Rob Dibble Is Trying To Destroy Stephen Strasburg

The Nats broadcaster thinks the phenom should suck it up and play through the pain. To examine, lets play point/counterpoint. On one side, Dibble himself. On the other side, a little thing called the facts.

Dibble took to his Sirius XM radio show to excoriate Strasburg for begging off his start, with forearm pain that put him on the disabled list for the second time this season. Dibble, who knows a thing or two about mouthy broads, wants Strasburg to be a man.

Point: "You're never going to be 100 percent healthy, feel perfect. So you have to take accountability that you're gonna throw sometimes, your arm's gonna hurt. You're gonna be out there on the mound sometimes, the mound is gonna be terrible and the dirt is gonna be a little loose and it might not be so great. You can't constantly be complaining over every little thing."

Counterpoint: Rob Dibble missed the entire 1994 season after undergoing surgery on his pitching arm.

Point: "Okay, you throw a pitch, it bothers your arm, and you immediately call out the manager and the trainer? Suck it up, kid. This is your profession. You chose to be a baseball player. You can't have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow."

Counterpoint: Rob Dibble spent all of 1996 on the disabled list.

Point: "I put a steel plate in my wrist so I could be back in five weeks instead of three months. So, this is your choice. You can either suck it up and be a man at 22 making $2 million a year [with] a $15 million contract, or every time you get an ache and pain you can go out of the game and say I'm gonna let down the other 24 guys right here and possibly end up forfeiting the game."

Counterpoint: Rob Dibble only pitched in parts of seven major league seasons.

Point: "Stop crying, go out there and pitch. Period. You need to know the difference between pain and injury. When I was 12, my arm hurt. When I was in my teens and I would throw and walk off the mound when I was a starter, my arm would throb. I couldn't even hold a glass of water. And you know what? I loved it. I was so sick, I loved it, 'cause I felt okay, I'm throwing hard enough to make my arm shake when I'm just standing there.' So I was a totally different animal than I think has been created here with Strasburg, where now you're telling this kid as soon as you feel any arm pain, call us and we'll come help you. Please."

Counterpoint: Rob Dibble only had five effective years before injuries forced him out of the game.

So there you have it. Who are you going to listen to? The pitcher whose career was derailed by injuries, telling you to ignore injuries? Or...actually, that's really all you need to know.