TBO.com blog buddy Marc Lancaster has reported that Rocco Baldelli is more optimistic that his medical condition can be treated and that he feels better about his baseball career.
We all wish the best for him, of course. His comeback during the season was one of the top stories in all of baseball last season. It was far more than we were led to believe it could be when he announced last spring that he had a mitrochrondrial disorder that left him extremely fatigued after routine effort. Rocco now says he has received a diagnosis of something less severe and more treatable.
It puts the Rays in an interesting spot.
They can either be big winners. Or no-winners.
Rocco is a free agent and has been courted by Boston and Philadelphia, but I know Rocco will give the Rays every chance to keep him. The Red Sox can afford to bring him in as a potential reserve, and if he only plays as much as he did last season - he appeared in 28 games after being activated in August - the Sox can swallow his contract. The Rays don’t have that luxury.
If they sign Rocco, they need to be sure he can contribute on a regular basis. They can’t pay him the kind of money he’d want to be a part-time guy, and they can’t use a roster spot unless they’re sure he can contribute. And with Rocco’s uncertain future, he needs to make the most money he can.
You can be sure that any team signing Rocco will want their own diagnosis of his condition, and if he really can keep this under control and play regularly then, obviously, the Rays should make every effort to sign him.
It’s a gamble either way, though.
If they let him go and he plays well, they look bad for losing a top-flight player.
If they sign him and he really doesn’t have this under control, they look bad for being too sentimental.
It’s not an easy call either way.