DOES JARROD SALTALAMACCHIA HAVE A MEDICAL ISSUE ?

JARROD SALTALAMACCHIA

The issue was raised by Buster Olney of ESPN. Does Jarrod Saltalamacchia have medical issues ?

Olney was speaking during his weekly interview on WEEI radio, when he wondered whether medical issues might be behind Saltalamacchia's not catching on with another team yet.

"I think the big question about Saltalamacchia - and believe me, you hear a lot of different things about a lot of different guys and I don't know what's in Jarrod's file - but in some cases, some of the intransigence in the market is related to whatever's in the medical file. We saw it last winter with Mike Napoli where not only did the Red Sox reduce their file down to one year and $ 5 million but no other team jumped in based on the same information. With catchers, it's certainly going to be one of the first things you're going to look at. It says a lot that you have the Cubs and a number of other teams that are out there potentially looking at catchers, no one's jumping up."

 Later in the day Jim Munsey, Saltalamacchia's agent denied that teams and the Cubs in particular, had raised any concerns about 'Salty's' health.

"Salty has just finished his third straight year without being on the DL, which makes him different from Brian McCann and Carlos Ruiz. There are no medical issues hindering his market. Specifically,the Cubs are simply allocating funds elsewhere and don't believe they could compete for what is believed to be Salty's market and have a excellent catcher, Wellington Castillo in place already. There was simply no discussion whatever with them about any medical issue. None. To speculate otherwise is pretty irresponsible. To conclude that no one is 'jumping up' would likewise be speculative. Some agents prefer to perform their responsibilities outside of the media spotlight. Just because you're not hearing it doesn't mean it's not happening."

Saltalamacchia hit .273 with 14 homers last year. He also played in 121 regular season games.

Industry insiders claim the Red Sox will not go over a two year contract for a catcher as they believe Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart represent their future at the position.