Courtesy the Washington Post

(September 1, 2010) In a situation that remains odd, to use one word, MASN color analyst Rob Dibble did not join the Nats on their road trip this week. The official explanation is still that he asked for some days off and has been granted them.

It's unclear how many days off he requested, but in the meantime Dibble continues to do his morning show on SIRIUS XM's MLB Network Radio, where vague references to his situation have dotted the broadcast. Monday, for example, Dibble was discussing the way young pitchers are brought along in pro baseball, mentioning that a 30 percent annual increase in innings pitched is now the rule of thumb.

"It depends on if the 30 percent increase is going from 100 innings to 130 innings," Dibble said. "Okay, that's a little bit ridiculous. You need to start getting starting pitchers up to the 200-inning mark....

"If Nolan Ryan told you to pitch with a little bit of pain...would you listen to him? And it's only because people hate me and hate that it comes from my mouth -- that you're going to have to learn your body and have to play through certain pain and injury -- that people hate it. But if Nolan Ryan told a pitcher in that organization, [or if Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux] came on here and said, 'Pitch as long as you can pitch, we'll let you know when you're done," you would listen. Take it from those guys. They know a lot more about it than I do.

His co-host on this morning then jokingly told Dibble that he still loves him.

"Thank you," Dibble joked back. "Oh I don't need people to love me. It's just when you start saying 'Listen, this ex-baseball player is talking baseball, don't listen to him.' Is that asinine or what? That cracks me up."

"I think you'll be okay. Don't worry about it. It'll be fine," the co-host said. Dibble agreed, and then seemed to object to the notion that he shouldn't express opinions on his own show.

"People see the difference, Rob," his co-host said. "People know. The one thing that I've found out doing this for 27 years now: Fans are smart. They see when someone's being censored. They want people to say what they're all thinking. Now, it doesn't mean that we're always right, doesn't mean that they're always right, but they want someone on that broadcast [who's honest], which is why they love homers a lot of times on broadcasts. They want someone to say what they're thinking and feeling. And they know when somebody is putting the censorship down on that. They get it. They understand that."

Later, a caller to the program mentioned Strasburg as part of a larger discussion on pitching.

"Let's take him out of it," Dibble said. "Let's not even discuss him anymore."

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