Dibble To Strasburg: Stop Whining, Pitch In Pain

Rob Dibble is one of the dumbest baseball analysts [sic] on the planet. Among the bits of information I have heard him pass on to fans is that the most important thing a successful closer needs is not pitching talent, but "attitude".

On his radio show recently, Dibble had some thoughts on Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg, who left Saturday's game against the Phillies in the fifth inning after grimacing in pain and talking with his manager, pitching coach, and trainer.

FanHouse notes that Dibble (naturally) first "regaled the audience with stories about how tough players were in his day" (which ignorant players have been doing for 130+ years; you could look it up) and then said:

I'm not a doctor, and I haven't read the MRI yet, but I'm pretty sure he's gonna come back fine. ... You can't constantly be complaining over every little thing. So for me, a little bit has to be put back on Strasbug 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.

(Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post has much more.)

FanHouse's Josh Alper comments:

You know what we call guys who keep throwing when they feel unusual pain and don't make it a point to tell the trainer and manager that there's a problem? Mark Prior.

Prior is just one of the more recent additions to a long list of men who had their shot at a successful baseball career ruined. Tom Boswell adds a couple more examples that happened to turn out okay:

After beating Sandy Koufax, 1-0, in the World Series in '66, [Jim] Palmer missed almost two full seasons at 21 and 22. [Roger] Clemens had season-ending shoulder surgery in his second year as New England wept.

Alper reports that when the Nats gave Strasburg an MRI, "something was amiss in his forearm" and ends with this:

Anyone who thinks that you shouldn't trust an athlete who says that he thinks something is wrong with his body should spend some time reading up on J.R. Richard and less time slamming them on the radio before the results of medical tests have even been revealed.

I blogged about Richard in mid-July.

Boswell:

Some will say the Nats are babying Strasburg. Others will say he's not tough enough, or shouldn't show pain ... Some are stupid; others are even dumber.

Last night, Strasburg was placed on the disabled list with a strained flexor tendon in his right forearm.