Baltimore Orioles: Chris Davis in town

Newly-signed Chris Davis will take his physical with the Baltimore Orioles today.

There will probably be some Baltimore Orioles fans who will hold their breath as Chris Davis takes his physical. This is merely a formality in a sense, however the contract can’t be consumated until Davis passes his physical. And we all know that the Orioles have a history of these things not necessarily being a formality.

Prior to the 2013 season the Orioles were going to sign reliever Grant Balfour to a three-year deal. The results of his physical were analyzed by three different doctors, including one of which that wasn’t in the Orioles’ employ. All three doctors said that there were some warning signs, and basically Balfour flunked the physical.

The Orioles pulled out of the contract (which is their right), and were crucified in the media. Balfour himself was very critical of the team, as was Balfour’s “friend,” Dr. Koko Eaton – one of the trainers on the Tampa Rays. Tampa would end up signing Balfour to a shorter deal themselves – worth less money – but he was oft-injured and at one point was declared to have a dead arm.

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To this point, nobody’s apologized to the Orioles to my knowledge for dragging them through the mud in all of that. Heck, I had fans writing into this column telling me that it was obvious Peter Angelos didn’t want to pay the guy so he had the doctors manipulate the results of the physical to get out of the contract. Let’s get real, folks.

But I digress; the point is that these physicals do in fact mean something. If you’re going to make a $161 million dollar investment, you want to make sure that the player’s body isn’t going to break down in the next year or two. Granted we’re dealing with human beings here (so what kind of gaurantee can truly be given?), but you get the point.