Right now, Andrew Painter’s health is the biggest thing on every Phillies fan’s mind. He was the biggest story coming into camp. There seemed to be a real chance a 19-year-old would start games for them in April. And he looked the part in his first spring training start. But then a vague report about elbow discomfort came out last week. To make it worse, it has been radio silence from the Phillies since. Which only led to fans assuming the worse. But are things as bad as fans think?
Yesterday Scott Lauber suggested it is not a big issue, and today, Hall of Fame baseball writer Jayson Stark echoed those sentiments.
“First thing is, unless people are misleading me, there is no indication this is anything serious. But it is definitely odd that we were supposed to get an update 5 days ago, and we still don’t have one.”
So that is yet another prominent baseball writer, letting us know it does not seem to be a reason to panic. Based on what both Jayson Stark and Scott Lauber told us, there is no secret injury they are hiding from us. But what is holding this up?
Well according to Stark, it could be that Painter’s agent Scott Boras is just being extra cautious.
“From what I can gather, the one way he has delayed this is that the wants the best elbow doctor in the country to take a look at Andrew Painter’s test results. Ive heard, that he has been tied up with the NFL Combine, so he has not looked at the results yet. At least that is what I have been hearing. That is only the scuttle butt, don’t hold me to it 100%, but that adds up.”
So based on what Stark told us, it is not serious. But Scott Boras, being the agent he is, is taking no chance with his 19-year-old client. Andrew Painter could one say get paid a lot of money. Boras is going to protect him.
So the good news is that Painter’s elbow does not appear to be a real issue. But this may get held up due to Scott Boras. The dream of Painter starting the year with the Phillies may be on hold. Still, if Stark is correct, we would take Painter just missing some time to start the season over what many fans feared the news would be.