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Rumors are circulating that Baldelli may have a muscle disease that prevents his muscles from healing completely.

Rocco was left off the travel squad, and has yet to play in the field.

This rumor is unsubstantiated, so it may not be true or entirely accurate.

If it is true, the situation may be career threatening.

I hope I am deleting this thread in a day or two.

http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/artic ... sp&c_id=tb

I say we give him the $4 million buyout & allow him to become a FA next season.

In the mean time we keep him & hope for the best. I sincerely hope that there is nothing serious or life threatening, as I've met Rocco in person, but in terms of making a move for our franchise I don't see any reason to keep Baldelli on our roster past this season.

this newest injury stinks for his career. i was really thinking his injury problems were behind him. he had such good potential for this young Rays team

I have always had a soft spot for Rocco and I hope he does great in whatever else he does, but he represents a different era of Rays baseball. I was hoping he would stay healthy but then let him go to another team. It's time to bring in the new era.

Obviously he's likely out for this season too, making it pretty much 3 years and hardly any games played.

Very few have come back from such a long absence assuming he gets healthy.

One player I do remember is Jim Eisenrich of the Twins. He missed several years because of a nervous disorder, but was able to come back and be productive during the late stages of his career.