SAN FRANCISCO -- While attending All-Star Game proceedings with several of his top clients yesterday, superagent Scott Boras said he hasn't had any discussions with Orioles owner Peter Angelos about Matt Wieters, the club's 2007 top draft pick.
But negotiating with Angelos isn't a problem now and won't be in the future, according to Boras.
"With Peter, whenever he has called me I've returned his calls and whenever I've called him he's returned mine," Boras said. "He's a hard-working guy. We're both Greek. We get along well."
If there were any problems in the past with the organization, Boras said, it was with a former employee of Angelos', not the owner. Boras would not be specific.
Regardless, the Orioles have not come close to signing a high-profile client of Boras' in more than a decade and the common belief is that the two deft negotiators simply can't work with each other. Not true, Boras said.
"We've gotten other deals done, like Corey Patterson last year [to avoid arbitration]," Boras said. "We have a pretty good relationship with [executive vice president Mike Flanagan and vice president Jim Duquette] and they have a great city and a great ballpark and players like to play there, so we have a situation we want to advance there."
Boras said he wasn't surprised the Orioles selected Wieters, a catcher from Georgia Tech, with the fifth pick overall, even though his presence might have scared off other clubs.
"Any organization that really wants to improve can't pass on a player like that because they're a once-in-a-decade player," Boras said.
Boras would not comment on the Wieters talks or predict whether an agreement would be reached before the Aug. 15 deadline.
"You try to do your best so that there is an understanding between the player, the team and the family," Boras said. "In this case, there's a lot of communication between them and I assume [the Orioles] knew where Matt sat when they drafted him."
All-Star connection
In September 2005, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. was heading out of an outpatient clinic in Ohio while Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts was heading in. Griffey had already had knee and hamstring surgery, while Roberts was checking in to have ligament-transplant surgery on his left elbow.
It was their first meeting, but Griffey made sure the relationship continued. He called Roberts in his hospital room the day of his surgery.
"He called me for, like, two months, three months after that just to check on me," said Roberts, whose Tommy John surgery was performed by Reds physician Timothy Kremchek. "That was a very humbling experience to have somebody that caliber of player be that kind of person, as well."
Roberts hadn't seen Griffey again until Sunday night, when they into each other at the hotel where all the All-Stars are staying.
"It was great to see what he's done, to come back from injuries and just to battle his way through all he's been through," Roberts said.
Around the horn
There is a chance Roberts could start tonight because Detroit Tigers second baseman Placido Polanco is nursing a strained rib-cage muscle. But Polanco, the fans' choice, remains in the tentative lineup, said manager Jim Leyland. ... In the second round of the Home Run Derby, ESPN broadcaster and former Orioles announcer Jon Miller interviewed Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr. on the field. When he was announced, Ripken received a standing ovation from the announced crowd of 43,615.
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