Comments on: Dr. Lewis Yocum clarifies his comments on the Stephen Strasburg shutdown

By: vercmj

vercmj — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 17:27:29 +0000

It doesn’t smell fishy, at all. What smells fishy is this site trying to get a sensationalized story out of nothing. Dr. Yokum repeatedly was consulted by the Washington Nationals GM, Mike Rizzo, as recently as mid-August, about shutting down Stephen Strasburg. Of course, Dr. Yokum is not going to give an exact number of innings when Strasburg should be shut down. As Dr. Yokum said, that is a team decision, but, in general, Dr. Yokum is supportive of what the Nationals did, and Dr. Yokum, medically supports the Nationals decision. How many times does this have to be said. There is no story here. You are trying to get one, when there is not one. This is typical sensationalism journalism. I am sick of it. It’s one reason people do not watch television news and television sports commentators; they are sensationalism promoters, instead of news reporters.

By: shawndc04

shawndc04 — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:22:23 +0000

>> but it still smells pretty fishy.<<

The only thing smelling fishy is the press.

By: delawarephilliesfan

delawarephilliesfan — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 13:49:38 +0000

I say this not as a Phillies fan – I say this as a marketing professional.

The Nats have no one to blame but themselves that this story won’t go away. All these “It was not Mike Rizzo’s plan, it was the doctors plan” stuff was always bound to keep it alive. You can get conflicting comments, people may not remember conversations the exact same way, and of course, you can ALWAYS find another doctor who will contradict your doctor. Once you go down that road, you are inviting conflict.

Had the Nats simply said “We are limiting him to 160 pitches, because that is our gut”, and left out all the “medical advice”, the story would have far, far fewer points to debate. Teams make decisions all the time – from the simple stuff of leaving/taking out the starting pitcher with 1 out in the 7th, to the more complex like trading a Single A prospect who has potential. Certainly the decisions that are wrong will get criticized, but they are decisions and everyone realizes teams have to make decisions. I think the Nats handled this terribly from a PR perspective. They should have left the medical team as a side point

By: dcfan4life

dcfan4life — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:38:44 +0000

2 days without a Strasburg story. Even as a huge Nationals fan, can we please have 2 days Strasburg free. Is that too much to ask…?

By: papalurchdxb

papalurchdxb — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 04:51:50 +0000

makes no sense, if he can’t hardly walk and is feeling good, the article is most likely accurate. However if he can hardly walk, then you probably have a point.

By: spudatx

spudatx — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 04:16:40 +0000

Sounds like the guy without a massive financial investment in Strausburg said, “Why not keep him going? He’ll probably be ok.” when the team’s owners/operators said, “We can’t risk it.”

By: papichulo55

papichulo55 — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 02:32:42 +0000

I was behind Curt Flood 100% when he sued MLB and changed the face of professnal sports in America. But now, we seem to have gone too far in the other direction. In this case, its very clear that the big boss, the guy who signs the checks, wants to shut him down. He’s paying for that privilege, investing a *hitload of money in this player, isnt he? Will the doctoror agent back up their opinions and insure the owners investment in this player? ….Exactly!

By: dakotah55

dakotah55 — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 01:19:04 +0000

Hasn’t this horse been sufficiently beaten to death?

By: shzastl

shzastl — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 01:07:35 +0000

Maybe they emailed or txted but never ‘spoke’

By: ezthinking

ezthinking — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:49:03 +0000

The only thing that smells is shitty reporting, giving a “quote” without “quoting” the question. As in,

Reporter: I know you can’t hardly walk, but how are feeling?

Player: I’m feeling good.

Reporter: Are you playing tonight?

Player: No.

Article – Player x say “I’m feeling good.” He’s not in the lineup tonight. Manager must be an idiot/over-protective or player is soft.

Happens all the time with print media or ‘story editing.’