:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/27438241/20130608_lbm_ac4_459.0.jpg)
Yesterday afternoon Jon Heyman tweeted this out:
after finding tyler colvin still has back issue, orioles will give him a minors deal but no majors deal. so he remains a FA
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) January 24, 2014
First of all, learn to capitalize, Jon Heyman. Twitter has turned us all into animals. Second of all, this just makes me shake my head.
Tyler Colvin dealt with a disc injury in his back for much of the 2013 season, and it's no big secret that back injuries are some of the toughest to recover from. In that sense, it doesn't surprise me at all that the Orioles found something in his physical that they didn't like. But it does make me wonder why they were interested in going after him in the first place when he had such an issue last year. Or, I should say, interested in him to the point that they were willing to offer him a major-league deal in the first place.
More on Tyler Colvin
More on Tyler Colvin
In a vacuum, I don't think that matters all that much. I don't think Colvin will end up being a big difference maker no matter where he ends up. But on the heels of the team backing out of the Grant Balfour deal, it's concerning in the sense that it might turn future free agents away from the Orioles.
I respect Craig Calcaterra as baseball writer very much, and so it concerned me when I saw him say this:
At this point I’m not sure why anyone would want to go down the road to signing a contract with Baltimore. If they get dinged on the physical it’ll cost them a good deal of money.
I really hope that's not the case. It's tough enough getting the Orioles to go after free agents. I'd hate for players to start actively avoiding them.
