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Camden Depot's Shepherd: Failed Physicals and Testing the Orioles' Success


Tony-OH

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I think your viewpoint is reasonable from a third party position applying logic and reason to a certain set of facts. But if you add to those facts the day-in day-out impressions of most of the industry as to how the Orioles do business, the calculus changes dramatically.

By way of another example, I spoke to an area scout right after Mr. Duquette took over. I pointed out Baltimore had new bosses up top and would likely be cleaning house and looking to bring in fresh blood -- asked this scout "if offered a pay bump and promotion would you jump to Baltimore?"

His response: "Not a chance. No way."

Folks in the industry view Baltimore as dysfunctional and, often times, schizophrenic. There's a very real chance Baltimore did almost everything it should have done with regards to Balfour, but it's way too easy for the industry to believe otherwise because it fits the narrative.

Team agrees to deal, then at the last second backs out because "Baltimore".

In a vacuum: of course a team should listen to its experts; of course a team shouldn't take huge contractual risks with aging players; of course red flags should not be ignored. But none of this is happening in a vacuum.

Then why didn't the media thrash the Red Sox last year because of Napoli? I know Napoli quickly renegotiated, but what if he hadn't?

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Then why didn't the media thrash the Red Sox last year because of Napoli? I know Napoli quickly renegotiated, but what if he hadn't?

Napoli agreed with the results of his physical. If he didn't and had prominent specialists agreeing with him then I'd imagine the Red Sox would have caught some heat. IIRC Boston's off season was mostly viewed as a bust by the national media.

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Right. There's a good chance Balfour simply failed the physical and the O's made the right call. That doesn't change the fact that it was handled poorly and has resulted in the worst PR debacle since 2005. That's just a fact. And it has real effects on how the Orioles will be doing business going forward because of the public perception.

So everyone taking the Orioles' side here on the medicals, that's fine. But then there's the PR side, which they have utterly dropped the ball on.

Dan,

I keep seeing you reference that this is a PR debacle. The O's handled it wrong or handled it poorly. Could you please tell me how they should have handled it? Keep in mind that because of FEDERAL law their hands are tied as to releasing ANY information related to this physical without the express written permission of the patient. The team has done the correct thing. They released a statement saying their doctors saw something they did not like and have decided to pass. If they are smart they will not elaborate, even though that is what people are dying for them to do.

So I ask you again, How would you have handled it?

Thanks

And Merry Christmas

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Then why didn't the media thrash the Red Sox last year because of Napoli? I know Napoli quickly renegotiated, but what if he hadn't?

Because none of the parties involved felt the other party was screwing them over. Obviously Napoli completely agreed the Red Sox were justified in their interpretation of the medicals, whereas Balfour does not believe Baltimore had reasonable cause to blow up his deal.

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We know that it is not. A controlled market of 30 places to sell your wares makes all clubs attractive for all agents. Always.

True, but we'd be crazy to believe all teams start on equal footing. I have no doubt Baltimore can compete for players with limited options. Players who have leverage and suitors? Probably not so much.

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Because none of the parties involved felt the other party was screwing them over. Obviously Napoli completely agreed the Red Sox were justified in their interpretation of the medicals, whereas Balfour does not believe Baltimore had reasonable cause to blow up his deal.

I have my own theory why Napoli toed the Red Sox line on this all. And why after a good performance this season he was rewarded. Two of the top indicators of avascular necrosis are alcoholism and steroid use. To be fair, crush injuries are also on that list. Like if you jumped from a third floor and landed on your feet. Or were in a major car accident. I don't know enough about Napoli to tell if either of those later two things occurred in his life. I do know that Napoli spends a ton of time in Vegas and dates a porn star. The Charlie Sheen lifestyle.

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I have my own theory why Napoli toed the Red Sox line on this all. And why after a good performance this season he was rewarded. Two of the top indicators of avascular necrosis are alcoholism and steroid use. To be fair, crush injuries are also on that list. Like if you jumped from a third floor and landed on your feet. Or were in a major car accident. I don't know enough about Napoli to tell if either of those later two things occurred in his life. I do know that Napoli spends a ton of time in Vegas and dates a porn star. The Charlie Sheen lifestyle.

According to the NIH website, it's corticosteroid use not anabolic steroids. NIH mentions nothing about porn stars.

http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Osteonecrosis/#b

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Because none of the parties involved felt the other party was screwing them over. Obviously Napoli completely agreed the Red Sox were justified in their interpretation of the medicals, whereas Balfour does not believe Baltimore had reasonable cause to blow up his deal.

Then that should make Balfour look bad, not the Orioles. The Orioles' reasoning for nixing the deal were legitimate.

*insert Pollyanna comment below*

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The team told Napoli he failed, explained why, and he conceded their findings were legit reasons he was riskier than anticipated.

This isn't that complex.

What do we really know about what discussions the Orioles had with Balfour, and how good their reasons were? We know Balfour disagreed with them, but we don't know if his position is reasonable or not. What we do know is that the Orioles did not announce that Balfour had been signed, and didn't get into a pissing contest after the deal broke down. That was all on Balfour. So while I might agree, if I had actual knowledge of the facts, that the O's decision to back off this deal was an unreasonable one, I have no problem with how the O's handled the "public" side of the matter. That's all on Balfour so far as I'm concerned.

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Because none of the parties involved felt the other party was screwing them over. Obviously Napoli completely agreed the Red Sox were justified in their interpretation of the medicals, whereas Balfour does not believe Baltimore had reasonable cause to blow up his deal.

You keep repeating this argument but I don't really see how it holds any weight. You say the Orioles are at fault and must have done something wrong because Balfour became upset, while the Red Sox did everything right because Napoli didn't become upset. Couldn't it just be that the Orioles did everything right and Balfour just got butt hurt because he got butt hurt?

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What do we really know about what discussions the Orioles had with Balfour, and how good their reasons were? We know Balfour disagreed with them, but we don't know if his position is reasonable or not. What we do know is that the Orioles did not announce that Balfour had been signed, and didn't get into a pissing contest after the deal broke down. That was all on Balfour. So while I might agree, if I had actual knowledge of the facts, that the O's decision to back off this deal was an unreasonable one, I have no problem with how the O's handled the "public" side of the matter. That's all on Balfour so far as I'm concerned.

Did Balfour really have a choice. He had an agreement, the agreement was blown up over medical reports which got leaked. Now he has given up substantial negotiating leverage with the O's and any other team. His only option if he wants to get a contract in the neighborhood of what he was going to get with the O's was to come out swinging which he did with his two doctors and the comments about the O's just wanting to back out of the deal. He is in income protection mode. I honestly can not blame him unless he is currently or has recently experienced sharp pains in his shoulder. The one thing he couldn't do is remain silent and let other teams perceive that he agreed with the medical assessment.

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What do we really know about what discussions the Orioles had with Balfour, and how good their reasons were? We know Balfour disagreed with them, but we don't know if his position is reasonable or not. What we do know is that the Orioles did not announce that Balfour had been signed, and didn't get into a pissing contest after the deal broke down. That was all on Balfour. So while I might agree, if I had actual knowledge of the facts, that the O's decision to back off this deal was an unreasonable one, I have no problem with how the O's handled the "public" side of the matter. That's all on Balfour so far as I'm concerned.

This is my take as well on the situation given what we know. I'm not sure what the Orioles did wrong other than decide to nix a deal based of the medicals before they signed the actual agreement. Balfour is the one making a big deal about all of this in the public. I understand how some can look at this situation and not give the Orioles the benefit of the doubt due to Angelos' history in these cases, but I'm not sure how the Orioles PR department did anything wrong here or how they could have handled this better.

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You keep repeating this argument but I don't really see how it holds any weight. You say the Orioles are at fault and must have done something wrong because Balfour became upset, while the Red Sox did everything right because Napoli didn't become upset. Couldn't it just be that the Orioles did everything right and Balfour just got butt hurt because he got butt hurt?

I mean, your post would be spot on if I didn't say, numerous times, "It could be that Balfour is being wholly unreasonable." But other than that, sure.

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