Thursday, October 24, 2013

What Exactly Is Going On With Clay Buchholz?

(FenwayNation Photo)
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, "Clay Buchholz has become a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." After being on an early-season trajectory for the Cy Young Award, he missed three months with a poorly-defined neck/shoulder injury. His return from that injury has been uneven, and now we learn that he still has some "issues" with the shoulder that will push him back to a Game Four start at best. To be precise, here is what Buchhloz himself has said, "I couldn’t really get loose. It was a constant tightness that I felt. That’s all there is. I’m going to go. That’s my only goal, to be prepared to start on Sunday. I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen and be well enough to go out there and give the team a chance to win. If that’s me going out there at 90 percent, I’ll go out there at 90 percent. But if it does come down to the wire and I’m going to run out there and not help the team win, there’s no reason for me to run out there. The last couple of days have been the rehab and working with the trainers. I’ve got maybe one start left. This is where you want to throw it all on the line. That’s sort of how I’m looking at it right now. I haven’t been 100 percent in a long time now." Great.