bones

Are you sure that is an accurate quote from Baldelli on Thorpe because the sentence - "We know that he's not close to being a big leaguer."- seems out of place

The last time we saw Graterol pitch he looked great. I think it's fair to assume the medical team in Boston is making their decision based on his X-rays and shoulder MRI's from last summer. Their most likely concern based on no inside information just his history is that he has a morphologic variant of his acromion that could predispose him to problem with his rotator cuff and impingement. Many think MRI's are the holy grail in determining a pitchers future risk for problems but they are not. Plenty of pitchers with these variants go on to never need surgery and have successful careers and plenty of normal MRI's go on to have major problems. (If you ever hear thoracic outlet syndrome again - know that the player and the surgeon are grasping at straws with a normal MRI.) If you put 10 shoulder specialists in a room and asked them to look at his films I guarantee you would have a wide variety of opinions. Long winded way of saying don't assume that all three medical teams in this trade agree on relative risk. It is much like predicting any prospects potential - his medical future is also difficult to predict.