Normally, when the franchise's star pitcher undergoes Tommy John Surgery because of elbow pain, the person who claimed he should have "sucked it up" and pitched through the pain would admit he might have misread the situation. Normality, of course, does not apply to Rob Dibble, the former Nationals color commentator.
In an interview with FOXSports.com, Dibble said he still thinks Stephen Strasburg should have sucked it up. (Fast forward to the five-minute mark to skip the Barry Bonds stuff).
It had nothing to do with the game he got hurt in Philly. He had a sold-out game against the Braves, and the people I worked with at MASN were excellent, we followed his workout regimen - which was fantastic. His warm-up was fantastic. He didn't do any of that the day that he basically walked away from that Braves start, which was sold-out. And all the money that the Nationals were making per start on Strasburg was well over seven figures. So to me, you know what kid, you've got to suck it up.
Dibble also claimed the reason he was fired was because Strasburg's father emailed Mark Lerner and was "offended" by Dibble's words. He also said he should have "no association" with Strasburg, despite the fact that he decided to reveal that it was Strasburg's father who cost him his job. My head is spinning.
Also, Dibble said he never got fired by MASN, because he is still getting paid by them. Sounds like a severance package to me, but hey, I'm a blogger. What do I know?
Finally, there's a long conversation about how unfair it is that Dibble was let go for speaking his mind and how broadcasters can't say anything truthful anymore. I'd tell you more, but I turned the video off because I didn't want to hurt my hand punching it against the wall.
(via Dan Steinberg and Jim Williams).