The Red Sox agreed with free agent first basemancatcher Mike Napoli nearly three weeks ago, but the two sides have yet to make it official.
We may now know the reason why.
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports that one of Napoli's hips drew a red flag in his physical, causing the current holdup.
Rosenthal writes:
Napoli, sources say, has a problem with one of his hipsa problem that led the Seattle Mariners to back off their pursuit of him, as reported by Jim Duquette of MLB Network Radio and confirmed by a source, and also may have concerned his previous team, the Texas Rangers.
The Red Sox, in the words of general manager Ben Cherington, are working through some issues in trying to finalize Napolis deal. As best as anyone can tell, that means that problems surfaced during Napolis physical, and the Red Sox are trying to rework his contract.
There are still other first base free agents available, including Nick Swisher and Adam LaRoche, should the Red Sox and Napoli call the negotiations off.
More to come as the story unfolds . . .