Good Christ. Did David Murphy hurt his rib cage in the WBC?

David Wright is a gamer, we all know that by now, and that’s at least partly why Mets fans have come to love him over the years.

Baseball tough is about a 3 on the real world scale of 1 to 10 tough, 10 being a concrete construction worker or NAVY Seal, and I never gave a #### about baseball "gamer's" who, gasp, went all nine innings for million dollar paychecks. Wright played, he strained his rib cage, and he's going to miss some time. If the Mets didn't want him in the WBC they should either have denied him permission or set specific conditions on his appearing. They did neither, and this is what happens. It's not a big dea.

I liked the comment that if it was Jeter, he'd still be playing, and yet Wright did the wrong thing.

Wright would've been hurt no matter where he was playing. It's how things work for the Mets.

Eh, I don't know that "baseball tough" is any less tough than "real world" tough. Try throwing with a shoulder injury. If you're a pitcher, you won't get MLB hitters out without your best stuff. If you're a 3B, you aren't throwing out many runners with a bum shoulder. Because you're not completely incapacitated doesn't mean that you can perform at an elite level with what you might think is a minor injury.

In the real world, shoulder injuries require rest to properly heal. Baseball players have both the luxury and the rationale for resting theirs.

There's no such thing as "baseball tough" or "real world" tough. Tough is tough, but it's all ridiculously subjective. Like "fitness," once you reach a certain point, "toughness" is just about where your own personal biases lie.

#2 is asinine. I have been, at different times, both an all-state baseball player and a US Marine infantryman. Being a Marine wins on career value, but baseball might have the higher peaks. I don't have any reason to believe that I was atypical, but I've popped fingers back into joint, thrown up from a shot in the cup, made deals with God on every pitch for multiple innings, etc.

On the other hand, smug judgement takes zero toughness, courage, or apparently knowledge.