Bronson Arroyo may have turned down Orioles offer in part due to failed Grant Balfour physical

New Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo may have turned down an offer from the Orioles in part due to failed physicals for both Grant Balfour and Tyler Colvin, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun.

The Orioles had been close to signing both Colvin and Balfour, but retracted their offers to both after their physicals. Balfour would instead sign with the Rays while Colvin still searches for a new deal.

Baltimore reportedly offered a similar deal to the two-year, $23.5 million contract Arroyo signed with Arizona. However, concerns that the Orioles might back out of the contract if they did no fully believe in Arroyo contributed to his taking Arizona’s offer.

Arroyo has been one of baseball’s most durable players over his career. He has never suffered a major injury and has never landed on the disabled list. However, he is 37 years old and has tossed 2,278⅔ innings over his career. Thus, there may be some concern that an injury is inevitable despite his great health.

Arroyo had already waited until just before spring training before agreeing to a deal. Had he accepted an offer from the Orioles only to have them tear up the deal due to a poor physical, he may not have received another offer until late in spring training and thus may have missed opening day.

While the prospect of the Orioles finding an issue may not have been the largest factor in Arroyo moving to Arizona -- Baltimore also offered slightly less guaranteed money -- it reportedly played at least some part in his decision.

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