In Defense of Jim Souhan And The Whole ‘Concussion’ Thing
It’s fashionable to rip the columnists at the big paper. The paper people look down on us wee-little blog people. They are the ink-stained brothers in arms while we sit next to our brothers on the couch in our mother’s basement. Jim Souhan is a bad, bad man, at least, according to Hardball Talk and our own Fansided MLB page.
Jim Souhan wrote a column, presented to you here, saying that new Minnesota Twins’ manager Paul Molitor will not coddle his players. There was a reputation that Ron Gardenhire would give a player a game off before an off day to get that player two days off and then it snowballs. Souhan is right, that’s a horrible practice, but for my argument that can be beside the point.
Where everyone loses their mind is when Souhan brings up Joe Mauer. Souhan notes that it is important for Mauer to be on the field and that it is hard for a manager to push other players to play through bruises if the poster child of the franchise is not.
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Souhan does not bring up any specific injury, but Hardball Talk and our main website did. Hell, Hardball Talk put it in the title of the article: “Minnesota columnist: Paul Molitor will crack down on those wimpy players with piddly little concussions”
Click on the Souhan article. Search for the word ‘concussion’. It’s not in there. I looked.
Both articles quote Twins Daily with their tracking of what Mauer has been on the disabled list with, Mauer has been on the DL with one concussion in his career.
Here it is: Joe Mauer has missed too much time, some of that has been on the DL and some has not. Mauer needs to be on the field on a consistent basis for the Twins to ever have a chance of winning with that huge contract hanging over their heads.
Yes, Mauer has had serious injuries. Bilateral leg weakness was probably more major than we make it out to be, but it’s no secret that Mauer got extra days off with more minor things. The whole team did under Gardenhire.
If Souhan uses any other player’s name in there, no one gives a bleep about the column, right? Hardball Talk doesn’t care. It doesn’t get noticed.
Jim Souhan and Joe Mauer are both lightning rods of hate and when they come together most side with Mauer.
Souhan never said ‘concussion’ and I don’t think we can jump to concussions right away.
Don’t put words in Souhan’s mouth. Make the argument that his point is stupid because playing through injuries is stupid, but don’t make it about a thing the writer simply doesn’t say.
Where’s your basic human decency?