The Rays intensified their interest in re-signing Grant Balfour days after the Baltimore Orioles walked away from a two-year, $15MM deal with reliever because they had concerns with his throwing shoulder. That interest only increased following the results of a second opinion from Rays team doctor, Koco Eaton.
The former Rays and A’s reliever was in line for a significant payday from the Orioles, following a season in which he posted a 2.59 ERA, saved 38 games, and posted a 10.34 K/9 in 62.2 innings of work. He, however, was unable to pass his physical with Orioles’ team doctors. The Orioles reportedly had concerns over Balfour’s throwing shoulder, which was operated on three years prior to him joining the Rays organization in 2007. Now his value has taken a significant hit, and the potential for him to don a Rays jersey once more has become very realistic.
The writers at DRaysBay noted,
This came as a shock to Balfour, who claims to be “100-percent fine.” Balfour received a second opinion from Rays team doctor Koco Eaton on Friday, who worked with Balfour during his time with the Rays through 2010, and he agreed.
Eaton told Ken Rosenthal, ”The MRI that I did on him today looked exactly the same as the MRI I did three years ago,” and called the two-year contract with Baltimore a “no-brainer”:
“It did not look normal compared to a person who does not play baseball for a living. But for someone who plays baseball for a living, it looked normal. There are abnormalities on the MRI as there are on every single baseball player’s. But three years ago, there was no issue, and he had pretty good performance when he was with Oakland.”
According to a source, the Orioles did not compare Balfour’s present MRI to the one he had three years ago, as is customary.
Eaton also claimed there has been no change in risk for Balfour since his days with the Rays: “I would say with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that his shoulder would not be a problem going forward any more than it was a problem over the past three years,” Eaton told Rosenthal. “And there was no problem over the past three years.”
“I’m the All-Star pitcher I was last season. My shoulder is fine, everything is fine. I’m ready to come out there in the ninth inning, do what I do.” -Balfour to A’s reporter Susan SlusserTimothy Kremchek, Balfour’s surgeon that repaired his rotator cuff almost a decade ago in 2005, reviewed the report from the Baltimore doctors, and was reportedly surprised how little had changed. ”For a guy in his 30s who has pitched [in the major leagues] six or seven years since his rotator-cuff repair, his MRI on his shoulder looks remarkably good.” Kremchek is the same doctor who performed Balfour’s Tommy John surgery in 2004.
Baltimore claims they did not “back out” of the deal, and would still be interested at one-year guaranteed with an option, but in the mean time, the Orioles have chosen to walk away from the deal, which could cost Balfour a significant amount of money.
Balfour remains a free agent, and is considering filing a grievance with Baltimore through the player’s union.
These events may coalesce into a benefit for the Rays. According to ESPN’s Jim Bowden, the Rays are now in on Balfour, which makes sense given the team doctor’s public opinions on Balfour’s health. They are the only team rumored to have interest at this time.
In three years with Oakland, Balfour stuck out 203 batters in 199.1 innings. He converted 62 of 67 save opportunities in the last two seasons as a closer. Last year, he posted his highest strikeout rate since 2008 at 27.5% (2.67 K/BB), while walking twenty-seven batters (3.88 BB/9).
Balfour was effective against left handed batters last season, and generally stayed out of trouble against right handed batters when he kept the ball away in the upper third of the zone. With a 61.3% Z-Swing percentage, Balfour can be quite whiffy when he pitches in the zone, however he generally stays away from hitters. It has been asserted that some framing on the low-outside corner* against right handed hitters could improve his game.
Balfour leans on a 93.3 MPH four-seam fastball (on average) 64.6% of the time, and an 86 MPH slider 27.4% of the time. He also mixes in a hard 82 MPH 12-6 curveball 7.9% of the time, keeping batters off balance.
Going into the off-season, the Rays bullpen looked all but depleted. The re-acquisition of Grant Balfour would largely bolster the Rays back end, taking pressure off Heath Bell and Juan Carlos Oviedo to fill the (as of now) vacated closer spot.
*Molina and Hanigan’s bread and butter.