The Lunatic Fringe

I don’t mean to laugh at any injuries, just the hypocrisy.

Maybe it’s just irony that two injuries suffered by Giants players in Spring Training will cause both of them to miss the World Baseball Classic, an event where many teams hold back players for fear of injury.  Jose Mijares’ elbow issue is a real concern for the season, and the oblique strain that Andres Torres has is that one non-serious injury that never seems to go away.

And just look around the majors to see injuries happening all over spring training, from Curtis Granderson’s broken arm to Carlos Beltran getting hit in the foot.

ESPN’s Jayson Stark has busted the injury myth at the World Baseball Classic like he was on a TV show where they blow up stuff while wearing lab coats.  But players are still held back.

Now, I get a bench player deciding to stick with his major league team because he’s fighting for a roster spot.  I can get older players not wanting to go through the extra exertion, or even some pitchers who want to take things slow.  But the injury inference is misplaced at best.

Of course, Japan has no major leaguers on its team.  I wonder how they’ll do…