing well. It's not his team, but we do have a vested interest in the team. And you don't want to be homers, but you're with these guys every day, and you care about them, and you want them to do right. "I just think he got a little overzealous in that deal, and he didn't mean it the way it came out. Sometimes he gets on things and it almost seems like a rant, but I just know him well enough that he wouldn't say anything to hurt that kid for a million dollars. He just wouldn't do it. But the fact is, you cannot take a chance. I don't care if he's got a hangnail and it doesn't feel comfortable to him, then you slow down, evaluate it, take a look, because you can't afford to be wrong. You just can't.... "As valuable as that right or left arm is, you better be cautious, almost freakishly sure of everything. So, I hate that all that got blown out for Rob's sake, and for Stephen too. This kid, he's special, but you've got to treat them all the same, and I believe the Nationals do."

That's just Ray being his idea of a pro and protecting a teammate. Here they are back in June on the spot. Ray Knight's annoying here but Dibble is the stupid arrogant cousin-in-law that makes you stop coming home for Thanksgiving. Even his body language is bush. Hell, especially his body language. "Kiss my ring, you bitches!"

[Guest Edgy DC]

Let's get the entirety of this drool out here:

"Ok, you throw a pitch, it bothers your arm, and you immediately call out the manager and the trainer? Suck it up, kid. This is your profession. You chose to be a baseball player. You can't have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow." "What Mike Rizzo and Jim Riggleman do, that's totally different," Dibble said. "They have to think of the long-term ramifications of what they're doing right now with this kid's career. As far as this kid? Stop crying, go out there and pitch. Period." "This is the major leagues. This is not college any more. You're not on scholarship. You're being paid to do the job and guys depend on you, and I think it's unfortunate that the Nationals and the team are in a situation here where this kid now, he feels any kind of arm pain, he's gonna call you out? That's scary to me." "You give these guys $15 million bucks. Please. Get your butt out there and play every fifth day."

Of course, the victim isn't Strassburg, who certainly wasn't wounded by anything Dibble said. The victims are all the young players (like Jon Niese) who are going to go out there and hurt themselves badly trying to play through dangerous injuries in order to live up to the standard of Dibble's (and other's) foolish ideal of a real cowboy.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: They couldn't have handled him any more gently. Sometimes I think the best strategy is to start all draftees off with Tommy John surgery and get it out of the way.

The Yanx actually spent a 1st round draft pick on a guy (Andrew Brackman) a couple years back knowing in advance that he needed TJS.
On top of that he was mostly a basketball player who was pretty raw in pitching to begin with but they liked his "upside".
Three years later he's just now starting to show some promise although the feeling now is that he'll be a reliever at best.

[metirish]

Dibble is a fool , that we know. What about the Nolan Ryan's out there , is his philosophy all that different than Dibble's?


I am probably being unfair to Ryan, but is he trying to get his org to have pitchers go deeper, stop caressing them etc?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Going deeper and refusing to report injuries to the trainers may both be forms of being tough. But, beyond that, they are certainly different.

And, you know, it's not enough that we know he's a fool. Folks should harp on it, because he has a platform while wiser folks are searching for jobs.

[ashie62]

metirish wrote: Dibble is a fool , that we know. What about the Nolan Ryan's out there , is his philosophy all that different than Dibble's? I am probably being unfair to Ryan, but is he trying to get his org to have pitchers go deeper, stop caressing them etc?

Nolan Ryan has his own way of developing arms. He believes in a helluva lot of long tossing and would prefer a four man rotation. Will this work? It used to.

Strasburg, terrible horrid luck. All the money paid him is just a balm. Dibble? Consider the source I guess.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, Ryan's idea is more about building pitchers up to the point where they're able to work longer and harder.
That's more than a bit different than starting out that way and pitching through obvious pain while doing it all in order to prove some macho point.

Personally, I'm just hoping that the next mediot who reflexively recites the lines about up how real men in the good ol' days like Koufax and Drysdale and Marichal pitched has the courtesy to also mention that Koufax threw his last pitch at age 30, Drysdale at 31, and Marichal, while he pitched longer, was effectively done as a top hurler by age 32.

[metirish]

Got it guys, yep , certainly it's different, more prudent too perhaps.

[seawolf17]

Frayed Knot wrote: Koufax threw his last pitch at age 30, Drysdale at 31, and Marichal, while he pitched longer, was effectively done as a top hurler by age 32.

ALL JUST LIKE ROB DIBBLE! I get it now.

[Fman99]

Dibble is a piece of shit. He soils every show on XM's MLB channel like Fgirl blowing up a post-dinner diaper.

And Strasburg, well, eh. He'll come back throwing 105.

[bmfc1]

Dibble. Outtahere. I hope XM does the same so I can listen to the morning show again.

http://natsinsider.blogspot.com/2010/09/dibbles-tenure-with-masn-over.html

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. I dislike and disapprove of Dibble's schtick, but it's sort of the brand he's meant to bring, and I've got to believe that if Strassburg doesn't miss a start, neither does Dibble. It's like he got fired for the reason he got hired.