Roch confirms no MRI for Gonzalez prior to signing.

[square634]

Seems like the Nationals team policy was to do an MRI on any pitcher that we were interested in obtaining via free agency or trade - at least that was their policy in 2006.

I imagine the Orioles policy going forward is to require an MRI for pitchers.

That sounds more to me like the team's manager, who likely has no medical knowledge, thought it would be a good idea. Who knows whether it was implemented?

[Ohfan67]

No..because I don't really care to.

Can you provide me something that says whatever Gonzo has, that there was 100% guarantee that it wouldn't show up on the MRI?

Again, if the possibility exists, you do the MRI to cover your bases...Its a simple thing to do, takes very little time and it just gives you another piece of info.

I love it when you can't back up your opinions. And I really mean that. I admire your obtuse stubbornness and complete unwillingness to admit that you don't know what you're talking about or that you're wrong Seriously. I've read your posts for years and have always found that quite fun.

[Going Underground]

Peavy's MRI revealed nothing. MRI's do not always reveal everything and doctors will give you differing opinions.

Guillen said he had no regrets about being talked out of placing Peavy on the 15-day disabled list after he had complained of an aching right shoulder June 15. An MRI in Pittsburgh showed no abnormalities, and the Sox pushed Peavy's next start back by two days. Peavy responded with a shutout at Washington on June 19.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/ct-spt-0708-white-sox-angels-chicago-20100707,0,3118897.story

[ledzepp8]

Who the hell cares? This is a meaningless thing.

The bottom line is very simple...Is it good or bad to have more info about a players health?

PErsonally, i feel it is a good thing to know as much about the aging pitcher you are about to sign as possible.

The debate is, if you find something, is that worth not signing him over? That is a different question.

There should be no debate about whether or not you administer the test itself or not.

How is it meaningless? Just because something might not be harmful if done (although that may be up for debate) doesn't automatically mean you do it if it probably won't definitively tell you anything anyhow.

It comes down to you don't really know if the MRI is necessary, if it will tell you anything, or if it will predict anything...but you want it done anyway for shigs and gittles I suppose.

[El Gordo]

If MRI's are common with FA pitchers, IF pitchers regularly agree to taking them, and IF I knew that an MRI would have likely revealed or red flaged the injury that Gonzo subsequently developed, then I would say that the O's were foolish in failing to give him one. Can anyone answer those IF's? Drungo? 1970? Stotle? Roch?:laughlol:

[Going Underground]

If MRI's are common with FA pitchers, IF pitchers regularly agree to taking them, and IF I knew that an MRI would have likely revealed or red flaged the injury that Gonzo subsequently developed, then I would say that the O's were foolish in failing to give him one. Can anyone answer those IF's? Drungo? 1970? Stotle? Roch?:laughlol:

Guillen said he had no regrets about being talked out of placing Peavy on the 15-day disabled list after he had complained of an aching right shoulder June 15. An MRI in Pittsburgh showed no abnormalities, and the Sox pushed Peavy's next start back by two days. Peavy responded with a shutout at Washington on June 19.

MRI did not show anything on Jake Peavy and then he might be out for the season.

[carolinaoriole]

The real issue is not whether or not an mri should have been done on Gonzalez.

This injury should prove once and for all to never give a longterm contract to any free agent pitcher.

What if the Orioles were to sign a Cliff Lee to a $100 million dollar contract for 7 Years and did an mri.

The risk is to great and would devastate the teams budget.

the gonzalez signing was not a longterm deal at least.

This proves that it is best to grow the arms.

and almost never buy them

[El Gordo]

Guillen said he had no regrets about being talked out of placing Peavy on the 15-day disabled list after he had complained of an aching right shoulder June 15. An MRI in Pittsburgh showed no abnormalities, and the Sox pushed Peavy's next start back by two days. Peavy responded with a shutout at Washington on June 19.

MRI did not show anything on Jake Peavy and then he might be out for the season.

I'd be more ready to except this as an example, if it involved someone other than Ozzie.:laughlol:

[FarmSystem]

With his free agent signing history and complete failure in the international free agent market, why would anybody trust Andy's judgement from this point forward? Considering he only has one year left on his deal, its probably better to get somebody this offseason rather than have a lameduck GM who very well could leave you anyway, and risk grabbing for gm leftovers towards the end of the 2011 season.

[Sports Guy]

I think the point is that more times than not you're going to find something in an MRI that someone somewhere might not like but that it won't necessarily predict any future injury.

This is all well and good...but it still gives you more info and information isn't a bad thing.

The people evaluating what they see on an MRI understand everything that square is saying...He isn't saying anything that professionals don't know.

But what about the other side to this...What if something popped up on the MRI that was an obvious issue? You wouldn't know that if you don't administer the test.

Ehh, whatever...The Orioles were dumb enough to sign him to begin with, so the deserve everything they get from it.

[nadecir]

That sounds more to me like the team's manager, who likely has no medical knowledge, thought it would be a good idea. Who knows whether it was implemented?

The Nationals waited to sign Astacio until he had an MRI as requested by then GM Jim Bowden.

Here's another example of a team using MRI's during physicals. This article talks about the Mets signing Pedro Martinez in 2004.

The Mets scheduled a news conference for Shea Stadium on Thursday at 11 a.m. to introduce Martinez, who turned down a $40.5 million, three-year offer from the Boston Red Sox and told his agent Monday to work out a deal with New York.

The total guaranteed value of his contract was obtained by The Associated Press from a baseball official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Martinez, a 33-year-old right-hander, has had shoulder problems at times. He had a physical in New York and passed it, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said.

Earlier at a children's holiday benefit at Shea Stadium, Mets general manager Omar Minaya avoided questions about the agreement. Dressed in a red turtleneck shirt with a Mets' blue and orange Santa hat in his hand, he said the team generally asks all players with a history of injury to have an MRI exam, saying an exception would be "pretty rare."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1947207

Since Gonzalez had Tommy John surgery in 2007, I imagine the Mets would have requested an MRI on him.

[Sports Guy]

I love it when you can't back up your opinions. And I really mean that. I admire your obtuse stubbornness and complete unwillingness to admit that you don't know what you're talking about or that you're wrong Seriously. I've read your posts for years and have always found that quite fun.

Can you show me something that 100% guarantees that Gonzo's injury wouldn't have popped up in an MRI?

[Nigel Tufnel]

The way I look at it is, the O's paid Gonzalez $12 million, plus they lost a 2nd round pick, so call it a total investment of $15 million. If an MRI costs $1,000, then if there's better than a 1 in 15,000 chance that the MRI will spot an existing problem, you need to have one done.

[square634]

The Nationals waited to sign Astacio until he had an MRI as requested by then GM Jim Bowden.

Here's another example of a team using MRI's during physicals. This article talks about the Mets signing Pedro Martinez in 2004.http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1947207

Since Gonzalez had Tommy John surgery in 2007, I imagine the Mets would have requested an MRI on him.

Yeah it makes sense to me that it would be more worthwhile to give MRIs to pitchers with extensive injury histories because their a priori injury risk is probably higher. That being said, Tommy John surgery is for the UCL in the elbow and Gonzalez has a shoulder injury, and you would still need to do a study to determine whether an MRI screening is helpful, harmful, or neither.

[SilentJames]

Can you show me something that 100% guarantees that Gonzo's injury wouldn't have popped up in an MRI?

According to Roch his MRI showed that there was fraying and and two small tears. Now, the question is how normal is that? If you gave Cliff Lee an MRI right now what would his shoulder look like?

If the MRI shows those things, but all other information points to him being fine then what does the MRI really tell you?