Balfour issue could get interesting

[nattysez]

So the O's were rumored to have a deal in place for Grant Balfour.  They are now claiming that he didn't pass the physical, and they're withdrawing from the deal.
 
Balfour is considering filing a grievance against the O's, since multiple doctors claim that he's fine (or as close to fine as a pitcher of his age can be).  This could be a black eye to the O's if it turns out that they just used injury as an excuse to back out of the deal.  
 
I've got to think this is where Detroit jumps in and signs him to an incentive-laden deal.  We shall see.

 

[AbbyNoho]

How did I forget that Duke was with the Orioles now?

 

[JimBoSox9]

Because Showalter gets 110% of the press everytime the Orioles do something good.  Which I suspect is the way both of them like it.

 

[Sampo Gida]

Balfour did not have a very good 2nd half, which could suggest there were problems.  MRI's are not conclusive either way according to Dr Andrews, so Balfours camp insistence that a MRI proves his health is not very convincing.  Have to imagine Orioles Dr's found something in the physical tests on the shoulder/elbow that alarmed them.
 
They should probably let someone like Dr Andrews be an arbitrator since pitchers might be a bit wary of dealing with the Orioles going forward.

 

[mauidano]

Unless Blafour signed on the dotted line prior to the physical he can forget the "grievance".  Napoli and the Sox worked something out last year.  So Balfour is damaged goods; the O's want nothing to do with it, don't blame them.  I think there MFY's should take a look and drop some cash there!

 

[Cellar-Door]

Unless Blafour signed on the dotted line prior to the physical he can forget the "grievance".  Napoli and the Sox worked something out last year.  So Balfour is damaged goods; the O's want nothing to do with it, don't blame them.  I think there MFY's should take a look and drop some cash there!

Well if he agreed to terms pending a physical and he can have multiple doctors testify that whatever the Orioles claim is why he failed his physical is incorrect he'll have a decent case before the arbitrator.

 

[nattysez]

Grant Balfour called me back to say he called Dan Duquette to tell him the #Orioles were making a mistake. #Athletics
 
Balfour told me he told Duquette that he deserves to be treated w/ respect and he was not & #Orioles just lost their best chance at winning. 

Balfour pointed out to Duquette that two respected doctors said that he is completely healthy. #Orioles have yet to explain what happened.

 
https://twitter.com/susanslusser/status/414203942176686081
 
Comparing this to the Napoli situation doesn't really work since (1) it appears that the O's and Balfour are not going to agree to another contract (which is likely part of the reason he's so upset) and (2) Balfour disagrees that he is damaged goods, while Napoli seems to have acknowledged his physical issues.
 
Edit:  I know a lot of people on here don't think Duquette got treated well by the Sox, but I think everyone can agree that interpersonal relations were never his strong suit.  Seems like he hasn't improved in that regard.  

 

[AbbyNoho]

Is 'failing' a physical something universal? I don't see why the Orioles should be held to what their divisional rival Tampa Bay Ray's doctor says is good enough rather than their own. Even if the physical shows the 'same thing' as when the Rays had him, that doesn't mean he isn't injured. Maybe the Orioles are just more conservative about that as an organization, or maybe the same result + three years of age isn't as good of a bet. It's tough to really find fault with the Orioles here (other than just because they're the Orioles) when the entire thing is he-said-she-said. 
 
I've heard before that basically every single major league pitcher has something that is cause for concern when they get examined, that's just the nature of pitching and its effect on the body.
 

Well if he agreed to terms pending a physical and he can have multiple doctors testify that whatever the Orioles claim is why he failed his physical is incorrect he'll have a decent case before the arbitrator.

 
 
I think he'd also have to prove he lost money specifically because of losing negotation time with other potential suitors. That is in addition to proving the Orioles have nothing to be dissatisfied with about his test results.
 

Balfour told me he told Duquette that he deserves to be treated w/ respect and he was not & #Orioles just lost their best chance at winning. 

 
This is the part that makes me question Balfour's side, because it just comes across as a guy who is angry at the situation and wants revenge, rather than a totally legitimate argument. I wouldn't be shocked if Balfour is the type of individual who would refuse to believe negative news about his own professional mortality. Like the Sele example below, he might end up being right. But that doesn't automatically mean the Orioles were wrong for deciding it wasn't worth the risk.

 

[Rough Carrigan]

The Orioles had a deal all set to sign free agent Aaron Sele something like 15 years ago and then O's owner Peter Angelos played doctor and decided that the MRI's of Sele's shoulder proved he was about to fall apart.  Angelos made the O's back out of the deal.  Sele went on to have three or four more good Aaron Sele years.
 
This looks like a repeat of that situation with Balfour playing the Sele role and Peter Angelos playing his usual role of meddling karmic sinkhole who made hundreds of millions of dollars off the misery of those who suffered from asbestos related diseases. 
 
It's very likely Angelos and not Duquette.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

Although it hadn't happened in a while, it's not just Sele.  Here's the history (at least before 2006):  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/sports/baseball/08chass.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

[Harry Hooper]

Dan, this is Ben, it seems you need a low-cost closer, and I happen to have a former closer {Dempster} available cheap...

 

[AbbyNoho]

Dan, this is Ben, it seems you need a low-cost closer, and I happen to have a former closer {Dempster} available cheap...

 
He hasn't been a relief pitcher for 7 seasons.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

 
He hasn't been a relief pitcher for 7 seasons.

 
That's also not Ben Cherrington. 

 

[Al Zarilla]

I saw Kevin Millar for a minute on MLBN on this and he said the Orioles were something else with their physical...doctors pulling and pushing him from all directions. He told them, hey, I can't run, throw, slide or hit, just sign me for clubhouse boy, or something like that. Good old Kevin.

 

[DJnVa]

 
He hasn't been a relief pitcher for 7 seasons.

 
form·er1

ˈfôrmər/

adjective
 

1. 
   
   1.
   
   having previously filled a particular role or been a particular thing.
   
   
   

 

[radsoxfan]

Is 'failing' a physical something universal? I don't see why the Orioles should be held to what their divisional rival Tampa Bay Ray's doctor says is good enough rather than their own. Even if the physical shows the 'same thing' as when the Rays had him, that doesn't mean he isn't injured. Maybe the Orioles are just more conservative about that as an organization, or maybe the same result + three years of age isn't as good of a bet. It's tough to really find fault with the Orioles here (other than just because they're the Orioles) when the entire thing is he-said-she-said. 
 
I've heard before that basically every single major league pitcher has something that is cause for concern when they get examined, that's just the nature of pitching and its effect on the body.
 

 
I agree. No reason to think every team's medical staff is going to look at each player the same way.  There is some subjectivity, especially with pitchers since none of them have "perfect" looking MRI's.  It just depends how conservative the docs want to be.
 
I've always thought it was very risky from the player's perspective, particularly pitchers, to have these deals announced before they take their physical. Opens up the possibility that they fail, and are labeled as damaged goods.  
 
A pitcher would much rather have a team's medical staff look at them before the contract details get out (maybe not feasible with the media I guess), and quietly say, "thanks but no thanks". Let other team's medical staffs come to their own conclusions.  The way things are now, the next medical staff is biased by the fact that they know he failed another teams physical.  
 
It might be harder to find someone to sign off on Balfour now, even after accounting for whatever damage there is to his arm.  If he blows out his shoulder, even if isn't really related to his current health, people will blame the doctor and claim he/she should have known because another doctor "knew it was going to happen".
 
Doctors dont like to look dumb (or get fired), so some might tend to be more hesitant to clear him now than they otherwise would have been.  

 

[geoduck no quahog]

Hard to read this. On one hand, why wouldn't Balfour accept an incentive-laden deal with Baltimore, and if one wasn't offered, why not?
 
On the other hand, Balfour sounds like a bit of an asshole with this quote:
 

Balfour told me he told Duquette that he deserves to be treated w/ respect and he was not & #Orioles just lost their best chance at winning. 
 

 
Or, the Orioles are assholes and treated him poorly.
 
I'm interested in how this shakes out

 

[AbbyNoho]

 
 
form·er1

ˈfôrmər/

adjective
 

1. 
   
   1.
   
   having previously filled a particular role or been a particular thing.
   
   
   

 

 
 
ir·rel·e·vant

iˈreləvənt/

adjective
 

1. 
   
   1.
   
   not connected with or relevant to something.
   
   
   

 

[cannonball 1729]

Although it hadn't happened in a while, it's not just Sele.  Here's the history (at least before 2006):  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/sports/baseball/08chass.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 
Xavier Hernandez was the one I remembered - he actually filed a grievance against the O's and won.  As I recall, that was in 1999, which happened to coincide with the collapse of the Baltimore organization; after Hernandez's nixed deal (and Sele's), free agents stopped signing with the O's.
 
 

Hard to read this. On one hand, why wouldn't Balfour accept an incentive-laden deal with Baltimore, and if one wasn't offered, why not?
 
On the other hand, Balfour sounds like a bit of an asshole with this quote:
 
 
Or, the Orioles are assholes and treated him poorly.
 
I'm interested in how this shakes out

 
Of course, Grant Balfour is an asshole.  He's the guy who constantly yells at people on the mound, to the point where "Balfour Rage" is actually a well-known and widely accepted part of the Grant Balfour experience.  But he's right.  The Orioles need a closer, and the Orioles have pulled this crap for years.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

It's hard to find solid agent information, but from baseballplayersalaries.com, it looks as though Balfour is his agent's only client -- they likely are friends or something.  I imagine this goes a lot differently if Balfour has a different agent with whom the Orioles have to deal on a regular basis.  It's one thing to maybe get a reputation for being hard assed on physicals, but if this had been SFX or Boras, I imagine there's no way the Orioles would burn a bridge this casually.  As far as the agent is concerned, I would think you would want to be pretty bullet proof on the grounds under which you'd let a team out of a deal for failing a physical.  Unless my player was desperate, I can't imagine agreeing to give a team the opportunity to do a physical without serious confidentiality, unless we had a deal on the terms of the contract and the conditions under which they could cancel for physical problems and a neutral dispute provision is there's a disagreement.
 
 http://baseballplayersalaries.com/agents/175_Trevor_Jarrett

 

[geoduck no quahog]

There's very little talk around the media on why Oakland gave up on Balfour (other than the 1 year/2 year thing for a more expensive closer). Maybe they knew something that Baltimore only just found out?

 

[mauidano]

Damaged goods or not; Balfour will not be an Oriole.  He'd better have a REALLY strong case if he intends to see any money out of this.  If it's not a done deal, he is shit out of luck.  A handshake, pat on the back or verbal agreement pending isn't gonna cut it.

 

[Rough Carrigan]

It's hard to find solid agent information, but from baseballplayersalaries.com, it looks as though Balfour is his agent's only client -- they likely are friends or something.  I imagine this goes a lot differently if Balfour has a different agent with whom the Orioles have to deal on a regular basis.  It's one thing to maybe get a reputation for being hard assed on physicals, but if this had been SFX or Boras, I imagine there's no way the Orioles would burn a bridge this casually.  As far as the agent is concerned, I would think you would want to be pretty bullet proof on the grounds under which you'd let a team out of a deal for failing a physical.  Unless my player was desperate, I can't imagine agreeing to give a team the opportunity to do a physical without serious confidentiality, unless we had a deal on the terms of the contract and the conditions under which they could cancel for physical problems and a neutral dispute provision is there's a disagreement.
 
 http://baseballplayersalaries.com/agents/175_Trevor_Jarrett

Even with other agents, this has to make them wary of dealing with Baltimore.  If you're a free agent pitcher this year or next year and all other things are equal, you've got an offer from Baltimore and one from another team about equally likely to contend isn't this a small weight on the scales pushing you to go with the other team?

 

[mt8thsw9th]

 
 
ir·rel·e·vant

iˈreləvənt/

adjective
 

• 
  
  1.
  
  not connected with or relevant to something.

Like some people's thoughts on the subject, I guess.