Baseball players don't do predraft physicals like they do in basketball and football. For most of them, they are playing in a summer league or in college during the predraft process. If they have any medical looks, it definitely isn't to the level of the NFL combine where you are poked, prodded, and MRIed to death.
Pretty sure everyone understands that, but that's still an organizational problem - not a league problem. This is just another "look before you leap" situation. I get that point (and 50's), but this still stinks of putting the cart before the horse and a complete lack of control. Unreported medical condition or not, there are still entirely too many people (apparently) that either have or feel like they have the authority to act autonomously - whether it's agreeing to terms with a player without a COMPLETE work-up by team medical personnel or Bridges not realizing he can't void a contract because we figured something out after-the-fact.
There's only one person that will get heat for these things - Coppy. Thing is, if there were ANY questions about whether he had a handle on EVERYTHING, he shouldn't have been handed the reigns. JS and Hart are supposedly looking over his shoulder (and for some unknown reason he has to run every decision by them) and holding his hand. JS is still active on different Rules Committees and Hart's evidently just playing golf since other execs are overseeing business operations and any concerns having to do with the new park.
I realize the rules concerning the draft/international spending/etc. have been in flux, but every organization has to deal with that (not just us), and we seem to be the only one that continually drops the ball. The reason I continue to "defend" Coppy is that he supposedly has a support system available to him to help him deal with all this. Being a GM is a much more overwhelming job than most people around here realize or are willing to give credit for - the GM has to be the "buck stops here" guy. As much as I hate to agree with those who constantly want to beat down the brass, I begrudgingly have to admit it really does appear that no one's in control. Someone needs to step up and take the blame for some of the bumbling when it concerns not knowing the rules - whether it's the draft rules or the Bonifacio promotion situation.
Don't mistake this rant for having no faith in these guys - I've agreed with just about every personnel decision they've made (trades or signings) since Wren was fired and Hart was hired, but that's only a small part of running the situation. There are TONS of people who are pretty awesome fantasy baseball GMs, but those people aren't necessarily good real-life GMs because they have no idea about everything else involved in the operation. JS, Bobby, and Hart have always been really good about deflecting praise in the past when they've shared credit with scouts/player personnel people/etc., but they've all disappeared recently. They said from the day Coppy was "promoted" that he wasn't the "final say", yet he's the only person that's had to comment on anything.
