medical reports

[swampdog]

Like many of you, i try to digest as much baseball news as i can, And i do not recall many situations where teams steered clear of a player due to medical issues, EXCEPT, the Orioles. Nick this year, Balfour last year,,, I know there's others . What's the deal? Do other teams discount medical reports or do the Orioles place a premium on them?

I can embrace the concept of fiscal responsibility, but in Nick's case, we're not talking AROD dollers here. The additional forth year of $11M has a future value of less than $7M ( based on 6% interest) Buy a damn insurance policy for him ala Joey Belle.

I hate the idea that management potentially manipulates the results of a physical in order to keep their wallet closed. I'm not implying that that is the case, but their is a re-occuring theme that leads me to at least raise the question.

[Nevermore]

You've got a point. Nick Markakis and Os management almost had the deal done, and Nick's neck wasn't an issue. But then Os management got cold feet. And suddenly, Nick's neck becomes an issue. I don't buy this. Os management decided to do their usual FA protocol, let them walk once they hit free agency, doesn't matter how long they've been on the team or how much that certain players mean to some fans who root more than for colored jerseys, no matter which bodies occupy them.

[mdbdotcom]

Like many of you, i try to digest as much baseball news as i can, And i do not recall many situations where teams steered clear of a player due to medical issues, EXCEPT, the Orioles. Nick this year, Balfour last year,,, I know there's others . What's the deal? Do other teams discount medical reports or do the Orioles place a premium on them?

I can embrace the concept of fiscal responsibility, but in Nick's case, we're not talking AROD dollers here. The additional forth year of $11M has a future value of less than $7M ( based on 6% interest) Buy a damn insurance policy for him ala Joey Belle.

I hate the idea that management potentially manipulates the results of a physical in order to keep their wallet closed. I'm not implying that that is the case, but their is a re-occuring theme that leads me to at least raise the question.

And so far the O's have been correct in just about every case. I would think it's safe to say that Angelos's experience as a personal injury lawyer has informed the team's understanding of medical reports that is unique among MLB teams.

[Can_of_corn]

I hate the idea of management ignoring the advice of the medical experts and signing guys that break down due to preexisting conditions.

[Mayor McCheese]

Whats the diagnosis for "having a horrible season" for Balfours case?

It's not like he got hurt / blew his arm out, he just stunk. Can someone refresh my memory and tell me what medical term that refers to on the physical examination chart?

[mdbdotcom]

Whats the diagnosis for "having a horrible season" for Balfours case?

It's not like he got hurt / blew his arm out, he just stunk. Can someone refresh my memory and tell me what medical term that refers to on the physical examination chart?

Do you know for sure that he wasn't pitching through injury all season? Besides, the O's docs said he'd probably be good for one season but couldn't recommend two. We'll see what happens in 2015.

[Mayor McCheese]

Do you know for sure that he wasn't pitching through injury all season? Besides, the O's docs said he'd probably be good for one season but couldn't recommend two. We'll see what happens in 2015.

I don't think a pitcher would risk pitching a whole season with an injury. It's not worth it.

Let's be real. Angelos and the Orioles second guessed Balfours deal, found an out, and exploited it. Worked out great for us but to say he is damaged goods or to believe that there was a medical issue is just comical.

[Can_of_corn]

Whats the diagnosis for "having a horrible season" for Balfours case?

It's not like he got hurt / blew his arm out, he just stunk. Can someone refresh my memory and tell me what medical term that refers to on the physical examination chart?

To me he looked like a guy who inexplicably lost his fastball and was throwing as hard he could to try and make up for it. This of course led to a loss of command and movement.

Now what could cause a guy to suddenly lose a bunch of velocity?

[mdbdotcom]

I don't think a pitcher would risk pitching a whole season with an injury. It's not worth it.

Let's be real. Angelos and the Orioles second guessed Balfours deal, found an out, and exploited it. Worked out great for us but to say he is damaged goods or to believe that there was a medical issue is just comical.

Players pretend they are healthy all the time. After the debacle in Baltimore, and Balfour's raging insistence that he was healthy, I could see him masking an injury.

Let's be real. You don't know how it went down and neither do I. Don't pretend that your opinion is fact.

[LookitsPuck]

Whats the diagnosis for "having a horrible season" for Balfours case?

It's not like he got hurt / blew his arm out, he just stunk. Can someone refresh my memory and tell me what medical term that refers to on the physical examination chart?

You mean a guy that had "dead arm" issues in 2014? The guy that had an average fastball of 93+ over the last 3 years prior to 2014 but then all of a sudden it was around 91.5? The same guy who topped out at near 97 the last 2 years, but was struggling to hit 94 last year? Hell, nearly all of his pitches took a few mph off in 2014. His performance was poor. He had dead arm issues.

You tell me.

[LookitsPuck]

I don't think a pitcher would risk pitching a whole season with an injury. It's not worth it.

Let's be real. Angelos and the Orioles second guessed Balfours deal, found an out, and exploited it. Worked out great for us but to say he is damaged goods or to believe that there was a medical issue is just comical.

Why on Earth would a team second guess the deal? This would shine very poorly on Duquette. Especially if it keeps happening with the medical staff, no?

Getting cold feet on Grant Balfour and Tyler Colvin, but NOT Ubaldo Jimenez who has the goofiest mechanics known to man....it just doesn't add up.

[Camden_yardbird]

The Orioles said that they were going to try and focus on this type of stuff. I remember some article saying that the Orioles had a philosophy that what hurts productivity of a team is lack of consistency due to having to replace injured players with suboptimal replacements. The Orioles try and focus on having a consistent team on the field. I'm not getting good to it exactly but perhaps some else remembers when this type of concept was being discussed.

It had to due with the Peterson biomechanical analysis stuff.

[Mayor McCheese]

You mean a guy that had "dead arm" issues in 2014? The guy that had an average fastball of 93+ over the last 3 years prior to 2014 but then all of a sudden it was around 91.5? The same guy who topped out at near 97 the last 2 years, but was struggling to hit 94 last year? Hell, nearly all of his pitches took a few mph off in 2014. His performance was poor. He had dead arm issues.

You tell me.

His issue was tipping his pitches. He was working on commanding his pitches more which he said to be the cause of his drop in velocity.

2013: 94.60

2014: 92.75

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/velo.php?player=346797&b_hand=-1&gFilt=&pFilt=FA%7CSI%7CFC%7CCU%7CSL%7CCS%7CKN%7CCH%7CFS%7CSB&time=year&minmax=ci&var=mph&s_type=2&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=07/27/2014

If you look at his career, his velocity has gone up/down every year. Not as much as 1.85mph but around ~1mph.

[Can_of_corn]

His issue was tipping his pitches. He was working on commanding his pitches more which he said to be the cause of his drop in velocity.

2013: 94.60

2014: 92.75

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/velo.php?player=346797&b_hand=-1&gFilt=&pFilt=FA%7CSI%7CFC%7CCU%7CSL%7CCS%7CKN%7CCH%7CFS%7CSB&time=year&minmax=ci&var=mph&s_type=2&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=07/27/2014

If you look at his career, his velocity has gone up/down every year. Not as much as 1.85mph but around ~1mph.

If he was working on his command why did his walk rate go from 3.9 to 5.9? That is a significant increase, especially when you consider that walk rates overall are down.

Also where are you getting he was tipping his pitches? I didn't see that anywhere.

[Mayor McCheese]

If he was working on his command why did his walk rate go from 3.9 to 5.9? That is a significant increase, especially when you consider that walk rates overall are down.

Also where are you getting he was tipping his pitches? I didn't see that anywhere.

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/rays-grant-balfour-says-he-has-been-tipping-pitches/2189209