This was originally published in The Athletic.
I canāt make you feel any better about the way Hunter Greeneās season has come to a premature end, mainly because Iād be lying if I told you that I didnāt feel the same punch to the gut you did when you saw that heād suffered a UCL sprain in his elbow.
I canāt tell you that my mind didnāt instantly drift to maybe three most dreaded words in baseball: Tommy. John. Surgery.
And Iāll admit that a lot of the good vibes and positive energy that we enjoyed so much while watching the Reds play competent ball for much of the summer have been undone by the sobering reality that three cornerstones of their rebuild ā Nick Senzel, Jesse Winker and now, Greene ā will end their respective seasons as inactive players.
But as much as I canāt ease the frustration of this latest setback, I also canāt lend my voice to the chorus of fans who canāt just accept whatās happened with Greene at face value: As something that, well, merely happened. Something that was almost as unavoidable as it was impossible to predict.
To read the entire piece, go to The Athletic.