At Last the Bedard Deal is Finalized For The Mariners

"The best things come to those who wait", can properly be applied in this instance for the Baltimore Orioles. The club who has been looking to trade star left handed pitcher Erik Bedard during the entire off-season finally pulled the trigger on a deal that will pump life into Camden Yards for the first time in years.

The Orioles thought they had finalized the deal two weeks ago, but concerns regarding the health of the prize of the deal OF Adam Jones delayed the deal. Rumors around Baltimore also circulated that Peter Angelos was taking his sweet time in signing off on the deal despite giving GM Andy Macphail exclusive control over personnel decisions before hiring him this off-season.

Nevertheless the deal was well worth the wait as the Orioles acquired more from Seattle, then the Twins were able to attain from the New York Mets. Economics definitely played a role in the disparity of prospects in the two deals. The Twins were basically pushed into a corner by Santana as he had a no-trade clause on top of his pending free agency next season. Santana's price tag was such that the Twins basically could only shop him to the Mets, Yankees, and Red Sox, and the Yankees and Red Sox have put an emphasis on building their farm systems, rather then spending 20 million dollars a year on veteran players on the last legs of their careers.

So when it came time for the Twins to deal Santana the Mets were really the only aggressive suitor, and in turn could acquire the Cy Young award winner without giving up an A list prospect. The Bedard situation is much different as he still is a bargain by today's standards, and is signed for two more seasons. Although Seattle was the most aggressive in negotiations, the Orioles still received plenty of interest on Bedard from the Reds. Bedard is definitely not in the same class as Santana, but does have the potential to lead the league in Strikeouts, and post a much lower ERA as he will be pitching in a much more pitcher friendly ballpark.

The Orioles will benefit from this deal by adding much needed young talent to a dwindling minor league system. Adam Jones is capable of becoming a great CF with 20 hr potential, Jones should have the baserunning ability to swipe at least 20 bases for the Orioles. The team also acquired Chris Tillman in the deal, Tillman was selected out of high school in last year's draft, and may have the ability to pitch in AA this year, which would be a good sign of how fast he is progressing through the minors. George Sherrill also came over to the Orioles in the deal, and with the injury to last season's closer Chris Ray may become the closer in 08 for the Orioles.

The Mariners on the other hand are playing for this season, as they were in contention for the Wild Card last season before sputtering down the stretch. The big weakness on the Mariners last season was finding some consistency in the rotation after the young phenom Felix Hernandez. By acquiring Bedard the Mariners may have the best 1, 2 combination in the big leagues.

The team also solidified their rotation by acquiring Carlos Silva, many bloggers in baseball are not impressed with Silva, but after watching him during his career in Minnesota I think he will be a great #3 starter for the Mariners. Silva is a groundball specialist and always keeps the ball in the strike zone, his one major weakness is his propensity to give up the long ball, but playing in Seattle should reduce the amount of gopher balls Silva serves up this season. Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Batista should round out the starting rotation for the Mariners.

It still is unclear if the Mariners did enough to catch up to the Angels who once again will be loaded this year, but you can't blame the team for trying to contend as they will be in one of the weakest divisions in baseball, which may help them compete for a Wild Card berth due to the unbalanced schedule in Major League Baseball.

However if the Mariners don't reach the post-season within the next two years this deal may be colossal failure for the organization. The Baltimore Orioles nabbed 5 players in the deal, and still look to continue their rebuilding project as they are expected to deal 2B Brian Roberts to the Cubs before Opening Day. The Orioles will not be hanging up banners during the next two seasons, but as we look to 2010 they just may find themselves in contention with the Yankees and Red Sox for bragging rights in the AL East.