Roberts to miss FanFest to avoid stress, Duquette wants him to reconsider

[Going Underground]

The thing is the O's call each player about a month before Fanfest to see if they have a conflict with the date and can't attend. Guthrie is doing a family obligation so he can't attend. I giess when they called Roberts he said he would attend. His symptoms might be acting up again and gotten worse. The O's would not have put his name on the autograph signings if he said he could not attend. I think the O's are mad that Brian cancelled after they put the sessions together. I think their is a little more to the3 story and we shall see what happens and perhaps the pressure of the article gets him to attend. I don't see hoe in a month he would be able to play baseball with the lights and all.

[Going Underground]

The real reason he's missing fan fest has nothing to do with PCS. He's not going to be there because DD is going to introduce Soriano and announce the trade.

I thought the backup plan was for Fielder to take Roberts place at Fanfest. Joking /...........

[backwardsk]

Couldn't this all be a communication breakdown in the Twitter age? (Cue ScOtt's Led Zepplin video)

Connelly gets information from sources that Brian may not show, then calls DD to ask if he expects Roberts to post. DD, not having heard anything from an undecided Roberts, makes the quote about not knowing why he couldn't sign for 10 year olds.

Off of three tweets, I can't see the need to get upset with either Roberts or Duq.

[MatthewW]

My gut tells me he's contemplating the tough decision about where to go from here with his career and doesn't want to be asked about it 20,000 times in a row by (well-meaning) fans.

Yes, I think this is a possible reason he won't attend Fanfest.

If Brian is at a point where his BIGGEST problem is being asked 20K times about his condition, he needs to get over that... Even though I could only imagine how incredibly annoying it would be.

I remember at last Fan Fest, when I had a chance to talk to Jason Berken for a bit. I guess it was about half way through the day. So i started the conversation something like, "Hey Jason, how's." before he rudely interrupted me with something to the effect of "My shoulder's fine, it feels great". You could tell he was starting to get annoyed. I must have saw a half dozen people come up in about 10 minutes and start to ask him the same question... and this was when he was 'on-break' and didn't have 250 people at a time to deal with.

No offense to Jason Berken, but if he was going to get asked questions all day about his shoulder, I can only imagine the frustration Brian Roberts would have...

[Dr. FLK]

Couldn't this all be a communication breakdown in the Twitter age? (Cue ScOtt's Led Zepplin video)

Connelly gets information from sources that Brian may not show, then calls DD to ask if he expects Roberts to post. DD, not having heard anything from an undecided Roberts, makes the quote about not knowing why he couldn't sign for 10 year olds.

Off of three tweets, I can't see the need to get upset with either Roberts or Duq.

Darn you and your logic...[FLK slowly, sadly backs away and sets pitchfork down].

[mikegallo]

I won't criticize Brian Roberts for his decision to skip Fanfest due to his concussion like symptoms. However, if the guy is still suffering these types of symptoms at this point, it's hard to imagine that he will be ready to play this year or possibly ever again.

It's time for Brian to make the brave decision and retire unless he feels he should collect $20 million for doing nothing over the next two years. In that case the Orioles will still collect about 75% back from insurance if Roberts is unable to play. Either way it's pretty obvious that Duquette would like a final decision, but it's also clear the Orioles need to move forward as if Roberts has retired.

Agreed...

[LookinUp]

If I were Brian Roberts, the last thing I'd do is put myself into a position to re-aggravate this notoriously finicky injury. I would never play baseball again, regardless if I suddenly snapped out of it one day. The likelihood that he hurts himself again is just too high.

Does anyone actually know the rules for insurance for MLB players these days, or is everyone just talking out of their butts? I know they've changed to where the team has more liability because of what happened with players like Belle. I suspect, if the O's could collect .50-.75 on the dollar in insurance, they'd happily reach an injury settlement. On the other hand, if he needs to be on the roster to collect that .50.75 on the dollar, they'll happily give him that spot rather than use it on a guy like Willie Eyre.

Without knowing the rules for insurance, it's impossible for me to know whether I should want BR to officially retire. There's only one scenario where I think he could realistically be screwing over the team. That scenario would be if he could save the club millions by retiring, but is holding out in the off chance that he can come back. That would be troublesome, IMO.

Finally...BR probably shouldn't have committed to FanFest in the first place and DD shouldn't have called him out in public. Both should issue public apologies. It's what upstanding men should do.

[VICIOUS]

I won't criticize Brian Roberts for his decision to skip Fanfest due to his concussion like symptoms. However, if the guy is still suffering these types of symptoms at this point, it's hard to imagine that he will be ready to play this year or possibly ever again.

It's time for Brian to make the brave decision and retire unless he feels he should collect $20 million for doing nothing over the next two years. In that case the Orioles will still collect about 75% back from insurance if Roberts is unable to play. Either way it's pretty obvious that Duquette would like a final decision, but it's also clear the Orioles need to move forward as if Roberts has retired.

Personally, I feel you should be the one to start the Brian Roberts Appreciation Thread. Anytime now would be fine.

[Gurgi]

NOTFUUNNY:angryfire:

When I die...I will be buried in my Brian Roberts Jersey:(

Really? You realize he is a human right?

[CA-ORIOLE]

Personally, I feel you should be the one to start the Brian Roberts Appreciation Thread. Anytime now would be fine.

Yeah, disregarding the PR and communication issues and assuming forthrightness on Robert's behalf, Brian Roberts being done does seem to be the main takeaway here.

[Tony-OH]

Yeah. I'm thinking this is a good example of the type of thing that made Duq a little unpopular in some circles during his Red Sox tenure. He's been generally good about keeping his mouth shut and saying the right things, and even saying "I'm going to be friendlier". But I think this is Duquette showing some snap frustration with one of his highest-paid star players not being able to get on the field.

It'll blow over, but Duquette does make himself look a little uneducated about his own player's concussion issues with this comment.

Perhaps it's a little frustration on not knowing what Roberts can bring to the table? Duquette walked into a tough situation with Roberts. He's a former team star who is very popular, but he hasn't been completely healthy the last two years and maybe, just maybe, he feels Roberts hasn't been as forthcoming with his symptoms as he would like so he would know how to move on for next season. I'm not blaming Roberts here either, because I'm pretty sure he's not sure what's going on either because concussion symptoms normally don't last this long.

The only thing I really take out of all of this is that if Roberts is not healthy enough to sign some autographs and mingle with the fans at Fanfest, he's not going to be ready to play ball in 2012. I understand the nature of the guaranteed contract, but Roberts is taking up a spot on our 40-man roster and is still costing the team millions, even if the insurance is picking up 75% like the Belle insurance did.

It's frustrating all around, and perhaps Duquette could have stated things better, but I really think we're seeing a lot of frustration in this situation, from not only the people involved, but by some fans.

[crissfan172]

I personally like Roberts as a player and person. I just don't see him playing again. At Fanfest he would certainly be bombarded with questions about playing. He likely doesnt want to be put in the position to say "I can't play" to the fans.

I'd also like to see him accept a settlement and retire .... But the union will want him to stick around and collect every penny of a $10 Million settlement.

This needs to be fixed in baseball. These player should have to cofund the insurance policies. He can't play so he cant earn his salary. The insurance will pay for it. This is quite different than declining performance issues and should be treated different. The other issue is that Roberts injury is self inflicted.... So the insurance doesnt want to cover it and the team should be able to get around paying it based on Robert's stupidity. Again much different from a accidental injury.

Suicide voids a life insurance policy and these contract should have language to prevent huge losses to the organization. I know some teams have dangerous activity language (riding a motorcycle and stuff like that) ...That language should be added as well.

Most life insurance policies only void from a suicide within the first year. It's to protect the insurance company from people buying a policy and then killing themselves to give their loved ones a quick payday. It's not like Roberts purposely tried to injure himself so that he could collect money while not playing. It was an accident, and I'm not going to hold that against him. He's been punished enough by the symptoms he's had to endure. I hope he gets healthy so that he can be happy again.

[SilentJames]

I won't criticize Brian Roberts for his decision to skip Fanfest due to his concussion like symptoms. However, if the guy is still suffering these types of symptoms at this point, it's hard to imagine that he will be ready to play this year or possibly ever again.

It's time for Brian to make the brave decision and retire unless he feels he should collect $20 million for doing nothing over the next two years. In that case the Orioles will still collect about 75% back from insurance if Roberts is unable to play. Either way it's pretty obvious that Duquette would like a final decision, but it's also clear the Orioles need to move forward as if Roberts has retired.

This, I think we have seen the last of Brian Roberts as an Orioles. I just don't see how he can come back from this and be anything that resembles his former self.

Truly sad. Truly.

If he had some hardware, he might have been a fringey HOF kind of guy. He is on a lot of short lists.

[Mr Snuffleupagus]

Perhaps it's a little frustration on not knowing what Roberts can bring to the table? Duquette walked into a tough situation with Roberts. He's a former team star who is very popular, but he hasn't been completely healthy the last two years and maybe, just maybe, he feels Roberts hasn't been as forthcoming with his symptoms as he would like so he would know how to move on for next season. I'm not blaming Roberts here either, because I'm pretty sure he's not sure what's going on either because concussion symptoms normally don't last this long.

The only thing I really take out of all of this is that if Roberts is not healthy enough to sign some autographs and mingle with the fans at Fanfest, he's not going to be ready to play ball in 2012. I understand the nature of the guaranteed contract, but Roberts is taking up a spot on our 40-man roster and is still costing the team millions, even if the insurance is picking up 75% like the Belle insurance did.

It's frustrating all around, and perhaps Duquette could have stated things better, but I really think we're seeing a lot of frustration in this situation, from not only the people involved, but by some fans.

Is that true?

I said/ asked this earlier in the thread... Hoping someone with better knowledge then myself about this could answer the question.

What stops us from putting him on the 60day DL? and doesn't that take him off the 40man?

[CA-ORIOLE]

Is that true?

I said/ asked this earlier in the thread... Hoping someone with better knowledge then myself about this could answer the question.

What stops us from putting him on the 60day DL? and doesn't that take him off the 40man?

I don't think you can have guys on the DL during the offseason. When the dates kick in that you can, I don't know. I assume it approximates the season start and end. We lose some flexibilty with it now but will be able to put him on the 60 day DL at some point and move him off the 40 man roster later.