Two things are clear. Willis is not physically hurt and he can't throw strikes. But Willis thinks his delivery just needs tweaking while the Tigers think it's the yips. But how long should a baseball team continue to pay a guy who can't play baseball very well? Khalil Greene just came from back from the disabled list for his anxiety disorder, which doesn't seem like the kind of thing you can clear up in 22 days.

Oh, and Magglio Ordonez has also been benched for excessive suckage. Does he have a disorder too?

What's the answer here? Tough love or heavy doses of psychotropic drugs? And will said drugs also be shared with fans, because what do you think losing two out of three to the Pirates did to them?

Willis back on DL with anxiety disorder [MLB]
Ordonez benched, Willis to DL in lineup shakeup [Daily Tribune]
Greene, Kinney return to Redbirds' roster [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Greene first showed signs of a problem last season, as he struggled with his confidence and batted .213 with an OPS under .600. That is, until he broke his hand by smashing it against a storage trunk in frustration and missed the last two months of the season. The Cardinals, stunningly unaware of Greene's issues, traded for him in the offseason, but he hasn't gotten any better and now he's out indefinitely.

So what are those issues? "Greene's condition causes incessant anxiety based on a fear of failure that feeds his self-consciousness. Unable to channel his emotions, the resulting frustration makes him prone to physical and verbal outbursts in front of teammates." In other words, he plays bad, he can't handle it emotionally, and that makes him play worse. Not to get all Grumpy Old Man on you, but in the old days they called that being "not good" and you got cut. Now, it's a chance for rest and rehab and therapy and I guarantee that you'll be seeing a lot more of it in baseball and other sports.

I'm not necessarily criticizing this new approach to athlete care, but it does strike me as a phenomenon similar to the one that turned unruly kids from "being a spazz" into "suffering from ADHD." If fear of failure is a serious problem for you, then maybe you shouldn't be a professional athlete. However, if this trend means that a guy like Zack Greinke can go from total washout to superstar with just a little mental health, that's got to be a good thing, right?

The danger will come in a couple of years when every Chuck Knoblauch, Steve Sax, Milton Bradley, or David Ortiz ends up on the DL with "emotional problems" at the first sign of a slump. It sounds like Greene—like Greinke and Dontrelle Willis before him—does have some serious issues to work out, but how will we be able to tell the truly troubled from the guys who just suck? Maybe a more open attitude and counseling could have saved Knoblauch's career ... or maybe future victims of his ailment will be coddled well past their prime.

St. Louis Cardinals in uncomfortable situation regarding Khalil Greene [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]