The reaction from Arizona Diamondbacks fans to Brandon Webb shoulder news surprises me. There's kind of smug "he deserves it" attitude towards Webb's misfortune. This is a guy who won the Cy Young in 2006 and led the team to postseason glory in 2007. Now we find out his latest comeback attempt has been derailed with "changes to his rotator cuff" that may require yet another surgery.
↵The knock on Webb is that he didn't work hard enough to get back from his injury and spent two years on the Diamondbacks payroll sucking up many precious dollars while delivering nothing. It was certainly a frustrating situation made more complicated by reports that his shoulder was structurally fine and he just needed to "push through the soreness."
↵The Texas Rangers signed Webb to a $3 million deal (with incentives up to $8 million) in the hopes that he would "push through it" and return to the mound with his dominating sinker ball.
↵↵↵"We knew that he had some shoulder history, but thought he was at a point where he could kind of push through it and get over the hump. Unfortunately, really through no lack of effort or work or anything like that, it's just not working out," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said.
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Turns out, "pushing through it" only made Webb's shoulder problems worse so maybe it's time to stop blaming Brandon and start mourning baseball's loss of this talented pitcher who's career was upended by injury.
↵This used to happen all the time but modern sports medicine has spoiled us with so many stories of comeback. Sometimes, the body just gives out regardless of how much money a guy is making or how hard he is (or isn't) trying.
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SURPRISE AZ - FEBRUARY 18: Brandon Webb #33 of the Texas Rangers participates in pitching drills at Surprise Stadium on February 18 2011 in Surprise Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)