From mlbtraderumors.com

Mariners Close To Bedard Deal?
According to MLB.com's Jim Molony:

Talks were thought to be stalled, but multiple MLB sources said Wednesday that Baltimore and Seattle are close to finalizing the deal the two teams have been discussing for weeks. The trade would send Orioles pitcher Erik Bedard to the Mariners for outfielder Adam Jones, pitchers George Sherill and Chris Tillman and as many as two additional prospects.

Molony's article was published at 1pm CST today. 5 for 1 would be quite a package. Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider still sees a 4 for 1 coming together by week's end (righthand sidebar).

I literally spent all day glued to the computer in hopes that something would happen.

I also think the phrases "Anything could change with a phone call" and "I don't know" are reaching a point of infamy in Birdland.

There have been rumors on OH that the reason the Os haven't traded with the Cubs yet is that Sherril might be involved in trade talks with them. This is realyl speculation and nothing else, but it is interesting nonetheless, although Trembley did say a power lefty reliever was at the top of his wish list, so I'll take this with a grain of salt.

For what it's worth, Jim Callis of Baseball America also says he thinks this trade will get done.
At this point, I hope so. The O's run a big risk if they walk away from it. The Peter won a small battle by reneging on his Aaron Sele contract offer -- a point often referenced by posters here -- but they lost the free-agent war for years afterward, as good players routinely ignored their offers and Syd Thrift complained that players treated his cash like Monopoly money.
The Peter likes to believe that THE BALTIMORE ORIOLES are such a unique and powerful organization that they don't have to play nice with anyone -- the Orioles can set their own rules for the timing of trades, and set their own deadlines for free-agent signings. Unfortunately, in the eyes of anybody outside the organization, the Orioles are just another losing team, and one that's difficult to deal with as well.
I'm not saying we need to trade Bedard just to make a trade. But the O's would benefit over the long term by treating Seattle with some respect and courtesy, and that seems foreign to the Orioles' corporate culture.

i say we all go cold turkey until Sunday...

C is for cold turkey

I'm just glad I can get up out of my chair and eat dinner and go to the bathroom without missing the trade of the century! Seriously though, Oriole fans are on the edge of their seats for news about the team. That will never be a bad thing. Go O's!

Roch, You sound like in this blog the same as the rest of us...wore out by it all.....I read a bit ago the 5 names now said the be in the deal....seems only Jones and Sherill have any hope of helping the O's this year...rest are to young or not that far advanced...especially Tillman...some huge fellows in Butler and especially Mickolio. Any word on Roberts or any possible free agents that the O's may be talking to. You are right about watching all day and night...seems to feel like work all of a sudden...

MacPhail's feeding you this stuff, right?

If not, why's every other website reporting that we're closing in on a trade? Sorry Roch, I'm not buying it.

" The deadline for ending trade discussions remains flexible. "

Then pray tell why have a freakin deadline. That's just an arbitrary date spun by MacPhail to enlist media space. Of course one and all are falling for it. I guess the media has to fill the blank pages with something.... Next time they should try something with a bit more substance... Like honesty which would blow the typical Oriole rhetoric out of the water....

Sounds like this will (finally) get done. Here is something from Seattle's Roch.

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/mariners/2008/01/bedardjones_update.html

Apparently mlb.com is also reporting that the O's and M's are close.

I like the deal if Bedard gets traded. Look at Adam Jones, the centerpiece of the deal. George Sherrill is great, wheather he is a mid-reliever or the O's closer. Lots of people think he is worthless. Have you een his numbers from 07 and his career. It looks good. Also he is a lefty, which the Orioles need in their bullpen. The rest are ok too.

Sherrill can close. He had a fine record last year. No reason to be down on him. Anybody else on the O's roster you like in that role?
He's better as a setup, but he's pretty good in anybody's bullpen.
Could you all calm down? The O's are calling the shots. For once, they're dealing from strength. Leave them alone.Let them deal.

Andy better get it done quick. The package seems better then the Johan deal. I just saw on MLB.com Eric's lifetime stats. Guess how many complete games Bedard has in his career. Yep 1. Thats it.

He will break down in the next 2 years. He is an arm injury waiting to happen.

Get the deal done!!!

Anonymous: I said it could happen by the weekend. That's not "close" by your definition? It's Wednesday night. And yes, it could be sooner. I just didn't get an indication that it will be tomorrow.

I plan to take in one of the Oscar nominated movies.... Some of us are not fooled by the NFL's over hyped product.

im thinking maybe mcphail got ahold of rochs password and he's tied up in a closet somewhere.
youre not fooling me mcphail, stop posting on rochs blog.

Not close Kansas over K State.

According to MLB.com (Jim Street), the O's are trying to negotiate a long-term deal with Bedard. It appears the ghosts of Mike Mussina are haunting Angelos. I think this is a mistake...

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080130&content_id=2360377&vkey=hotstove2007&fext=.jsp

MLB trade rumors reports this:

"UPDATE, 1-30-08 at 5:19pm: MLB.com's Jim Street says a last-ditch attempt by the Orioles to sign Bedard to a five-year contract is holding up the trade. Street says Bedard's agent told Andy MacPhail it would take seven years and $100MM, however. Street touches on the Jones degenerative hip thing, indicating that the Orioles heard this but it turned out to be unsubstantiated."

Seven Years 100,000 comes out to 14.5 mil a year. Actually accounting for inflation that is not a bad deal. You could try and negotiate six years, but this is much less than Santana is making.

I think in lieu of the lesser prospects from Seattle other than Jones, signing an ace like Erik long term is in the best interests of the O's. Bedard will easily get this in the free agent market. We lost Mussina. It takes a long time to get a pitcher like this who has PROVEN himself.

Mig is gone, theres no big contract on the books. Go for it with some of that MASN money Peter.

Forget the trade, keep Bedard if he's willing to stay.

i think bedard will be a mariner next year because the orioles will not sign a high price contract to a pitcher who got arm problems i think the deal will be done by friday

I picture MacPhail with a phone in each ear like the bald guy in the movie "Airplane!"
"Auntie Em, Uncle Henry, Toto it's a twister! It's a twister!

Look, I know beyond a shadow of doubt that good old Uncle Pete will whip out his veto stamp and nix this deal. I hate the fact that I love this team, year after year come March/April I get Oriole fever and I get excited and give them a second, third, fourth, fith, sixth seventh... chance. And come May/June I am disgusted at the product on the field. Aubry Huff, Jay Paton, Kevin Millar? Come on Pete!!! For god sake let Andy Mcphail do his job!!! If your a true Oriole fan this trade may remind you of the Glen Davis deal... who's to say these kids we might get back may not turn out to be the next Curt Schilling, Pete Harnish, or Steve Finley? I say do the deal before Seattle wises up and finds out their giving up too much young talent [see Santana deal] and call it off. Reverse the Glen Davis Curse!!! Do the Deal!!! Please!

I agree with VJ - I think signing Bedard long-term will hurt this franchise, for several reasons.
1. Pitchers given big contracts rarely perform up to those standards (Zito, Hudson, Hampton, Neagle, Benson, Sheets come to mind).
2. Pitchers are injury risks. Bedard has yet to pitch a whole season. He also has only pitched 1 complete game.
3. Three #'s: 29, 1, 0. Bedard will be 29 years of age as of 3/6/08. Hardly a Spring chicken. He has 1 complete game in his CAREER. He also has 0 Cy Youngs, and 0 All-Star appearances.
4. Trading him brings 5 prospects, and gives us a good young starting CF, a possible closer, and a good pitching prospect in Tillman. Throw in Mickolio and Butler, and this trade looks just as good if not better than the Mets trade for Santana. We all know that we need some more pop and speed in the lineup - Jones provides that, and he's excited to come to Baltimore.
5. This accelerates our rebuilding process. If we do not trade Bedard, we have to try and find another young CF and more pitching prospects through the draft, slowing down the rebuilding effort. By the time we're ready to win, Bedard will be 33 and might be past his prime.
6. By re-signing him (not McPhail's idea, by the way), it shows just how Angelos runs his organization and how little power ANY GM would have in it. Way to go, Peter!

Mr. Angelos, please do not sign Mr. Bedard. Erik, I think you're a great pitcher, but by trading you we are able to accelerate our rebuilding process and you get a chance at the playoffs.

MAKE THE TRADE!!!!

j is for JUST DO IT!

I love both Bedard and Roberts but if they do sign Bedard then roberts needs to bring Pie , Cedeno, and at least one more prospect unless you could get a top cf or ss prospect for another pitcher..

hey, if we can sign Bedard for 5 years, let's do that. Then we can sign Roberts too. Yeah I know the prospects would be nice, but....

Sign Corey for CF, play the guy (luke?) we got for Miggy, and the team is watchable for me at least.

Luis at SS might be hard to watch on offense, but, heck, Bedard, Guthrie, Loewen + 2 is not that bad.

Just trade the main already and move on. Going nowhere with him might as well pick up kids that will help us. I'm getting sick of McPhail and his slow pace. Either trade him or say were keeping him and move on.

mark c -

I don't want the team to be watchable, I want them to be good. A bunch of prospects fighting over jobs is plenty watchable to me.

Doug - From the previous topic - in that case I think we are one the same page.

Doug -- Get your bets in for the Super Bowl asap. I mean everything that's out there: Who wins, who's named MVP, over/under for Tom Brady throwing for 300 years, interceptions by Peyton's little brother, TD catches by Randy Moss, you name it--bet it!!!

No seriously, I mean do you use a crystal ball, tea leaves, chicken entrails or have Miss Cleo on speed dial? It must be something like that, for how else could you so confidently state about Bedard: "He will break down in the next 2 years. He is an arm injury waiting to happen."

Paul - RE: Roberts at 2B - Your point is well taken. Utley might be the #1 guy at 2B. Uggala is not so bad, either. I am not sure I put Phillips ahead of Roberts.

Roberts is one of the best fielding 2B. I have seen Utley play in person and I think Roberts fields the position better.

Roberts also is one of the most efficient SB men of this era - and that aspect of his game is often overlooked. If a pitcher throws over 6 - 8 times during an at bat that is close to 6 - 8 extra pitches.

But I am not disagreeing with you. I only said he was among the best. If you talk to the scouts who are at the games - as I do - most would tell you the same.

UPDATE, 1-30-08 at 5:19pm: MLB.com's Jim Street says a last-ditch attempt by the Orioles to sign Bedard to a five-year contract is holding up the trade. Street says Bedard's agent told Andy MacPhail it would take seven years and $100MM, however. Street touches on the Jones degenerative hip thing, indicating that the Orioles heard this but it turned out to be unsubstantiated.

As much as I want to keep Bedard, 7 years is too long.

Also, I do not see PA giving that to a pitcher. 5 years, maybe. Typically, he likes 3.

Some of this could be posturing by Bedard's agent trying to do what Santana's agent did. However, he could talk his client out of a trade.

The Mets got a discount price for Santana because they still need to sign him to a deal for the trade to be official. Minnesota took less in players to accommodate this.

MacPhail is not going to give Seattle this break because Bedard has 2 years left on his deal. But Seattle may not want to give up as much if they think they are only renting Bedard or if they think it will break the bank to get him.

At the same time, I think that the media - especially those on the national level - are reading certain message boards too much for their information (hence all the "PA killed the deal" stories when PA was not even conscious - I mean less conscious than usual.) and the negotiation story may be yet another fantasy they are buying into.

For those who are smirking at him - the only person who has had it 100% right all winter on everything is Roch.

I would trust what he says over some clown claiming to have inside information who is wrong 75% of the time

If your stock broker steered you to loser stocks 75% of the time would he still be your broker? So why do these guys keep saying their sources have the 411 when the sources are SO far off so often????

Well I am sure happy I didn't miss any Oriole while I was skiing in Colorado. Bedard is a good pitcher (not great yet), but if these 5 players are indeed being offered, then make the trade yesterday. No brainer. Then get a couple of major league ready and a few of the Cubbies top-level prospects for Roberts. Go O's! Nebraska_Jeff

I check this blog everyday…but too late to contribute much that hasn’t been already said and said and said.

Roch….I do believe that PA is going to go through with this trade and I do believe the holdup is an attempt to get Bedard extended. Uhhh…not really actually extend Bedard but give the appearance that he tried everything to keep him. That would put to rest the claims of “they didn’t offer me anything” by Bedard.
Certainly any agreement they come to will include at the very least a limited no-trade clause…….

Wish I could remember several blogs ago which poster said “it’s like letting a mortician manage a strip club”. My thought is why couldn’t a mortician manage a strip club….both jobs require him to be around lots of stiffs’? Huff for doorman?
P is for .....

JWBBZ's - I think this link has been posted about 150 times....

Hmmm what to do what to do?

Super Bowl Sunday:
Two teams I really don't care about.
Patriots=VOMIT! After once dating someone from New England, I've had to endure more crap than most people will have to in their entire lives. Oh Red Sox this, oh Pats that.

And the NY Giants... well I hate everything NY so I'm not super excited about their Super Bowl appearance. However it would be quite funny to see Baby Manning take down God Almighty Brady.

I think I'm just going to drown my sorrows in a pint or two (or five) of Guinness.

How 'bout them Ravens? I mean Os? I mean.....
God! Anything?

Who in their right mind will ever waste their time doing business with us after this?

And you know that stinker Angelos is loving every minute of it. Having the Mariners think their getting one of his players and at the last minute going Gotcha! But sadly Mr. Angelos it will be the Mariners who in a few years will be saying no we got you.

Yes Seattle will miss the playoffs, and Bedard will probably have a great year- which won't yield him a cy young due to lack of wins.

You will be another year older, as will Bedard and The Orioles will be another season deeper in their losing ways. But without these prospects, our prospects of getting out of this for a long term basis will be very unlikely. And the fan base will have little to feel good about at the end of the season. With the exception, of possibly signing Teixera or trying to rebuild again - If another team is even willing to take us seriously enough to waste their time on again.

Don't get me wrong, I love Erik Bedard. But signing him long term and trying to win with all the other holes in our roster and none of our own talent to fill them is going to mean that were going to have to spend up their with big dogs in our division the Sox and Yanks.

And we all know that aint gonna happen.

Thats ok, other teams are in the same boat, let me see if I can name a couple....oh wait.....Oakland and Minnesota! And these are teams that have been successful the past 10 years.

We need a Cfer, SS, 1B, 3B and possibly another Left Fielder.

I dont know what's worse, the fact that we can't afford to fill all these holes adequately- or- the fact that the free agents we need to do it won't come here in the first place.

Orioles need to make the trade...Angelos will not offer Bedard more than 3 years.Use the 120 million to sign Texiera to a 6 year 120 million contract.Opening day 2009

1.Roberts 2b
2.AJones cf
3.NMarkakis RF
4.Texiera 1b
5.L Scott /Millar DH
6.NReimold LF
7 Mora 3b Rowell Sept 09
8.Wieters C
9.Hernandez ss

SP - Lowen

From a business stand although shrewd and disrespectful the way Angelos has done this is quite interesting.

He wanted to see what the absolute most he could get for him was, if he's overwhelmed possibly taking a deal. He knows what Bedard is worth in dollars and now he also knows what he's worth in players this actually puts you in a position to make the best offer for the team.

If he doesnt take 5yrs 70 mill though, we better make this trade.

Every body was wondering what the effect of the Johan Santana trade would be, well guys, the effect is Angelos is doing the same thing the Twins were Trying to re-sign him before the trade.

But like the Twins, this will be to no avail and the trade goes down.

Earl Weaver:

thanks man
i'm with you
keep Eric
term$ seem reasonable

5 for 1??? A no brainer. This trade is cornerstone to our future. Say we may this deal then flip BROB for Gallagher & Pie. We would have an OF of Jones, Markakis & Pie....thats tasty

"Seattle Roch" I like the sound of that. Does that mean that you are "Baltimore Baker," Roch?

While I do have faith in MacPhail, it's interesting to note regarding the two samples in the Sun article today of the trades Angelos has nixed actually worked out for the best for the Orioles. This team has failed for many reasons, including Angelos picking wrong front office people in the past more than keeping the wrong players.

Hey, if they are only going to win 60-70 games again this year, I'd rather see them do it with a lot of different people from last year...at least that would be interesting. I remember the '89 team had a lot of guys I knew very little about when the season started and that year worked out pretty well.

Make the trade...Bedard has 1 good 3/4 of a season behind him and is always just 1 pitch away from a career-ending injury. At best he'll only help every 5th day...Jones can help every day.

y aren't we pushing for more postion players in these trades. I want the shortstop from Seattle. Jones and Tillman could bomb out at the major leage level. Clement would be fine and make him a 1st baseman.Mcphail's obsession with pitchers backfired on him in Chicago and will do the same here.

I am really sorry the fans of Baltimore have to endure their owner. The way this has been handled by him is the talk of the radio stations here. It isn't your fault that you will endure another losing season but it is unfortunate. We thank you for your owner because in the long run, we will compete for years to come thanks in part to the players that will not be going to Baltimore.

Good Luck down the road!

It is easy to bash Angelos, but in this case I don't think he deserves it. McPhail had been operating under the assumption that Bedard was pretty much set on testing the free agent market after the 2009 season. Bedard and his agent both certainly gave that impression. Now Bedard has suddenly said that he would consider an extension with the O's. Why blame Angelos for wanting to explore that? McPhail is on the same page. Apparently Bedard has now gone so far as to tell Angelos that he would consider a 5 year deal. The money he is asking for actually seems to be under the market. Sounds like he wants to remain an Oriole after all.

You want to rebuild a team, who better to build a team around than an ace like Bedard? What are the chances that any of the prospects you get for him will turn out to be anywhere near the player he is? Next to no chance.

The package Seattle is supposedly offering is NOT a good trade if you have a chance to keep Bedard for 5 years. The only proven player in the rumored deal is a left handed relief specialist who is older than Bedard. The other 3 pitchers discussed aren't really close to the majors and Jones, while he has a lot of upside potential, is certainly no sure thing. Do the names Jeffrey Hammonds and Corey Patterson sound familiar? They were as highly touted as Jones. Perhaps more so. There have been many other blue chippers that have not panned out as expected.

The Santana/Mets deal is irrelevant, as the Twins can't sign Santana and will definitely lose him at year end if they don't trade him, not to mention Santana's no-trade clause that he will exercise if he doesn't get the deal he wants. The Twins are over a barrel. The Orioles are not. Night and day.

If you can sign Bedard at something like 5/70 either without a no-trade clause or with a limited one, that would be a huge shot in the arm for this franchise. At least the Orioles would have a good chance to win every fifth day.

As to Seattle perhaps being angry - are you kidding me? Nearly all of the premature actions, leaks, and confusion has come from their end. McPhail never told any of his players the deal was done. No Oriole player told the press that he had been traded. No Oriole player then told the press he never said that (undoubtedly under instructions from his GM.) And certainly the Baltimore media has acted professionally for the most part. One reporter called Jones a clown and coupled with the Mariner front office to pretty much hang the poor kid out to dry. He then ran a story pretty much blaming Angelos for the whole thing, and released a tape recording of the player stating he had been traded to cover his own tail. Crimeny! One blogger out there goes so far as to claim to have all these "inside sources" telling him how great every Seattle minor leaguer is. Seems like the Tacoma AAA team is the 1927 Yankees reincarnate. (They had a losing record in the PCL, by the way.) I have yet to see any of his "inside information" pan out. The bloggers and the media blast their front office even more than we blast ours, which seems impossible. Seeing everything that has gone on out there, who can blame Bedard for seeing if he can get a deal done with Baltimore rather than be shipped out there to deal with all that for 2 years?