People can say anything they want about Brady, but man I loved when he played in Baltimore.

I don't know if I would pull the trigger on that deal quite yet. Carlos Gomez is a bit overrated and his average is just that "average". I would think that the more logical thing is to hold off until the Dodgers perhaps continue talks that involve Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp. That is a much more attractive offer that would fit the Orioles long term strategy.

Replace heilman with lastings milledge, and add fernando martinez as well, THEN, you might have a deal. That's not enough for bedard. With his dominance and still under contract for two more seasons, he's worth much more than the mets deal

Roch, I would not accept that package... Heilman is nothing special, he is a headache to Mets fans, Humber was just another overhyped NY propsect who would probably never succeed in the AL East, and Gomez looks like he could be a stud, but he is far from a sure thing. The Dodgers could offer a better package with 2 players than those 3 from the Mets.

Bedard may need to be traded, but the O's should not be quick to jump at the first offer... unless something like Kemp and Kershaw + one more is offered, I'd be all over that.

I forgot to add, getting a package with Adam Jones and Brandon Morrow from the Mariners would also make me pretty happy.

The names of Kemp, Broxton, LaRoche, Kershaw, etc, that have been linked from the Dodgers for Bedard far outweigh what the Mets had supposedly offered. The Orioles are in the drivers seat with Bedard and that baloney of pull the trigger before they change their mind is ludicrous.

i'd be wary of all that mets "talent"

where was it during the stretch run?

So, let me get this straight: You've got two more guaranteed seasons with "a bona fide #1 starter" and you're anxious to get rid of him?

I agree 100%. No way Bedard resigns here....would you?

And we need to trade him now, before spring training. Can you imagine if he got hurt, like how Tejada did before the trade deadline.

Say we're trading Bedard before we leave Nashville to the highest bidder and be done with it. Bedard should be more attractive than Santana for the non-mega cable company teams since he has another year left on his contract.

I'm an O's fan by birth, but they are unwatchable...and unfollowable right now and have been a laughing stock for about 7 years now. Look at the Marlins model - trade everyone and anyone over 30, or close to it; and load up on the best prospects you can. The good news is at least the O's only have to do this once, they should have the money to resign them when the time comes - and hopefully by then, we could at least imagine that the guys would consider resigning with the O's.

Oh yeah, and please Mr. Angelos, sell the team to an ownership group headed by Mr. Oriole, Cal Ripken, Jr. It's the best thing for MLB, best thing for Baltimore, best thing for the O's, and do you really enjoy being the villan of your own town??

The Mets package over a package of Kemp and Kershaw?!?! You don't mean that, Roch... ; )

Yeah, I don't get good vibes about Bedard's willingness to stick around here. I've got no problem with a trade that improves the team for the future as drastically as the rumored Mets and Dodgers deals.

BTW, I didn't see if anyone else mentioned this before, but a few other ex-O's who have gotten minor league deals are Norfolk mainstay Jason Dubois (Washington) and the great Chris Richard (Tampa Bay). Whatever happened to Dubois? It seemed like he had a decent spring and then never made it to Baltimore. You could say his lack of a defensive position hurt him, but JR House sure stuck around for a while.

dam. reported that the phils are NOT interested in Mora.

Roch, love the blog, but I couldn't disagree more on the Mets package. Humber and Heilman are nothing special by most accounts, and there's a solid argument that Bedard should be worth more in a trade than Santana -- similar performance this year and an extra year before free agency. And if Gomez is just their third best prospect, that's nowhere near good enough. The Dodgers' offer is a little more like it, but I'm still not sure it's enough.

There's no rush; why not wait to be blown away? Santana is certainly going to be dealt, and demand will only go up after that.

How long before the Marlins annoy enough GMs that the Miguel Cabrera quests end? It really seems like the Orioles might be able to capitalize and package Tejada for good return. I wonder whether Moreno is quietly using the Cabrera trade discussions as a convenient delay on any Tejada proposals until after the Mitchell report.

Roch, no way you trade Bedard to the Yankees for anything less than Hughes plus two or three decent upside players. Guys like Melky Cabrera and Ian Kennedy are not nearly good enough to be centerpieces to a deal, but if the two of them came with Hughes it'd probably be worth doing. While the Bedard interactions with the NY media might be hilarious, I don't see him caring about it enough to effect his performance negatively.

JPA: I know what you’re saying about Tampa and Young, but I’d say that just because a team loves a certain player doesn’t mean they won’t trade him. I’m guessing that, looking at the bunch of quality outfielders that they have, and looking at the lack of pitching they’ve always suffered from, Tampa probably saw Young as the one who they could live without particularly if they picked up a decent young pitcher for him. Nothing wrong with that, and Tampa’s probably realized that they have to give up value if they want to improve (Minnesota probably realized the same thing, dealing a young pitcher for a young hitter). We know how the O’s work—if Angelos loves a certain player, that player won’t get traded. Perhaps this has worked out for them in the past, particularly last season with Brian Roberts, but it’s not a sound philosophy for improving a ball club, and eventually the owner’s attachments to certain players will hinder the club’s ability to make sound if painful personnel decisions. It’ll be interesting to see if MacPhail is able to operate differently.

Roch, Heilman is 29 and, Bill James aside, I don’t think we can consider him young anymore. It looks like he’s put up some decent numbers in relief, which, of course, means who knows how good he would be here (NL to AL relievers—run away!!!). But I think getting someone like Heilman mixed in with a couple of good younger players with less experience is probably a reasonable scenario. I agree with what you say—negotiate with Bedard with legitimate offers and be aggressive about it and then trade him once you’ve exhausted that.

God forbid Bedard ends up in pinstripes, but I think we might be overestimating the New York media angle. You have to figure that Bedard, if a Yankee, probably won’t be their number one starter, particularly if they succeed in picking up Johan Santana. Call me naïve, but I think that if Bedard pitches well, the Yankees play well, and Bedard isn’t spotted out on the town drinking like a fish or spending time with a woman that isn’t his wife, he’ll probably be okay. But let’s hope it never happens.

Two things.

First, why aren't the O's showing interest in Craig Brazell? The guy is headed for Japan because no teams want him. The O's need to take a chance on this guy. I realize the odds are against us, but he could be the next Carlos Pena or Jack Cust (yeah, I know). 39 HR, .315 AVG and 91 RBI? Give the guy a shot in spring training. What do we have to lose??

Second, the O's should be discussing a package to the Angels including both Tejada AND Mora. Duh, they need a SS and 3B, right?

Ok, thirdly (I know I only said 2 things), get a deal done with the Mets for Bedard. The guy does not want to be here, he is injury prone, and he has only finished 1 game...IN HIS CAREER!! Buh by...

Hey Roch, I'd have to disagree with you on the package the Mets are offering. I'm most impressed by the prospects that we're considering in a deal with the Dodgers for Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, and Johnathan Broxton. Kershaw just been rated the 3rd best prospect by MLB.com and can most likely replace Bedard as our "bona-fide ace" of the future. If you mix in the solid fielder and potential power bat of Matt Kemp with Nick Markakis, we would have a solid outfield combo for years to come. In fact, Kemp is already considered the "best hitting prospect to come out of the Dodgers organization" by many that are familiar with them. Broxton, on the other hand, is already estabilishing himself as a solid reliever and at age 23 would also be under contractual control for years to come.

In my mind we have got to pull the string on this deal to ensure a future for this organization.

The only way we're going to get better is to take a few steps back, something no one in this organization has been willing to do. Blow it up (Bedard, Tejada, Mora, Roberts, Hernandez, et al) and get a bunch of young AAA and AA prospects that can start the rebuilding process. If you can lose Huff and Gibbons do it in a minute. Maybe also Millar but he is a good clubhouse guy.

As for Bedard why not package him with Tejada to the Dodgers for a four player package ... Kemp, LaRoche or Loney, Kershaw, and one other good prospect. This gets us a good core ready to go and gives the Dodgers two quality players they need/want for not much more if any on what Florida is asking for just Cabrera.

Then turn around and offer Roberts to the Angles after they deal with Florida for Cabrera which will certainly include Kendrick their 2B. If you can pick up two more prospects say Morales/Wood or Adenhart.

That gives you a young 1B, SS, 3B, LF, and a couple of P that we can afford to give the season developing their talents. Yes we'll be last in the AL next year but on the right path with what we have already in the minors by 2009 we could be competing for a .500 record and playoff might not be out of question by 2010.

Sorry Roch. Gomez, Humber, and Heilman aren't nearly enough for Bedard. Heilman isn't young and is mediocre. Humber's stock has taken a major hit and isn't highly regarded anymore.

You'd have to replace Heilman with Milledge or Martinez and Humber with Pelfrey for me to make the deal.

I'm all for dealing Bedard if we can't sign him to an extension... especially if we can get a handful of legit young players. However, I would prefer to have one of them be someone with major power potential, to emerge as a cleanup hitter, since we basically don't have one now. Gomez is a speedster isn't he Roch? Or is he a five tool player, and I don't realize it?

I would still prefer the dodgers deal but need one more young postion player added but my 1st choice is keep bedard if possible.. I also imagine any deal with either LA team to be held up with the cabrera thing.. I hope that does not hang on into the meetings long..

Not that I'd heard the rumor, but it's a darn shame....I would have actually watched "Dancing w/the Stars" if Brady was going to be a part of it. He was, after all, my first baseball love.

When it comes to Bedard, I'm on the fence. Actually no, I keep hopping back and forth over opposite sides of the fence. I would hate to see Erik, because he is the best pitcher we have at this point....BUT I really believe that in another two seasons Adam Loewen is going to be as good as Bedard is now. And considering Bedard could get us in return enough top quality young position players makes it awfully tempting. (Though I like the trade potential from the Dodgers better than the one from the Mets)

I guess what it ultimately means is either way I'll most likely be okay with the outcome.

At the risk of piling on, that's a lousy deal for Bedard, and AM was right to turn it down.

There will be a much better deal coming at the winter meetings.

"n" for No Way.

Oh my Gosh Roch! We were just kidding about the Dancing with the Stars rumor......IT WAS A JOKE!! I was just sick of all this absolutely ridiculous trade rumors! So I decided to start an even more outrageous one!! HAHAHAH! I would definitely like to know what he said though! HE SHOULD DO IT!!!!!!

Anyways, in regards to Bedard; I would rather die a slow and painful death than see him in a freaking Yankee uniform. Same goes for Roberts and Markakis. Uh just thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach. Hey O's, let's open up the purse and sign him long term ASAP!

Mets' offer for Bedard, which was rejected, included 21-year-old outfield prospect Carlos Gomez, reliever Aaron Heilman, 29, and a third player, believed to be right-handed starter Philip Humber, 24.

I for one am glad this was rejected. Heilman is older than Bedard, the O's have several Humber types in AAA & AA, Gomez??? Maybe , maybe not, but you don't deal a #1 starter for this pot of maybes....
MacFail is waffling, doing the Oriole management 2 step that we have seen over & over, he has no intention of $igning Bedard. This is all brinkmanship to get a deal or keep the p!ssed off fan base at bay. I have little doubt that potter & the nitwits have given him his marching orders on that issue.. IF they were forward thinking they should consider this...

... they say they are rebuilding, OK , fine, start by locking up your #1 starter who is only 28. Give the man that 5 yr deal, maybe even 6, he'll only be 34 at the end of 6 yrs.... The market just keeps getting more expensive, can anyone imagine what a Bedard of 31 will command in 3 years if he continues to pitch the way he did last year? 18M will look cheap then. The FO isn't looking ahead if they don't see this. Say they deal Bedard for a pot of potential young guys, maybe one pans out. That's a bad deal.
No matter who becomes their #1 starter in 2 or 3 years, that guy will want the same $$, maybe more than Bedard can get now, so why not $ign Bedard? What are they going to say then to whoever has emerged.... we are talking, we are working on a deal, blah blah, they will have sticker shock then too & lose that guy as well. It's a never ending cycle with this owner! So I say stop the madness & BS, just $ign that 28 Yr old starter who could be around for 6 or 7 more years as that #1 starter. Maybe they overpay a bit in years 1 & 2, but I bet he is a good deal the last 3 or 4 years of that deal, based on escalating salaries.

Roch, in a way, Bedard has said that to you & the rest of the third estate in Balmer.

Brady's idea was probably to have alternate lifestyling dancing in purple suits.....

I just saw that the Giants have made Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum available. Any chance we trade Tejada for one of these two? The Giants need a marketable player and some pop, among other things, and I think some talented young pitching would be good. It seems that if they would make these two available as part of a package for Miguel Cabrera, we may be able to pry one away alone for Tejada.

Hey Jennifer: I'm aware. Was just having fun with it.

What's the chances of Brady Anderson making the Hall Of Fame this year? Just found out a couple of days ago that he's on the ballot. Maybe a long shot and if not, surely in the Orioles Hall of Fame.

I have no problem shipping Bedard to the the Mets for Milledge, Gomez or Fernando Martinez, and Pelfrey.. but not for the package mentioned.

BTW Carlos Gomez is not overrated... I probably like Martinez higher than Gomez, but if you took Gomez he would start for you in CF right away, as would Milledge in LF.

Pelfrey would enter your rotation right away... certainly are worse trades they could make, and the way things are breaking... maybe none better.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today...es/265152.html

New York Mets: Top 10 Prospects

New York Mets

By John Manuel

November 9, 2007
Scouting reports for the Top 10 Prospects Mets Chat
John Manuel Pre-Order the 2008 Prospect Handbook
30 scouting reports on every team

TOP TEN
PROSPECTS
1. Fernando Martinez, of

3. Carlos Gomez, of
BEST
TOOLS
Best Hitter for Average Fernando Martinez

Best Power Hitter Fernando Martinez

Fastest Baserunner Carlos Gomez
Best Athlete Carlos Gomez

Best Defensive Outfielder Carlos Gomez

Best Outfield Arm Carlos Gomez

If the Dodgers do not get Cabrera, their potential package of Kemp/Looney, Kershaw, and LaRoche would also be a match.

Arizona could also work... with their OF's...

Or what about Atlanta?

Atlanta

Brent Lillibridge
9/18/83
SS

767 OPS, 321 ab’s in AAA in 2007.
There has been some talk about him moving to CF in the future… which gives you some flexability if you also move Tejada for the Angel's SS prospect Brandon Wood.

Brandon Jones
12/10/83
CF

875 OPS in 375 ab’s at AA in 2007, 816 OPS in 170 ab’s AAA in 2007.

Scott Thorman
1/6/82
1st

868 OPS AAA in 2006, 29 XBH in 287AB’s in Majors in 2007.

John C Johnson
8/18/88
OF

40XBHs, 1000+ OPS in Rookie league in 2007.

Roch:If Orioles deal Bedard for someone elses"future"stars,they can include my 2 seats of 15 years in sec.330..If they wont sign homegrown 28 yr old ace,who do thsy want?Remember the 3 young future stars we received from SF about 4 yrs ago?.Noone else does either.Either we try to win or we dont.I am sick of the excuses....JohnMyersSec330seats 8,9

Phil,

You never know with Brian Sabean, but I'd say there's no way to do a Cain or Lincecum deal straight up for Tejada. I'm sire that the Giants would want a serious prospect or two. We need prospects coming back, not going out.

I live in NY and watch the Mets on a daily basis. Humber is a 3/4 at best and had an ERA over 4 in AAA. Gomez is very raw and Heilman is a solid long man only. Bedard is not a free agent for 2 years. We have plenty of time to do better than this. The talk shows here are saying they will never get Bedard with a package like this and that they will have to give up Reyes (which nobody wants to do). They also say that the Orioles and Angelos are the only ones that are stupid enough to screw the Bedard thing up

That Mets offer is awful, Roch. He's a bona fide ace with two cheap arb years left. I need at least Milledge, Martinez and Humber from the Mets, but Kershaw, Kemp and LaRoche would be way better.

ROCH - I am sure it was not intentional, but I think your comment sums up the situation perfectly.

You wrote "...team president Andy MacPhail making absolutely sure Bedard won’t sign an extension before any trade is consummated..." Your meaning obviously was "MacPhail is not going to work a trade until he is certain no extension can be worked out."

However, knowing Angelos, I have to wonder if MacPhail is going to make sure no deal can be worked out the Angelos way. Angelos, remember, negotiated in such bad faith with Mussina, Miller, Towers and even Gillick, that they had no option but to leave.

Bedard is not a free agent, but you can almost hear the machinations so that Mr. MacPhail can take the dais and say "Not being able to agree to an extension, we made the trade while his value was still high...."

I would not make any of the trades because none of them give us an adequate replacement for Bedard.

The guys the Mets are offereing sound a lot like Rocky Cherry and Scott Moore. Cherry and Moore for Trax is a great deal. Cherry and Moore for Bedard (with a throw in) is a gift to the Mets.

With a slight modification, CRB, in his post about Tampa, has the exact idea for how the O's should be thinking: the player they trade should be someone they can live without and they should keep a player they can't live without.

As good as I believe they will become, Lowen and Guthrie are question marks right now. We saw what the Orioles looked like without Bedard starting every 5 days this past August and September. Who will be the #1 starter? Igawa?

There is a huge difference between rebuilding the team and throwing it to the dogs. Trading Bedard for unproven players, trading Bedard at all, is rubbing Alpo in the O's uniforms

"her first baseball love..." somehow this just seems like TMI......

Thank God this feeling never hit me watching the WNBA.... now women's golf, that's another matter.... :-)

The Mets package doesn't even come close. Any package that is centered around Clayton Kershaw would be ideal. However the Mets arent even in the ballpark. I was surprised at that comment Roch.

Ah, only if the Orioles could trade Bedard to both the Dodgers and the Mets at the same time!

Bring Bedard back for next year and trade him next offseason. We could use the 15-20 wins in 08.

Gomez, Humber, and Heilman for Bedard is a garbage offer. Gomez has speed and that's about it. Humber is nothing special, and Heilman is an adequate reliever but should not be a piece coming pack in a deal for an elite talent like Bedard. Really, the only player the mets have that intrigues me is Milledge; they simply do not have enough major league ready talent to acquire Bedard. Any talks with the Mets should be for the purpose of driving up the offers from other teams, preferably the dodgers.

Seriously though Roch.....

How much would you pay to see that? I don't think I could put a price on something like that! Oh perhaps they could get Jonathan Papelbon to join DWTS as well. Apparently he enjoys dancing around in front of a large crowd in tight underpants, so it shouldn't be much of a challenge for him.

Hmmmm lots of ideas floating around in the head today. HAHA!

I say try your hardest to sign bedard to an extension. If you throw a REASONABLE offer at him and he turns it down, then yes, trade him. But I feel true aces are hard to come by, and he can be and is downright dominant. Combine him with 2 pitchers with high ceilings (Guthrie and Loewen), hope for 2 of the Cabrera/Olson/Liz/Penn to pan out, and trade the others. A team can get better real fast with good solid pitching!!!

And I'm all for trading Tejada/Mora/Huff/Gibbons/Hernandez. Get what you can for them, and build your offense around Roberts, Markakis, and hopefully Reimold.

Any trade is risky......There is no prospect that is guaranteed to be great or even just plain good. Injuries could happen, or they just do not pan out.

I was excited to get Glenn Davis! Whoops that turned out to be a major team crippling bust!

No matter what happens, if we sign Bedard, he could be the cornerstone for 6-8 more years. Or he could blow his arm out and be like Albert Bell, and on our payroll for years with out actually playing.

We could trade him for Prospects and they all become studs and we look great for 2010. Or they all suck and Bedard wins 20 games every year for the next 6 years. 4 cy young awards. MVP Awards for another team.

Anything could happen, nothing is for sure long contract or trading.

It is all risky!!!

Yo don't trade away pitching, especially young talented pitchers. You don't sign mid range ball players either. Haven't we seen enough of those over the last several years. Get rid of malcontents, rejuvinate with youth, and upgrade the scouting system. It might take a little longer but it will last much longer as well.

I know that Bedard's value is high right now so trades make sense. Imagine, however, keeping him until the '08 trade deadline (I know you risk injury or poor performance) and getting desperation offers from the 3 or 4 talent-rich teams that are trailing in their respective races.

No way we trade Bedard for what the Mets are offering. Especially with Heilman in the mix. Haven't we learned that trading for middle relievers is a crapshoot. Plus the changeover to the American league inflates the numbers. Milledge was traded today to the Nationals in what I though was a very questionable trade. Looks like the Dodgers have the best to offer right now. Maybe the Yankees if they offer Hughes. I'd rather we just trade Tejado and Mora and try to keep our young pitchers together.

Phil - no way in hell the Giants give up Cain or Lincecum for Tejada straight up. Cain had a bad record but a decent ERA, no run support whatsoever. Lincecum looks to be a possible CY Young winner in a few years. I think we'd have to add something or somethings to any trade to SF for one of those two besides Miggy.

I would love to see Brady Anderson on Dancing With the Stars. I would vote for him.. I loved him when he played for the O's.

Michele From NY

Roch, with all due respect, quite a few teams can do better...the Mets aren't really loaded enuff to trade the necessary parts without making a major dent to their system, assuming they have those parts in the first place...

Roch, I disagree with you on the Bedard/Mets trade. Humber, Gomez and Heilman is not enough. Humber is two years younger than Bedard, and not very good, Gomez is not a sure thing, and not even their best prospect, and Heilman's a reliever and old. That doesn't add up to Bedard.

Brady Anderson should have been traded right after his 50 hr year. (How does a player go from hitting hr's in the teens to 50 in one year, breaking Frank Robinson's O's record?) But no, the baseball savvy owner figured Brady was a power hitter and kept him. Brady should reconsider dancing with the stars and he can have Angelos as his partner.

It's really tough to see people bash my all-time favorite player, Brady Anderson (sorry Cal), on this blog.

I'm super-jealous of Roch for having the friendly relationship with him. I bet he's a blast...and not in a completely irresponsible Aubrey Huff kind of way either.

Gee thanks Brian for making it sound so sordid :p

Any where Bedard goes he most likely will have a better recored because Baltimore gave him one of the lowest runs per game so he couldnt win unless he did it all. I'd like to see a Bedard for Adam Jones and Wladimir Balentien from Seattle with maybe another low pitching prospect. The Mets deal is a deal that will get more of the other GM's talking about a deal so the Orioles will get a better deal for him. Also I'd like to see Miguel Tejada for Brandon Wood and Sean Rodriguez. With the Rule 5 draft coming up there are some decent players in the draft that I wish the Orioles would ake advantige of with some decent outfielders and pitchers.

roch, kemp, kershaw, and laroche OR broxton is head and shoulders above any mets offer even if they added martinez. i'd be on the phone with LA before they get back in the cabrera sweepstakes and those guys are off to florida.

Firstly, with Milledge gone, I'd never trade with the Mets...Why trade Bedard for the type of guys you already have on your team or in your system? The Mets, with no pitching to speak of, offer you two pitchers...
The only guys you want from the Mets are the guys they won't give you.
That's what I think of the Mets minor league system. If the Mets had any players, they would have been shipped by now to the Marlins for Cabrerra.
Remember their last 'can't miss ever ya gotta see this guy'- Alex Ecsobar?

Anderson co-owns ABA team Hollywood Fame w/ former DWTS contestant Stacy Keibler & Nick Lachey (his brother Drew won DWTS) so I'd bet Brady's been approached for the show. I read he's going to appear on Joes vs Pros (January?) and there is that story about him at prom in a royal blue tux - which sounds perrrfect for DWTS =) If he doesn't appear on the show it's because it's way outside of his comfort zone, but it would be a riot - I know I'd watch

There's no point to trading your ace pitcher when he is bound to Baltimore for 2 more years. We need him to get to a level where we could lure free agents. I say keep Bedard until next year and then evaluate.

God, what a sad state of affairs if this stupid organization won't come up with the money you KNOW it has, and keep the only ACE we have. YOU BUILD AROUND BEDARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is it going to take for this organization to understand this??????? Why the hell doesn't anyone in this FO notice what it takes to win in MLB these days????? All we talk about is who we can trade, and what we can get for them....when, we HAVE some pieces, and if we'd just ADD to them, we'd be really moving in the right direction. Remember 96-97???? That's exactly what we did then!! YOO HOOOO???? God I'm tired of this club........Why don't we just trade Markakis while we're at it...he's got value, too......sheesh.

I just have one thing to say: if we trade Bedard, I may have to finally buy that Orioles flask and sign up for the early "bird" discount on preemptive rehab.

Yo people
what about Andrew Jones
he's 30 and hit 47 HR 2 years ago. Yes last year was a slump but he's still good. Offer him a 3 year $20 million deal. That would work. Also he would solve the CF problem
Tell me whats wrong with him or why it would be bad?