Major League Baseball is taking a look at concerns that have arisen over the medical information disclosed by the Padres in at least two notable trades recently completed by the organization, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports. The swaps in question occurred with the Marlins (centered around Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea) and Red Sox (for Drew Pomeranz).
San Diego, of course, already agreed to something of a do-over in the case of Rea, sending minor leaguer Luis Castillo back to Miami and accepting the return of Rea. The 26-year-old righty departed in the middle of his first start with his new club with elbow issues, and it was just announced that he’ll need Tommy John surgery, as Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets.
It was reported at the time that the Marlins felt they had been wronged, with San Diego agreeing to unwind that portion of the transaction while insisting on organizational innocence. Olney explains that Rea informed the Miami staff that he had been treated for elbow discomfort in San Diego, which Miami then asserted had not been disclosed.
Now, per the report, it seems that questions have been raised about Pomeranz’s health. Boston parted with highly-regarded pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza to get him, but the Sox now believe they’ve learned elements of Pomeranz’s medical history that ought to have been revealed by the Pads.
Importantly, in the case of Pomeranz, the Red Sox are not seeking any modification of the agreement. It doesn’t appear as if there’s any real ongoing issue there, then, apart from the league’s general review of San Diego’s practices. Olney notes that it’s not clear whether any sanctions could be considered.
As Olney also discusses, these swaps seemingly point to the need for a more formalized process for exchanging medical information between organizations. The question of health disclosures is also under consideration with regard to the amateur draft, and perhaps both discrete but related topics could be on the table as collective bargaining talks continue.
Oh boy. Preller is gaining quite the, ummm…reputation around the league. This could turn into a pretty big deal, considering his history.
Preller was in trouble with MLB while with Rangers. Button you wallet. If he keeps shipping damaged goods to other teams, other GMs will freeze him out.
What did he do to make himself get in trouble in MLB while with the Rangers? Wasn’t he an assistant GM there with Daniels as the GM?
MLB suspended him for three months (appealed down to one month) because of some contract chicanery in the International market. Details are murky, but he tried to circumvent the system somehow to sign a disqualified player. The Rangers also paid a fine of 50K.
Thanks for the info
Wasn’t it pretty obvious that Pomeranz was going to regress/fatigue eventually? Extremely high amount of curveballs and career high IP can’t be good for the arm, sox should have known that
Ummmm, he has yet to cross his career high in IP. He’s close but he was 20 or so innings shy when he was traded. He also doesn’t throw a curveball anymore…..hasn’t used it in a couple years and never used it much to begin with.
Obviously he will throw many more innings, barring an injury, than he ever has before. He throws a knuckle-curve very often, not a regular curve.
pomeranz has thrown more curveballs than anyone in the MLB this season. you should feel bad about yoru awful take.
fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=11426&posi…
he throws plenty of curveballs..
Red Sox paid for a guy they knew was already near his max innings as a pro. He has pitched 4 games for the Red Sox, against some tough teams, and done relatively well. They have no grounds to complain.
Who’s complaining?
Relatively well? guess you had low expectations.
Most people’s expectations were low. Pomeranz’s success has been his new pitch, pitching in the NL and being in a pitchers park. Two of those three things no longer exist. I dropped him from three fantasy teams the day he was traded to Boston.
His ERA and FIP are both over 6.00. That is terrible.
And you can say that without even knowing the basis for the complaint?
So the Marlins and Red Sox didn’t do their own physicals and research into these players?
Are you really that obtuse? Of course they do their own research. But they have to rely on team medical records as well. If the team doesn’t keep them or is hiding them, how would the potential team get a full perspective?
Teams cannot conduct their own physicals on players from other teams. Baseball doesn’t allow it. The Marlins and Red Sox couldn’t do their own medical tests until those players became property of them.
Most times that’s not the normal process of a trade. Physicals are done on FA signings.
Yeah but they can get medical reports. The Reds cancelled one Jay Bruce trade and had to rework another because of medical reports. If the Marlins and/or Red Sox didn’t do their due diligence, then there should be no problem at all. If the Padres falsified any info then they should punished very severely. The tricky part would be a lie of omission. Teams shouldn’t be expected to ask about every possible injury, but team shouldn’t be expected to volunteer information to make lessen the value of their assets either. Like I said, it’s a tricky situation.
From what I’m gathering the Padres disclose that Rea was getting treatment for his elbow. It will be interesting to see how this all boils down. If they falsified or lied by omission.
It’s like selling a house: You are obligated to disclose any problems you know about. It doesn’t matter if it lessens the value of your house. The same applies here; teams are required to give full and accurate medical information to their trade partners.
If you didn’t know something at the time of the trade, that’s fine. But if you know it and refuse to disclose it, that’s a problem. Considering Rea received medical treatment for his elbow, it’s going to be pretty hard to argue that the team didn’t know it. I’m not aware of the specifics of what may not have been disclosed in Pomeranz’s case to comment on that.
They’ll likely try to play it off as a mistake of reporting rather than any kind of organized effort to withhold information, but if it happened in two trades in a year that’s awfully suspicious. MLB is obviously concerned that the Padres are trying to turn inaccurate medical information into a competitive advantage.
It sounds like this is exactly what the Padres did; failed to disclose injuries or treatments.
My understanding is that teams take the word of their trading partners, sometimes because it’s self-defeating to lie to a potential future partner, and sometimes because of deadline issues. It’s not uncommon, and it’s rarely a problem, because teams know they’re better off disclosing everything. You don’t want to have a reputation for outright dishonesty.
Pomeranz doesn’t throw a curve ball?
m.providencejournal.com/sports/20160716/pomeranz-e…
Marlins and Red Sox: “YOU DIDNT TELL US THERE WAS A CHANCE THESE GUYS COULD GET INJURED!” Rawr Rawr Rawr Rawr
Preller and Padres fans: Rea only pitched 31.2 innings last year and has reached 100 innings this year- rookies and young players routinely get shut down cause their arms arent use to throwing that much. Most he ever threw was 139 innings when he was in A ball. As for Pomeranz he’s already blown past his previous MLB high of innings pitched being at 122.1. Your team doctors had a chance to look at these players
Does this mean if the MLB finds nothing wrong then we get extra prospects for wasting time with this cause rea got hurt 3 innings into his marlins start? not before, not 1 inning or 2 innings in or few pitches in.
Literally, the dumbest post I’ve ever seen on this site.
I’ve seen much dumber than this. Some would even say (incorrectly of course) that I have made some posts dumber than this.
dbdmack-Literally, the dumbest person on this site if you cant detect the exaggeration aspect of the final paragraph. Seriously, 3 INNINGS with the marlins, gets injured, and the marlins scream damaged goods? LOL yeah, probably got injured throwing FOR the marlins and since he needs TJS now Marlins should send someone back if it turns out he did damage with them not with the padres.(exaggeration since dbdmack cant detect people being facetious)
You haven’t been here long 🙂
Even dumber than the guy who proposed and then TRIED TO DEFEND his Liriano, Locke and even worse garbage for Chis Sale scenario?
Rea had been receiving treatment for his elbow. San Diego did not disclose this info.
No, he wasn’t. He made all of his starts prior to being traded and pitched 5-6 innings against a couple of good lineups. He had no injury of any kind and never complained about the soreness he was feeling.
“It was something I was able to throw through and it didn’t bother me at all. Obviously the start on Saturday, it got a lot worse in those last couple of innings to the point where I couldn’t throw anymore.”
Obviously if he says it was something he was pitching thru, then there was something there. Otherwise he would have been healthy and he wouldnt be pitching “through” anything. Get it
That does not mean Colin said anything to the Padres about having minor soreness.
Well if reports are true that he was receiving treatment for it, then they did know
“Rea informed the Miami staff that he had been treated for elbow discomfort in San Diego, which Miami then asserted had not been disclosed”
Ummm yes he was. He notified the Marlins himself. Take off your Padres tinted glasses.
My glasses are not tinted. I know BS when I see it. Colin was taking ibuprofen, an over the counter anti-inflammatory. If that’s “receiving treatment” then sure. I think you’d find that most MLB players use those sorts of prescriptions when they are sore. There are no written MLB rules saying what information needs to be disclosed in a trade, per Jayson Stark this morning on Olney’s podcast. If MLB continues to operate on unwritten rules these sorts of things will continue to happen. Colin was already approaching more innings than he’s ever thrown in a professional season. Marlins chose to ignore that and made a really bad trade, the Padres were nice enough to take him back. If Cashner and Pomeranz are pitching like they did in San Diego nobody is whining about anything. This is nothing but a witch hunt against a team that made 2 good trades to improve their future.
We took him back. Move on!
I think every team should use the Orioles medical staff. There would never be a completed trade!
Best comment on here.
Not sure how HIPA laws apply to sports transactions. MLB teams claim to be separate identities as opposed to a trust so I’m wondering if some agent doesn’t go all postal on them at some point. Say I guy has a drinking problem that hasn’t gone to degree that there were charges or public events. Does the trading team need to disclose this? Just wondering how far medical history is allowed to be disclosed legally.
There are too many “what-if’s” in your post. All players and teams must share job related medical info when being traded and players must share when signing as a FA. As for your scenario regarding alcohol. Much would depend on Attachment 27 of the CBA. Just too much info to post here.
There are not as many “what-ifs” as you would contend.(actually can’t find any). My question is what is legally permissible to disclose as an employer, Attachment 27 reads as I would expect it to – player arrested, charged, etc.
My question is what medical records are employers allowed to disclose and which ones they can’t.
As I stated..”All players and teams must share job related medical info when being traded and players must share when signing as a FA”…that is in the CBA….each player must sign a medical disclosure as part of the UPC, You seemed to miss that part about justified suspicion, which can lead to recommendation for treatment…if that is the case then it is disclosed…that was a what if…the other what ifs are covered in the CBA and the medical/genetic disclosure in the UPC., There is also a player visiting a Dr. on his own and his obligations so yea…until you read the CBA…ther are what if’s
As to your HIPA concern…from Marquette Sports Law Review………..
“With respect to the privacy interests of professional athletes, HHS, in responding to a comment on its (HIPA) privacy rules said the following:”
“As noted in the preamble to the December 2000 Rule, nothing in this Rule prevents an employer, such as a professional sports team, from making an employee’s agreement to disclose health records a condition of employment. A covered entity, therefore, could disclose this information to an employer pursuant to an authorization”
Disclosing it to another team for trade purposes does not involve making the information public (which would be in violation of HIPA). I would think a player has to sign a release for the team to make an injury public.
The unions (MLBPA / NBAPA / NFLPA, et al) require all players to sign HIPPA waivers/medical questionnaires (page 159 of the attached)
mlb.mlb.com/pa/pdf/cba_english.pdf
I’m not sure if the system wasn’t implemented, or if it is only updated annually, but the below link (direct from MLB..com) shows that a league-wide system for checking on this is already readily available.
m.mlb.com/news/article/8632528//
Id try like hell to get Espinoza back. Why the hell not, nothing to lose.
No backsies
Not impying they will, just saying it cant hurt.
San Diego will give back Espinoza if they get benintendi instead
That’s a terrible idea for BOS. I sincerely hope that was sarcasm.
Not happening. The only reason Preller traded back for Rea was because he never wanted to part with him in the first place.
” the Red Sox are not seeking any modification of the agreement.”
In the bit for those that can only read headlines and interpret your own sour grapes from it.
Yeah thy won’t have to worry about giving Espinoza back, but this still poses an interesting and concerning issue for what the Padres have been doing.
Maybe the league should have their own medical staff. Kinda like passing a physical as a FA, the league can have access to all teams medical records, then do their own assessment as to a players health. But MLB would probably muck it up like 90% of their replay reviews.
This would be a pretty bad idea; the league works for the owners and collusion would become a major issue.
Its all sour grapes people, SD never wanted to trade Rea in the first place. Preller made some good moves…great moves actually and teams got caught with their pants down because they were under-prepared and desperate.
Sounds like the Marlins are being a bunch of wienies. Go cry me a river we got Chris Paddock from them for Fernando Rodney three starts and Paddock needs tj surgery… does that mean Marlins purposely screwed us over?? It’s called buyer beware..
So does this mean the healthiest player the Padres traded away was Matt Kemp?
No.. the healthiest player was probably Fernando Rodney.. or Melvin Upton