Comments on: Why do teams lie when players are hurt?

By: Danny O

Danny O — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:00:10 +0000

This is how I felt when Wickman lost the ability to close games for the Braves a week and a half ago. My friends and I are speculating madly: maybe he’s had too much work this early in the season, perhaps he’s got a nag leftover from Spring Training, maybe his elbow imploded, maybe he lost the magic and is months away from retirement, or could it simply be that the Braves not being able to hold a lead is the first sign of the apocalypse?

And then the Braves put him on the DL and tell everyone he’s been suffering from tightness in his upper back for a while. Well, damn, let a fan know something before I start praying to a new god!

But, I understand why the Braves would play it like this, cause they don’t wanna tip the other team off to any sensitive info. Don’t they have rules about this in the NFL?

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By: Nick Kapur

Nick Kapur — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:48:40 +0000

Oh man, you left out Riccardi’s best line!

He said something like, “It wasn’t a lie if we really knew the truth.”

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By: joe

joe — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:44:40 +0000

Why should they potentially tip off other teams that players are fighting through an injury? Once it becomes apparent, in Gordon’s case for example, then it should probably be made public and the player should be moved into a less important position. Philly fans were pissed that Gordon continued to close (in reality, blow) games when it was obvious he didn’t have his stuff. Now Ryan Howard is trotted out there in the cleanup spot despite his continuing leg problems. In the end, I don’t think it’s a matter of truth, but money. Like you said, money is put on the table for a guy to do a particular job. Teams like the Phils will ignore performance and defer to experience and promises.

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By: Zvee

Zvee — Fri, 04 May 2007 16:56:15 +0000

This had me laughing out loud. Great article Coley…I don’t even know what else I should say.

I feel like I should be defending my man Schuerholz Sr but this is indefensible.

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By: Paul Moro

Paul Moro — Fri, 04 May 2007 04:43:32 +0000

Wow. I mean, really, wow…

This is the most glaring case of nepotism I’ve ever seen!

Jon Schuerholz Jr. is a 27-year-old non-prospect with career minor league batting average of .225 and a .314 career OBP. And absolutely no power whatsoever – 4 home runs last year in 445 at-bats.

Why is this guy even anywhere near Triple-A ball? His last season that could even vaguely be called “good” was four years ago in low A ball, when he hit .251 and OPS’d only .656, but at least had a reasonably decent OBP of .356 and stole 25 bases.

In the three seasons since that time he’s batted .207, .245, and .184, yet for some reason he’s been steadily advancing another level up the minor league ladder each year!

At this rate I’m just going to go ahead and make the call that he will be the Braves starting 2B in 2008.