There was a time in baseball when the disabled list was a last resort when a player went down with a relatively minor injury. The reason why was simple: The DL then meant you were gone for 30 days. Four weeks. A month. If your player pulled a muscle, strained a forearm, whatever ? you would think twice before putting him on the 30-day disabled list.
Eventually the rules changed, and it became the 21-day, and then the 15-day disabled list, which is where we are today.
In a recent interview with The Examiner?s Matt Palmer, the Orioles? executive vice president Mike Flanagan indicated that the club?s current administration was somewhat reluctant to pursue the high-dollar free agents after the Albert Belle debacle. Belle, you?ll recall, signed a five-year, $65-million deal with Baltimore, only to be forced to quit the game following the 2000 season due to degenerative arthritis in his right hip. Because of his contract, he was placed on the disabled list for the entire 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons ? a total of 556 days. You can do the math yourself: The Orioles and their insurance company shelled out $39 million for a player who couldn?t perform, sour disposition notwithstanding.
Remember Omar Daal? The Birds signed the free agent southpaw to a two-year, $7.5-million deal in January 2003 and got 19 appearances out of him before he went down with a shoulder injury that ended his career. He spent 257 days on the DL, which, according to my math, cost the club a shade over $5.3 million.
To keep pitcher Scott Erickson off of the free-agent market, in 1998 the club signed him to a five-year deal worth $32 million, an annual average of $6.4 million. For that, Erickson ended up spending 470 days on the DL to an approximate cost of $16.6 million.
Prior to the 2002 season, Baltimore signed outfielder Marty Cordova to a relative modest three-year, $9.1-million deal. Marty managed to play the 2002 season but broke down the following year (elbow surgery) and spent 354 days on the DL, costing the Orioles about $5.9 million.
So, four players of recent vintage ? unable to play ? cost the ballclub nearly $67 million. Think about that number for a moment. Imagine what could be done with $67 million. That?s a staggering amount of money for nothing.
The old expression “once bitten, twice shy” doesn?t quite cover the Orioles? run of bad luck in their free-agent forays. And that?s all it is, really, just bad luck. Sooner or later, luck changes. In Baltimore, it?s way overdue.
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