It’s been a strange week for the Philadelphia Phillies, with manager Joe Girardi withholding injury information about outfielder Bryce Harper. Now, two days later, Girardi won’t be giving injury information about anyone on his team to anyone in public.
On Thursday, Girardi faced questions about why second baseman Jean Segura pinch-hit during the eighth inning of Thursday’s game against Miami, but did not stay in to play second base. The Phillies manager responded by informing the media that he would no longer be publicly divulging injury information, citing the fact that he thinks it’s “somewhat unfair to” the team to do so.
This is certainly a strange stance to take. It’s hard to envision how the Marlins, or any of Philadelphia’s opponents, would gain some sort of advantage from Girardi discussing whether or not Segura is hurt after the game finished. One also has to wonder how this relates to Girardi’s remarks on Harper’s injury and whether he was spoken to about his public insistence that there was no medical issue there. A blanket policy of not commenting would certainly save Girardi a bit of face after coming out of that whole situation looking silly.
Unlike most other sports, MLB does not mandate that teams release any sort of injury report or make that information publicly available unless a player lands on the IL. Managers are usually forthcoming about that information when asked, but Girardi is putting a stop to that in Philadelphia.
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