Tarik Skubal gets vote of confidence from Paul Skenes as writer doubles down on WBC injury take

When the worst person you know has an even worse take, it can be an exhausting experience. Often because rather than drop the take once it's proven wrong, or minimally, lacks correlation, said person doubles down on the nonsense. That is the best way to describe what's going on with USA Today's Bob Nightengale and Tarik Skubal's elbow injury.

Rather than chalk Skubal's need for elbow surgery up to the rising trend that has been pitchers getting hurt across baseball, Nightengale has been determined to find confirmation that the World Baseball Classic is the reason.

In the most elementary form, the take doesn't make much sense. Skubal made one start for Team USA during the World Baseball Classic. And no, we're not talking about the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner throwing 100+ pitches in a complete game effort. He threw 41 pitches across three innings of work.

Strip the theatrics that surrounded the circumstances of Skubal's participation in the World Baseball Classic, and his appearance for Team USA was truly just a glorified spring training start for the 29-year-old.

Bob Nightengale is allergic to a good Tarik Skubal take

Nonetheless, Nightengale just can't let the issue go. His latest piece openly asked if Skubal's injury can be directly tied to the World Baseball Classic. The MLB insider was so determined to prove his point that he went to Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes for confirmation and didn't get it.

“I mean, it’s unfortunate," Skenes told Nightengale. “I don’t know, I’ve never really had to deal with stuff like that. But he has...I’ve seen his routine now, up close and personal in the WBC. He has a really good routine. He’s going to come back, and he’s going to be really good."

If one were to look for comparisons for Skubal and the World Baseball Classic, Skenes would be the start, considering the level of production each has performed at. This season, outside of an Opening Day stinker against the New York Mets, Skense has been both healthy and dominant. He sits with an ERA of 2.36 through his first eight starts this season.

Beyond just injuries, Nightengale also tries to lump in the struggles of pitchers who pitched in the World Baseball Classic. Sure, he may have a case with Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants, but the argument immediately loses credibility when Michael Lorenzen and Taijuan Walker are also referenced. Lorenzen had an ERA of 4.64 with the Kansas City Royals last year, and Walker's ERA averages to 5.19 over the last three years.

The classic case of deflection from Nightengale. Throw a bunch of different names and numbers at the reader and hope they forget that the original point lacks evidence. It will always be a leap to suggest that the World Baseball Classic was the reason Skubal got hurt, and, unfortunately, a notoriously inaccurate writer can't let his false agenda go.

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