Astros Shortstop Carlos Correa and fiancée discuss fractured rib in video

The Houston Astros are missing some of their top talents in their lineup. During a 162-game regular season, a team will deal with some injuries, just hopefully not all at once. We have seen Jose Altuve, George Springer, Aledmys Diaz, and Max Stassi all leave games with injuries. When a player gets hurt in game action, fans can accept it because they saw it happen.

Most injuries happen in game action, but sometimes sh— happens, which is what happened with Carlos Correa. When a player gets hurt off the field, there is always some speculation as to how the injury occurred, especially when both Jeff Luhnow and AJ Hinch defer to Correa to explain the injury.

Before we talk about Correa’s injury, let’s backtrack to the 2018 season when he dealt with back discomfort. Correa proposed to his girlfriend, Daniella Rodriguez, after winning the World Series in 2017. She became a target for many fans on social media. His back wasn’t hurting before Daniella, but now...what is she doing?

The good and bad of social media.

Social media has given fans a voice that they never had before, which is sometimes not a good thing. When I first got on Twitter, it was just an information source for rumors and Astros news. If it weren’t for Twitter, I probably would not have started writing. Everyone has their own theory on how to Tweet, but I can imagine it is hard to be a celebrity in today’s world. Despite what my kids think, I don’t fit in that category.

The Daniella talk continued this spring, and she felt the need to address the speculation on her YouTube channel. “For all those people blaming me for Carlos’ injuries...I don’t need to say anything more than that.” She essentially just dismissed it, and Correa got off to a great start in 2019. We have learned that Correa has used yoga and massages to keep his back strong this year.

While the chatter on Twitter never went away, it died down a little, until Monday after a planned off day. Correa was scratched from that game with rib discomfort and then got some tests done, and they determined he had a broken rib. This is all Twitter needed, an off-field injury with no immediate explanation. The speculation started to spread before Correa released a statement via the Astros.

Correa explained that he was getting a massage, something he does every day when his rib broke. He then expressed his sorrow for the situation and that he will get better to help later in the season. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with this injury. While some people took this at face value, this increased the skepticism of others even more. Some news outlets started reaching out to massage therapists, asking if this could happen?

Another video.

Some said it was highly unlikely to happen and others said it’s not unheard of. Still, people on social media continued to speculate and crack jokes. Some even mentioned that Correa could be a victim of domestic abuse. Some things are okay to make fun of, but not domestic abuse. There has to be a line, but then again, people blame the 4-year old girl for not getting out of the way of the foul ball. Astros Twitter sometimes has a way of policing itself, with people commenting that it’s not appropriate to joke around with domestic violence.

However, I have breaking news; not everyone can agree with everything. With keyboard warriors out there, once again Daniella felt the need to address the rumors through her YouTube channel. Correa once again explained the situation and how the injury occurred. Daniella stated that she was not in the room.

Daniella said that “some people have taken the opportunity to blame me for the situation and have gone to the extent of saying it was domestic violence.” Daniella went on to say that it’s not a joking matter and that they have participated in many charities for domestic abuse victims. Despite the sexual connotations of much of the speculation out there, the domestic abuse appeared to be the main thing the young couple was concerned about.

Correa even lifted up his shirt to show that there were no bruises where his cracked rib was. He wanted to keep things positive as he focuses on his rehab to get back healthy, surgery is not required.

While we are speculating, maybe he injured his rib in that slide at home plate, and the masseuse just finished the fracture. No matter how the injury happened, there is nothing that the Astros can do to change it. Both Correa and Daniella have said that many people are very supportive of them. They are hoping that the video will appease the negative side of social media, but I fear it will make things worse.

Let it go.

As part of my daily Locked On Astros Podcast (daily 14-minute podcast), I have made a plea for people to back off Daniella. I had also discussed what people were saying before this video came out. With an off day this week, I talked more about it than I wanted to, but new things keep coming up. We will talk about this on Talking Stros on Sunday, but I think it’s time to move on.

The Astros need a healthy Correa (among others) if they want to go on another World Series run. Unlike Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, Correa did not get a contract extension. He is under team control through 2021, so the Astros will look to extend him at some point. It’s unfortunate he won’t be able to reach his goal of 155 games played in 2019.

Domestic Abuse Hotline +1 (800) 799-7233.