The good news is that Stephen Strasburg doesn’t need surgery on his injured knee . The bad news is that this is the second injury for the pitching phenom and it has the potential to linger for years.

First, Strasburg was scratched from a start in fall league with a strained neck . Not too big of a deal for most athletes, but for pitchers, the slightest discomfort in neck and shoulder could impact velocity and movement on pitches.

And now he has an injured knee, which may or may not affect how he plants or pushes off from the mound.

Maybe it’s an exaggeration, but in a baseball town synonymous with failure, panic is to be expected.