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Baldelli's Health Still Makes Sentiment A Tough Call

Tribune photo by CHRIS URSO

Rocco Baldelli returned from a serious illness to help the Rays reach the World Series in October. He's now a free agent.

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 18, 2008

It was surely heart-warming news when Rocco Baldelli said doctors have a better handle now on the mysterious malady that threatened to end his baseball career.

He says doctors believe they can better treat the condition that leaves him exhausted after the most basic workout. With that comes the implied promise he can once again be an impact player.

We all want to believe Rocco is right when he says, as he told Tampa Tribune baseball writer Marc Lancaster, "It's definitely a good thing."

He is a class act all the way and his comeback with the Tampa Bay Rays last summer was inspiring, a triumph of will. He homered against Boston in the American League Championship Series. He homered against Philly in the World Series. If doctors really have solved his ailment and can better treat it, think of what he could add to a team over a full season.

Andrew Friedman surely thinks about those things.

But the Rays vice president in charge of the cash box also has to look at the other side. Rocco is a free agent and other teams are interested in signing him, including the Red Sox. When you're on a budget, as the Rays still are, it's not so simple a thing as committing millions of dollars to a player who might be better, could be better, but also might not be.

Guess right, and you're a contender again.

Guess wrong, and you've hamstrung your budget for a few years.

The ghost of Josh Hamilton still wanders the halls of Tropicana Field, a haunting reminder of how last season's miracle summer could have been one step better if the Rays – if Friedman – had made the right call there. He was another guy fighting back from a disease and making great strides when Friedman left him unprotected, gambling that no one would claim someone who had played only 15 low-level minor league games in four years.

He was wrong, and Hamilton in just two years has become what the Rays believed he would be when they drafted him. It's impossible not to imagine how the Series against the Phillies might have gone differently with him in the middle of their lineup. And here we are again – another top-shelf talent, another judgment call to be made.

You can bet Friedman will become well acquainted with channelopathies – the medical family that doctors now say spawned the ailment that has stalked Rocco. It is said to be not as serious, and more treatable, than the original diagnosis of mitrochrondrial disorder. It sounds so hopeful.

A healthy Rocco can be a difference-maker.

If he can only play every third or fourth day, though, it's hard to balance sentiment and the spreadsheet. They need to sign a right-handed hitting outfielder with defense and power.

Why, that's Rocco! If he is really the player we came to know.

Would it be more prudent to spend those dollars on a sure thing? Or does Friedman dare risk that Rocco could sign with Boston and become the next Josh, returning 18 times a year to torment the Rays as a member of the Red Sox?

There are so many things in play here.

Sentiment. Loyalty. Common sense. A division rivalry. And Rocco has decisions to make, too.
The Rays stuck by him during his recovery. He credits their training staff for helping him get back on the field. His career probably won't last as long as normal, though, and if another team is offering significantly more money than the Rays, he may need to grab the cash while he can.

The popular thing would be to sign Rocco and hope the doctors are right.

When you have Friedman's job though, you can't always do what's popular. He needs to be detached, even dispassionate. He'll gather every scrap of information he can. He'll talk to experts, he'll talk to Rocco, and he'll balance the medical risk versus the potential return – all while keeping an eye on the bottom line.

Even then it might not be enough. Rocco could still sign elsewhere. They're having similar meetings in Boston, Cincinnati and other places on this very subject.

This is one of those moments that can impact a franchise for years. No one can say right now what that impact will possibly be, but somebody has to make a decision and they'll have to make it soon.

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