JAN. 24: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Colvin's physical revealed that he still has back issues, causing the Orioles to reduce their offer from a Major League contract to a minor league deal. As such, Colvin will not sign and remains a free agent. Heyman points out that Colvin can now seek a big league deal with a club, knowing that he can sign a minor league pact with the O's as a fallback (Twitter link).
JAN. 22: A source tells ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link) that the Orioles found an issue with Colvin's physical, which could be creating an obstacle to the deal.
JAN. 15: The Orioles have agreed to terms with free agent outfielder Tyler Colvin, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links). Only a physical stands in the way of the deal, Connolly says, which is believed to be a guaranteed MLB contract. Colvin, 28, is represented by Relativity Baseball.
The left-handed swinging Colvin has seen MLB action in parts of five seasons. In 2012, his first year with the Rockies, Colvin posted a promising .290/.327/.531 triple-slash in 452 plate appearances. But he took a step back last year, earning only 78 MLB plate appearances and registering a meager .160/.192/.280 line in the process. He continued to hit at the Triple-A level, however, slashing .275/.377/.480 in 269 trips to the plate for Colorado Springs.
Colvin started his career with the Cubs before heading to Colorado in the Ian Stewart trade. The 13th overall choice in the 2006 draft, Baseball America considered Colvin the game's 75th-best prospect after the 2007 season.
Colvin joins a long list of outfielders that will join the O's for Spring Training. (The Sun's Eduardo Encina counts 12, on Twitter.) Other offseason outfield additions include Delmon Young, Quintin Berry, Xavier Paul, David Lough, and Francisco Peguero.
Quantity > Quality
~Orioles FO
they do know that you can only have 25 men on roster, right?
Acquire all marginal outfielders.
Only a physical stands in the way, huh? What could possibly go wrong?
my favorite comment of the day. perfect mix of humor and cynicism.
Heh, looks like my cynicism was justified. God dammit Orioles.
well i guess it wasn’t cynical after all.
Jeff Todd clearly has a wry sense of humor.
He wasn’t joking.
AND THEN IT HAPPENED! This must be a bad joke.
This is literally the funniest comment in the world right now. LOL
Your joke has turned into reality.
The O’s doctors are so good that they can find health problems that don’t even exist!
They’ll discover it’s due to thumb prints on the x-rays. Then heads are going to roll.
Uh oh… Colvin doesn’t have a solid minor league OBP…
What’s Duquette going to say about him?
Maybe that he’s put up solid numbers in the majors when healthy?
Outside of Coors Field? When?
2010 in Chicago
Oh right. Four years ago, when he hit .254 with a .316 OBP and a bunch of strikeouts.
A guaranteed MLB deal for this guy is a joke.
Way to overlook the .500 slugging and .246 iso
Not really overlooking it. Everyone knows that Colvin can hit for power.
The question is can he hit for enough average and get on base enough? At Age 28, after all the injuries and the horrible numbers outside of Coors last year, I don’t think so.
And I’m not super excited to see my team throwing out guaranteed money to take a chance on a guy who shouldn’t get anything more than a minor league deal and an invite.
It’s not like we’re in Garrett Atkins territory here.
But we are in division title territory if we add the right pieces, and all we’ve added is a bunch of minor league fliers.
Who do you want them to sign? Nelson Cruz? Kendrys Morales?
No thanks.
I want them to sign a pitcher, a real pitcher, and ideally more than one. There are still plenty of good options out there.
None of those guys are signing right now. They’re waiting for Tanaka to choose a team so they can shop themselves to the teams that lost out who may be hesitant to add them right now.
Corey Hart, Raja Davis, David Murphy, Kelly Johnson, Curtis Granderson,
There were a bunch of guys out there that the O’s wouldn’t have to break the bank for that would of been just fine.
Atkins ::shudder::
better than a mlb contract for you
Actually, this may never happen!
It sounds ominous about the physical!
The word on the street is that Colvin has hang nail and dandruff!
the problem with Colvin is that he does best when he gets regular playing time. Historically, with the Cubs, every time he lost any amount of regular playing time, his stats dipped dramatically.
Has all the tools
The money is really starting to flow into buying quality free agents
Glad to see Colvin get another chance, he was one of my favorites. Cubs gave up on him to early. After getting the bat into his chest it would take a year or so to adjusts back to normal.
also how many lh OF bats do the O’s have this year ?
2 bats, but all the players have to share
I always saw Colvin as sort of a left-handed hitting Nolan Reimold, any thoughts on this?
Hopefully at least one of them can put their injuries behind them
Never really thought about that, but that’s a great comparison that I never saw before. I’d say spot on tho id give Colvin the edge on defense.
6 – Markakis, Lough, Borbon, Berry, Paul and now Colvin
I don’t think Borbon or Berry make the team.
I would think no more than one of Borbon, Perry or Paul does. I don’t know that the choice among them is obvious.There are also RH OF Reimold and Pearce There not may be room for them if they keep Colvin and Young in addition to the three starting OF and Machado starts the season. . With Flaherty and Casilla as back-ups there would be room for 5 outfielders/DH types. Or if they keep Reimold, all three are probably gone
Be Still my heart…
This is so sad. I remember the Orioles when they were in the majors
The Orioles have averaged 89 wins over the past two seasons. Yet, they aren’t even considered as “in the majors”?
Another former highly touted Cubs center-field prospect that fell out of grace that has joined Baltimore.
Colvin’s now closer to the Hall of Fame.
A major league contract? Why?
As much as I don’t see this as a bad signing, a major league deal is perplexing.
Looks like the other half to our DH platoon…Young/Reimold vs. LHP and Colvin/Urrutia against RHP…Could be worse, but I am excited to see how it shakes out during spring training. Only a few weeks to go!!!
why does this guy tank every other year?
Come spring training it looks like the Orioles will be getting the other major league teams reserve outfielders ready for this season.
I think this is a solid move. He can play both corner OF spots and 1B. Might be a good bat off the bench, given his power.
Again?
The Orioles found something wrong with his physical…shocking.
Any surprise here?
Maybe the Orioles should set-up a program for all up and coming Doctors to finish their residency at Camden Yards, rather than a teaching hospital!
Not this again…
Do they find problems in every deal?
Angelos balks at any injury concerns after being burned on the Albert Belle deal 15 years ago.
Here we go again.
So, Baltimore. I hear that Dylan Bundy has some arm problems and hasn’t passed your physical. We would be happy to take him off your hands for you. – Every Team in the Bigs
This smells of a post agreement veto.
2nd time this offseason. The probability that this will burn them down the road just went from likely to most probably…
The Balfour situation already stinks due to his buddy docs talking about his shoulder and Olney later reporting that the O’s backed off due to wrist and knee concerns.
This is completely unrelated, as it’s not at all surprising that Colvin might have some lingering issues after missing 60some games last year due to… wait for it… INJURIES.
I don’t in any way support the way that the Orioles front office operates, but these things are being completely blown out of proportion.
The problem is that they might have more trouble signing free agents. If a FA is offered the same amount of money by the Orioles and another team, this kind of thing could very well tip the balance.
What player wants to take the risk of having everyone know he failed his physical & having to start finding another team again?
Hi everybody!!!!
Hi Dr. Nick!!
Issue should really be put in quotation marks.
In Baltimore issue is spelled with an “A”…
“Hi, I represent the Baltimore Orioles, and we’d like to talk about signing you!”
“GO AWAY! GO AWAY!”
Why would free agents even start with these folk? Especially someone like Colvin, who has lost time finding a gig.
Maybe they will trade Chen if they find a problem likely not a serious one in his physical.
He waited three months before the O’s agreed to a deal with him. I think he’ll be fine to wait another couple of weeks.
And who says this deal is dead anyway?
It’s not surprising that a guy who missed 60 games last year due to INJURIES might have some lingering issues. Maybe they’re just changing some language around.
I can see that, but why offer in the first place? The organization seems to have an MO.
They were right about Aaron Sele, as he broke down in what would have been the third year of the four year contract they offered him. Would have been nice to have him for the first two years though.
They were right about Xavier Hernandez, who never pitched in MLB again after he failed his physical in Baltimore.
They were right about Jeromy Burnitz, who didn’t make it through a full season in Pittsburgh after his agent didn’t like the medical terms in the proposed contract.
They didn’t fail a notable player’s physical from 2007 through 2012, when they failed Jair Jurrjens, then restructured his contract. Jurrjens was healthy-ish during his time in Norfolk/Baltimore, but had a balky knee for most of the season.
They failed Balfour, and his health issues or non-issues remain to be seen.
They potentially failed Colvin, which shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering how much time he missed last year.
So, yeah. I guess they do have an MO. For failing players who aren’t healthy enough to live up to their proposed contracts.
How is this a bad thing?
I read an estimate that about 1/3 of all pitchers in MLB have had, at some time in their careers, Tommy John surgery. Any player has the potential for getting hurt–look at Mauer, or Brian Roberts, who was ostensibly healthy when the O’s gave him his large contract. Stuff happens. The MO seems to be that the physical is an opportunity to decide a second time whether you want the player. I’m not saying that doesn’t work for the organization–what I’m saying is that from a player perspective, it might not be terribly wise to agree with the Orioles because you have two hurdles-the physical, and the possible cold feet.
It was a minor league deal anyway as corrected on the other story here. If he is taking a minor league deal chances are there was no real market for him anyway. Also to those saying the Orioles a failing due to second thoughts what would the purpose be if he was on a minor league deal anyway. They cut just cut him after spring training if they didn’t want him.
Who didn’t see this coming?
Right? Colvin missed, what, 60 games last year? Pretty easy to guess that he might still be experiencing some lingering issues.
unbelievable! why can’t they be like Reds who did not sign Grady?
Tough luck for the Orioles this offseason.
Orioles are being the type of people that buy something from the store to only return it because they found out they don’t need it after all.
Another back out by the o’s
First Balfour and now Colvin. This is getting trendy.
I’m sure Colvin can get a gig with the Rays…
Sept. 18: Rays clinch a playoff spot in Baltimore as Colvin hits a go ahead grand slam in the eight, with Balfour getting the save to eliminate the O’s from the playoffs.
I’d love to know what the Orioles physical test is like.. how come they’re the ONLY team to have two players not meet their standard on the physical?
Don’t forget… same thing happened with Jair Jurrjins last season. He ended up signing a minor league deal
I know what you’re saying but there was the notable Napoli situation last year with the Red Sox.
We all know it rarely happens, and the terms of that deal were way more significant.. I just know for a fact they colvin will be signed by someone to a major league deal and Balfour was already
there seems to be a hold up with garza right after his physical was taken. They are saying its not the physical at the moment but it is rarely anything else
Looks like it wasn’t that lol all I’m saying is your not going to sign a guy on a 1 year deal cause of “back issues”?
i think they should give Ozzie Canseco a look.
I thought that agents were going to present the O’s with a physical right up front in the negotiations, so that it wouldn’t be ‘pending physical’ anymore.
At least the O’s are consistent
Any free agent would have to be nuts to consider the Orioles now. They seem to be in the business of trashing players market value. Perhaps they will be vindicated if Colvin and Balfour have physical issues this year, but for now…. I mean, I am pretty sure every player has physical issues if you look close enough.
The Orioles didn’t even announce the deal. Someone leaked it to the media so had it not been leaked the results of the physical wouldn’t be out there.
Seems like Dr. Spaceman is running the Orioles medical team these days.
Just kicking the tyres again….
Who’s going to want to sign with the Orioles now, seriously.
This has been the worst Baltimore Orioles Offseason I can remember.
They are definitely on my list of 2014 Offseason losers this year.
And even putting it so bluntly is fair given how bad they have been with deals.
He was designated for assignment last year and nobody picked him up. If another team really believed his back was sound he would’ve landed somewhere. Does anyone really think he will get a major league contract? If the o’s should be bashed for anything it should be for signing so many fringe major league outfielders and going cheap on pitching.