Best news I've heard in days...

"While not ruling the staff ace out for the season, Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said Sunday that Yu Darvish won't return to the rotation until he's free of symptoms of inflammation in his right elbow.

The right-hander has missed three starts during his ongoing stint on the 15-day disabled list and will not make the first leg of a 10-day road trip the Rangers begin Monday in Seattle. Darvish's status for next weekend's visit to Houston is uncertain.

"He's really in the same spot, again," Daniels said. "No. 1 factor here is get the medical staff and have Yu completely symptom-free, completely clear MRI. I just think it doesn't make a lot of sense of letting him get back out there if there is any added risk. That's the position we're taking, and we'd all love to see him back out there for a variety of different reasons. We're not going to take any chances, that's my call, the organization's call. There is too much to lose for 2015 to risk an injury."

On ESPN. The minor controversy was kicked off by Dallas-Fort Worth sports writers extensively questioning the seriousness of the injury and Darvish's commitment to the team in a press conference with Manager Ron Washington. Washington appeared to agree with the press at that time, stating that inflammation was a common injury and he expected players to play through and not miss games over such a minor and common issue. Current ESPN Rangers beat-writer Calvin Watkins took his cue from these statement and wrote a scathing article about Darvish last week. (Washington later "clarified" his statements, and blamed the press attitude at the time.)

The controversy has fueled the belief amongst a significant minority of Rangers fans that Darvish, like Josh Hamilton, is a prima donna who doesn't give a full effort at all times and uses minor injuries to take himself out of games. Hamilton was notably unable to caché his status as one of the best hitters in the game into leverage with the fans after a lackluster stretch run in 2011, and it appears a large number of fans are unwilling to accept Yu's status as one of the five best pitchers in Major League Baseball as a mitigating factor, or even a reason, to be guarded about injuries. In this regard, at least, Josh Hamilton had a pretty good point when he said that the Dallas-Arlington-Fort Worth area is a "football town".

UPDATE:  Calvin Watkins wrote another column ripping into Darvish and demonstrating that he has no idea how the Disabled List works.  Thankfully, we're finally seeing some push back from better-informed journalists, like Craig Calcaterra with NBC's Hardball Talk.  Also, I'm very impressed by the results of an admittedly non-scientific survey at Lonestar Ball that shows 97% of readers favor shutting Darvish down for the year rather than risking and injury that would impact 2015.

The world is a bit better place than I thought. 

UPDATE:  Jeff Passan becomes the latest writer to take fans and other journalists to task over the bitching about Yu Darvish:

The Texas Rangers are almost certain to shut down Yu Darvish for the season, because that’s what a smart team would do, and the Rangers are no dummies. They don’t cater to the whims of a manager who after all these years doesn’t care to acquaint himself with the intricacies of arm injuries, and they don’t kowtow to media members looking for some bright light in this Alaska winter of a season, and they certainly don’t put at risk one of the most valuable assets in baseball to salvage some sliver of a year long ago lost.

The fact that this is even an issue in 2014 – in a year that has seen pitcher after young, dynamic pitcher wake up from an anesthetic slumber with a scar on his elbow – speaks to the willful ignorance that still pervades certain factions of baseball.

Posted by: Ben at 09:06 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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