The Tigers got clearance from the commissioner's office to put Dontrelle Willis on the DL with an anxiety disorder on Sunday. I thought only Tigers fans got those.
I may be late to the party, but I had thought that Willis' problems were all physical. After going 22-10 — the most wins in the majors — with a 2.63 ERA for the Marlins in 2005, Willis has never again had a winning season, being traded to the Tigers in 2007 and going 0-2 with a 9.38 ERA last season. Of course a knee injury had a lot to do with that, but now we know there was something more. From the Detroit Free Press:
"I'm never depressed at all — I've always been an amped-up guy," Willis said. "This is not something where I'm uncontrollable. ... Everybody will tell you in the locker room that I've always been upbeat, regardless of what's going on. This is not something where I'm too amped up, I don't know where I'm at, and I'm running sprints up and down the parking lot. They (the doctors) see something in my blood that they don't like. I'm not crazy. My teammates might think I'm crazy. But this is not something like that."
We don't know the exact nature of Willis' anxiety disorder; there are dozens, from obsessive-compulsive disorder to a fear of bridges. But Tigers president/general manager Dave Dombrowski is "fairly optimistic" Willis will return sometime this season. He's making $10 million this year, so Detroit fans had better hope so. Poor Michigan; what else can go wrong?
Dontrelle Willis Placed On Disabled List With Anxiety Disorder [Detroit Free Press]