#alex-vesia

#alex-vesia

Meeting with the media at Camelback Ranch on the first day of spring training Friday, Vesia took no questions, instead reading from a statement off his phone while battling the effects of the tragedy that was his daughter Sterling's death two days after the start of the World Series. "The lessons we've learned from this is that life can change in an instant. Ten minutes is all it took...."

"And I just wanna say thank you to them. When Kay and I were watching the World Series, we noticed that there was 51 on Louis Varland's hat. I immediately texted Gus Varland, his brother, and I asked him if I was seeing that correctly. He texted me back right away, and he said, 'the Varlands love you, dude. The whole Toronto bullpen has it too, it's bigger than baseball, we love y'all.'"

Our beautiful daughter went to heaven Sunday October 26th. There are no words to describe the pain we're going through but we hold her in our hearts and cherish every second we had with her. Thank you to the Dodgers for their understanding and support during this time. Our baseball family showed up for us and we wouldn't be able to do this without them. Thank you Dodger Nation, Blue Jays organization and all baseball fans for your love and support. We have seen ALL your messages, comments and posts. It's brought us so much comfort.

For those guys to do that, it's incredible. They're trying to win a World Series, but they understand that this is - life is bigger than baseball, and baseball's just a game. For them to do that with the stakes - where we were at with the stakes, hat's off to them, and I want them to know that we appreciate 'em. Regardless of what happens tonight, we appreciate what they did.

"I didn't learn that until after the game last night. I think it really speaks to the brotherhood of athletes. ... It just speaks to how much respect and love they have for one another. It's a huge, huge tribute to Alex."

Had Vesia been placed on the family medical emergency list or bereavement, MLB roster rules would have dictated he miss a minimum of three days but no more than seven. It could have amounted to Vesia joining the Dodgers as soon as Game 3 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. But given the situation Vesia and his family are navigating, the Dodgers chose to respect the human aspect over their pursuit of back-to-back World Series titles.

It just felt tight. There was no pull or grab, or anything that might make me concerned. I think Doc, all our trainers, we're all on the same page. Just making sure we're going to knock it out now and make sure it doesn't get worse. No need to push it. I'm very confident that I can resume throwing in my normal routine. We'll just take it one day at a time, and I believe with the 15 days we'll be good to go.