The D-Train is de-railed under mysterious circumstances
The saga of Dontrelle Willis took a strange turn yesterday, as the Tigers placed him on the disabled list with an undisclosed anxiety disorder. In case you haven’t been keeping track, Willis was one of the National League’s best pitchers from 2003-2007, winning 63 games for the Marlins (inlcuding a 22-10, 2.63 season in 2005) before coming to Detroit last year and walking 35 in 24 innings with a 9.38 ERA to boot.
If the D-Train actually does have an anxiety disorder, then I hope he’s treated. But I’m far from convinced that’s actually the case. Willis says the team discovered the disorder through blood tests — Since when are anxiety disorders diagnosed that way? In fact, in this article by Lynn Flenning in today’s Detroit News, a pair of psychiatrists from Michigan hospitals insist that psychiatric disorders can’t be discovered via a blood test. Yeah, that’s the way I thought it worked too…
It’s clear there’s something wrong with Willis, but I’d be quicker to compare his issues to those of Rick Ankiel (and many of the other pitchers that lost their confidence, and in turn, their control: Mark Wohlers and Steve Blass, to name two) than to those of Kansas City’s Zack Greinke, who actually missed most of the 2006 season due to social anxiety disorder.
I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but it just looks like the Tigers are looking to pick up insurance on Willis’ contract, which they acquired with three years and $29 million remaining last winter. Apparently if he spends the bulk of this season or the next on the disabled list, Detroit will be able to get about half his salary back as compensation (he’ll still get paid the full $22 million he’s owed the next two years). So everyone’s happy, right?
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By: matt on March 30, 2009
at 7:34 pm
[...] can’t help but feel good for Greinke. As little as three years ago, his anxiety was so out of control that he couldn’t step onto a major league mound. After dealing with his issues, the [...]
By: Greinke panky. « Blogging About Baseball on April 18, 2009
at 11:22 pm
Greinke is looking great again this season…a good story indeed.
By: Jeremy on April 20, 2009
at 9:22 pm
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By: Hot News » Zack Greinke on April 25, 2009
at 7:00 am
[...] career the past couple seasons after his hiatus for much of 2006 (and touched briefly on it in this, which I wrote a few weeks ago about Dontrelle Willis), and it’s great to see what he’s [...]
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at 11:05 am