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


Tony-OH

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Are the fact sets the same?

Not many people know. Certainly no one on this board. Since the O's can't comment, for all we know, he tested positive for drugs. Now he is doing damage control to save his career. The fact sets are the same in that the teams did not like the medicals and both the Redsox and O's made another offer. How are they different?

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I don't know why the Red Sox get lauded for being smart because they knocked Napoli's deal from a 3 year deal to a 1 year deal, but the O's do the same thing (or try to) with Balfour and they get kicked to the ground for it. No one ever mentions that Sele broke down 2 years into a 4 year deal, or the Burnitz was terrible and injured the year after he failed our physical. They just lambast the fact that the O's like to be thorough when throwing around 8-figure cash. Which is understandable. If I signed a contract for 15 million dollars the company would probably take every legal precaution necessary.

The issue is 1) the standards being applied to the medicals, and 2) the fact that Baltimore apparently did little to shield Balfour from the fallout of a failed physical. Seems like Napoli's side agreed with the fact that the medicals turned up something unexpected that shifted risk profile. Balfour's side doesn't. Pretty simple fact sets to distinguish, right?

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They aren't afraid of the physical, they are wary of spending time and effort negotiating a deal and not being told what standards are being used for one side potentially backing out. The way this played out, Baltimore reached a deal with Balfour, then killed his market value and offered a team friendly deal to him after.

Just like the Redsox did last year?

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Are the fact sets the same?

As to the teams, yes, pretty much so, except the Red Sox were cutting both 2 years and quite a few dollars in their counter offer, the Orioles only were looking to change the second guaranteed year to a vesting option. As to the way the players handled it, no, not the same at all.

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Not many people know. Certainly no one on this board. Since the O's can't comment, for all we know, he tested positive for drugs. Now he is doing damage control to save his career. The fact sets are the same in that the teams did not like the medicals and both the Redsox and O's made another offer. How are they different?

One set of facts has a player upset, the other doesn't? In fact, the vast majority of the time medicals turn something up the player lives with it and life goes on. Regardless of what Baltimore can or can't say publicly, they can certainly tell Balfour what they found (and should) and explain why they pulled an offer. If the reasons sound suspect, he'd probably be upset.

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The issue is 1) the standards being applied to the medicals, and 2) the fact that Baltimore apparently did little to shield Balfour from the fallout of a failed physical. Seems like Napoli's side agreed with the fact that the medicals turned up something unexpected that shifted risk profile. Balfour's side doesn't. Pretty simple fact sets to distinguish, right?

What was Baltimore suppose to do? Do a bad deal to protect Balfour?

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As to the teams, yes, pretty much so, except the Red Sox were cutting both 2 years and quite a few dollars in their counter offer, the Orioles only were looking to change the second guaranteed year to a vesting option. As to the way the players handled it, no, not the same at all.

Is that an indication that Balfour is unreasonable, or that Baltimore's issues with the medicals are flimsy? Seems like confirmation bias.

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One set of facts has a player upset, the other doesn't? In fact, the vast majority of the time medicals turn something up the player lives with it and life goes on. Regardless of what Baltimore can or can't say publicly, they can certainly tell Balfour what they found (and should) and explain why they pulled an offer. If the reasons sound suspect, he'd probably be upset.

And you somehow know that Baltimore didn't tell him and didn't explain it to him? I find this very hard to believe. Suspect reason or not, wouldn't Balfour do exactly what he is doing to protect his career?

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What was Baltimore suppose to do? Do a bad deal to protect Balfour?

Stringently deny a deal was in place before they were sure they'd sign him? Help give him some cover -- particularly if they are grading more harshly than other teams generally do?

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The issue is 1) the standards being applied to the medicals, and 2) the fact that Baltimore apparently did little to shield Balfour from the fallout of a failed physical. Seems like Napoli's side agreed with the fact that the medicals turned up something unexpected that shifted risk profile. Balfour's side doesn't. Pretty simple fact sets to distinguish, right?

This is a major difference IMO.

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The issue is 1) the standards being applied to the medicals, and 2) the fact that Baltimore apparently did little to shield Balfour from the fallout of a failed physical.

On point 2, what could the Orioles have done, in your opinion? They said nothing more than the bare minimum publicly.

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And you somehow know that Baltimore didn't tell him and didn't explain it to him? I find this very hard to believe. Suspect reason or not, wouldn't Balfour do exactly what he is doing to protect his career?

It's not rocket science here. Of course they explained it. But obviously the explanation didn't wash with Balfour. It obviously did with Napoli, as it has with many of players that saw deals renegotiated. Maybe Balfour's being a baby. Maybe he's dumbfounded that Baltimore used MRI results substantively similar to what they've been for three years as a reason to retract an offer.

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Which is fine, however there is also this undercurrent of thought that the O's did all of this as a negotiating ploy. That is a whole other kettle of fish.

The idea that this was a negotiating ploy does not bear up to any sensible scrutiny. Negotiating in bad faith is a way to ensure failure in future negotiations, so this conspiracy theory assumes PA and DD are stupid. Of course, that does not stop journalists from piling on to a conspiracy story when it concerns someone they (with justification) despise, i.e., PA. (For example, Gammons tweets that the O's have a "history" in regard to strict medical judgments, without mentioning that their history is pretty compelling regarding the prudence of their medical judgments.) The one clear mistake the O's made in handling this was to schedule a news conference before the medical judgment was made -- they should not have scheduled it until after they decided. It is this fact that makes it look as though DD was either caught by complete surprise at the medical team's judgment, or overruled at the last minute by his boss. And either of those possibilities makes the O's look bad, even if they have legitimate medical reasons to judge the risk of a guaranteed contract too great.

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