On Joey Votto

Some things in life are more important than baseball. Some things are more important than the Reds—more important than their season, more important than making the Playoffs. 

I know for some of you, that’s difficult to come to grips with, but it’s true. 

Joey Votto was placed on the 15-Day DL this week with an anxiety disorder. That’s pretty much the entire story up to this point. Joey’s a very private type of guy and that’s about all he and the Reds have allowed the public to know.

That being said, no other conclusions should be drawn from what has been released. This is something I nor the majority of you have dealt with, so it’s quite unfair to make any further judgments. 

We live in such an "I-want-my-news-and-every-last-detail-and-I-want-it-now" world these days, we can’t stand to not have the inside scoop on what is going on in the personal life of Mr. Votto.

Here’s my take on the situation right now.

We do not need to know. We do not have the right to know exactly what is going on. No one needs to "get to the bottom of this, or else." It is not our job to speculate as to what may or may not be happening.

Let’s all as Reds fans try to step back and take a deep breath while we let Joey figure this thing out on his own. This is his life.

Like I said before, some things are more important than the Reds and baseball. John Fay summed up my thoughts nicely in a comment on his own blog. If Joey doesn’t want to talk about it, that’s his call and we should respect that.

I read one blog commenter mention how he knows we’ll get to the bottom of it and how he hopes we’re not below .500 by that time. 

Don’t get me wrong, I hope we’re not below .500 at any time. But much more than that, I hope that Joey is OK. 

Sometimes we forget that the guys we watch out on the field day in and night out are real people like you and me. They’re just far more talented.

There’s far more to Joey Votto than baseball and the Reds; let’s not forget that.

While he will be sorely missed in the Reds' lineup and the team will have to play without the aid of their best player, fans should keep some level of perspective.