Ex-Yank Didi tries to blame vax for his dismal season
Two months ago, when Didi Gregorius was asked what caused his bizarre pseudogout issues with his elbow, the struggling Phillies shortstop said “I have no clue. So, I’m not sure. Let’s go with that. Because if I start saying things, it’s going to turn into a whole thing.”
The context was that The Athletic was reporting that Gregorius and other Phillies were telling their teammates not to get vaccinated because it caused them to get injured.
On Wednesday, for whatever reason, Gregorius admitted as much.
“Some people say it’s from the vaccine. I will say it’s likely from that, too,” Gregorius said of his pseudogout, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “But when you say that, everyone looks at you like you’re stupid because the vaccine is not supposed to be like that or give you that reaction.”
His source wasn’t quite my cousin’s-friends-swollen-testicles level; Gregorius claims a non-team doctor blamed the vaccine, although he hedged on that, saying “He didn’t give me like 100%.”
Medical experts told The Inquirer that the vaccine could cause a brief flare of pseudogout (a form of arthritis causing painful swelling in one or more joints, per the Mayo Clinic) if it were already present, but not the prolonged pain that Gregorius has suffered all season.
The former Yankee mainstay has only played 89 games and has had by far the worst offensive season of his career since becoming a full-time player in New York in 2015, with a meager .650 OPS.
The Phillies have struggled with low vaccination rates and COVID outbreaks all season, although they recently hit the 85% threshold this week. They come to New York to play the Mets in a three-game series beginning Friday that could determine their playoff hopes, as they enter the weekend 2.5 games out of a wild card spot.