Ryan Vogelsong recently flirted with the Astros and even went to Houston for a physical on Monday before ultimately returning to the Giants on a one-year, $4 million contract. It sounds like something strange could have led to his last-minute change of heart.
According to Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle, Vogelsong said the following about the Astros during a conference call yesterday:
“I made a visit to Houston and met with A.J. Hinch the manager and the staff, the training staff, and I took a physical — just as the process went along here, really wasn’t comfortable with what was going on. Ultimately, made a decision to come back with the Giants and I’m really just really happy to be back and glad things worked out the way they have.”
Vogelsong later was a guest on San Francisco radio station KNBR and again made a vague reference to how his free agency played out:
“I feel like I’ve been pushed back here by divine intervention or whatever you want to call it. But everything that’s happened to me this offseason — and one of these days I’ll tell you guys all about it, when we’re all sitting around having a couple beers 10 years from now when I’m done playing — and you’ll go, ‘There’s no way that happened,’ and I’ll say “Yup,” and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.”
So was this just a matter of awkward phrasing on the part of Vogelsong or did the Astros do something to turn him off? Well, Vogelsong’s agent, Dave Meier, has since clarified that his client meant to say that he was only “uncomfortable” because negotiations started breaking down, not because of something the Astros did. We might never know the whole story, but Vogelsong and the Giants are obviously happy with how things worked out.
