Grist for the Mill: "Team source" on Street

Mychael Urban has a brief but keenly interesting article up about Street's status and injury. The key passage:

 

A team source said early last week that Street, who has allowed one run over his past nine outings and ranked fifth among AL relievers with a 33 strikeouts, has been dealing with the strain since being used in the ninth inning of a 13-8 victory on June 1 at Texas.

"He just wasn't feeling great physically, and he asked not to be used that day unless there was a save situation," said the source. "But I guess a six-run lead in Arlington, some people see that as a save situation."

"This is a big-inning ballpark," Geren said after Street entered the game with the A's holding a six-run lead.

He threw 18 pitches in 90-degree weather and allowed a solo homer to Josh Hamilton.

"My job is to pitch when they give me the ball," Street said, "and I take the ball whenever I can."

 

There are two really interesting aspects to this, in my view. First (obviously), if this is true it reflects very badly on Geren. The almost gratuitous risking of a key player with a six-run lead is so clearly wrongheaded that you almost have to believe there was some miscommunication involved. I mean, what does "wasn't feeling great physically" mean, anyway? Maybe Geren checked again before the 9th and Street said he was willing to go in - that is, Geren checking to see if the condition still existed and Street interpreting it as a request to soldier up and pitch. (I'm making this scenario up out of whole cloth merely as an example of how something that seems incredible might be more explainable when more facts come out - if they do - so please don't confuse this with what the quotes actually said.) But even if it was miscommunication of some sort, it doesn't look good.

The second interesting thing is that this "team source" (doesn't that locution usually mean staff? Isn't an anonymous player usually referred to at least as a player?) with his rather biting "some people see that as a save situation" comment, is clearly taking a slap at Geren. (Another possible miscommunication: the source thinks it's off the record, but it isn't?) I don't want to go all tabloid here; this could amount to something quite minor, and in any case we can't hope to approach the level of entertaining dysfunction that you see in Seattle these days. Still, the issues this brief piece brings out are not trivial.