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Orioles deal with Grant Balfour Cancelled


Greg

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I'd like to point out that something similar happened with Mike Napoli and he still signed with the Boston Red Sox for much less money. He then had a very good year. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Balfour and the Orioles work something out.

Dearly hope you're right!

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Did you understand what I was saying about the contracts being insured?

An insured contract might offer some financial reimbursement if the player gets injured, but IT DOES NOT REPLACE THE PLAYER. If our FO makes plans and builds the team with Balfour as our closer and he goes down, we are out a quality bullpen arm and the plans kind of blow up.

Lots of speculation in this thread with a real lack of quality information. We have no idea of the actual issues in play here. If the doctors have a real medical concern, I think you have to trust them.

I'd like to think if Billy Beane knew about this issue, then GB's agent knew about it and should have disclosed it - which is speculation as well, I guess.

Very interesting to see how this plays out.

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An insured contract might offer some financial reimbursement if the player gets injured, but IT DOES NOT REPLACE THE PLAYER. If our FO makes plans and builds the team with Balfour as our closer and he goes down, we are out a quality bullpen arm and the plans kind of blow up.

Lots of speculation in this thread with a real lack of quality information. We have no idea of the actual issues in play here. If the doctors have a real medical concern, I think you have to trust them.

I'd like to think if Billy Beane knew about this issue, then GB's agent knew about it and should have disclosed it - which is speculation as well, I guess.

Very interesting to see how this plays out.

Sorry to say I agree with every word of this and I'm depressed.

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I dont know any details, but I can offer this.If this guy is injured or a major injury is on the horizon(fraying of muscles, joints, whatever), or if this

has anything to do with substance issues(if serious), I dont want any part of this guy.

Call Angelos cheap if you want here(and I have myself in other places), but if this a defective guy in any way or is on his way to becoming that, why

should ANY owner risk 20 million or 1 million over it? It aint my money, but I have to respect that decision. Lets see what happens when we know

more.

Of course they should not take such a risk. This is guaranteed money that we are talking about. I respect the decision/process as well.

The physical is a part of the process, if the medical team determines that Balfour is too risky, the team and Balfour need to move on.

The good news is that there are still some free agent options available if DD wants to go the veteran closer route. My gut tells me that the Orioles will have an established closer in camp whether it's Balfour or another veteran.

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An insured contract might offer some financial reimbursement if the player gets injured, but IT DOES NOT REPLACE THE PLAYER. If our FO makes plans and builds the team with Balfour as our closer and he goes down, we are out a quality bullpen arm and the plans kind of blow up.

Lots of speculation in this thread with a real lack of quality information. We have no idea of the actual issues in play here. If the doctors have a real medical concern, I think you have to trust them.

I'd like to think if Billy Beane knew about this issue, then GB's agent knew about it and should have disclosed it - which is speculation as well, I guess.

Very interesting to see how this plays out.

By the way, I'm sure the insurers (1) don't agree to issue a policy until they've seen the results of a physical, and (2) don't insure 100% of the value of the contract.

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Where was the O's medical due diligence here? If Beane sniffed medical issues that lead him to prefer JJ for one year to Balfour for 2-3, why couldn't the O's suss that out?

They got medical records prior to the agreement. The signing isn't official - we forget that "pending physical" does mean that the player has to pass a physical before the deal is done.

Something popped up.

I honestly hope for his sake it isn't something more serious that we don't know about yet.

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They got medical records prior to the agreement. The signing isn't official - we forget that "pending physical" does mean that the player has to pass a physical before the deal is done.

Something popped up.

I honestly hope for his sake it isn't something more serious that we don't know about yet.

Issue that was detected with right shoulder.

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On one hand, I'm very worried about this. This screams PA. However, even if it has nothing to do with him, I'm still concerned. I don't have faith in the Orioles to pull off a Napoli-type of compromise here if something really is wrong with him in one way or another.

On the other hand, this could be getting blown way out of proportion. It could be something very minor that they're just looking into a little deeper and doing their due diligence on. I'm anxiously waiting to see how this plays out.

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On one hand, I'm very worried about this. This screams PA. However, even if it has nothing to do with him, I'm still concerned. I don't have faith in the Orioles to pull off a Napoli-type of compromise here if something really is wrong with him in one way or another.

On the other hand, this could be getting blown way out of proportion. It could be something very minor that they're just looking into a little deeper and doing their due diligence on. I'm anxiously waiting to see how this plays out.

I doubt the Orioles would allow reports of "deal in serious jeopardy" if it was something minor. Inside info on their moves is almost non-existent.

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From Roch's blog:

A source said there are some issues that "need to be resolved." Executive vice president Dan Duquette couldn't be reached for comment, but he's expected to address them on Friday.

Update: The issue at least partly involves Balfour's right shoulder, according to a source. Something was revealed on the X-rays that must have raised concerns. But is there more to the story? Stay tuned.

Not sure if this has been posted yet but the issue is with Balfour's shoulder.

The question is whether it's just casual wear and tear from being 36 years old or is this something that's really going to come back and haunt us if we sign him to a 2 year deal.

I believe they really want him on this team so I'm holding out hope they can maybe get some type of clause in the contract now to get out of paying the full amount if his shoulder breaks down.

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I continue to be amazed as to how everyone wants Balfour so bad. Despite the second half shakiness, despite the away splits, despite the fact that he is 36 yo and has logged alot of innings, and now despite something indicating a less than healthy right shoulder.

I am very excited that this deal may fall thru it was a bad idea.

By the way I would be willing to bet a few Marbles that Pedro Strop has more saves this year than Grant Balfour

Jake Arietta has more wins than the O's # 5 starter

LJ Hoes has a higher OBP, more SB, and more runs scored than the O's LF'er

and

Josh Hader gets to 10 ML wins before Dylan Bundy

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I continue to be amazed as to how everyone wants Balfour so bad. Despite the second half shakiness, despite the away splits, despite the fact that he is 36 yo and has logged alot of innings, and now despite something indicating a less than healthy right shoulder.

I am very excited that this deal may fall thru it was a bad idea.

By the way I would be willing to bet a few Marbles that Pedro Strop has more saves this year than Grant Balfour

Jake Arietta has more wins than the O's # 5 starter

LJ Hoes has a higher OBP, more SB, and more runs scored than the O's LF'er

and

Josh Hader gets to 10 ML wins before Dylan Bundy

Whatever you say...I will take that bet. Strop is completely unreliable. In the NL East where he hasn't melted down yet he could have success for a short period of time, but I doubt it. I am glad we traded Strop.

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