(JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES)
I will not even speculate on what kind of voodoo shit Andy MacPhail and/or Peter Angelos were doing to make this trade take forever to consummate. They could have been feeding asbestos insulation to infants, for all I care; all that matters now is that Erik Bedard, the best pitcher the Baltimore Orioles have developed since Mike Mussina, is a Seattle Mariner.
And I could not be happier. This should not be that hard to comprehend: The Orioles have so many holes, so many mediocre veterans signed to absurd contracts, and so little premium Minor League talent - particularly position players - that they had no real choice but to trade Bedard. The Orioles were not going to win anything in the next two seasons - after which most of the aforementioned absurd contracts expire - and so most intellectually honest observers agree that a fire sale was the best option.
Furthermore, the Orioles really did get a fantastic deal for their ace. They got more for Bedard than Minnesota got for two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, and for good reason: Bedard, while less-proven than Santana, is nearly as good right now, and costs many millions less over the next two years.
Twenty-three-year-old centerfielder Adam Jones is the centerpiece of the trade, bringing some much-needed high-level positional talent to the organization. He and Nick Markakis are going to be patrolling the Oriole Park outfield for a long time, so get used to the words: Jones and Markakis; Markakis and Jones; Joneskakis. I'm so pumped about Jones that I fully intend to purchase a clearance-sale Tejada jersey and stitch Jones's name on it, much like literally tens of people did to a Sammy Sosa jersey in honor of Nick Markakis.
Hard-throwing lefty reliever George Sherrill, 19-year-old righty starter Chris Tillman, 6-foot-7 lefthander Tony Butler and Kam Mickolio - a guy said to possess a 97 MPH sinker, for Chrissakes - round out the deal.
The worst thing you can say about this trade is that it's short on Major League-ready talent and long on high-risk/high-reward prospects. But this, combined with the Tejada deal and a long-rumored trade of Brian Roberts to the Cubs that might go down next, should make the Orioles' Minor League system one of the best in baseball. It's been a long, long time since anyone could legitimately say that. From a wannabe-General Manager standpoint, I have absolutely zero beef with this trade.
However, Erik Bedard was also, by far, my favorite Orioles player since, well, Mike Mussina. Aside from his ridiculous pitching aptitude, my favorite thing about Erik Bedard is the thing for which he is most frequently criticized: His stoicism (bordering on contempt) when dealing with the media. He was infamous for his one-word answers to the invariably inane cliches that the Baltimore media tended to spout at him.
A lot of media people probably thought he was a prick, but you know what? Ask better questions and you might get better answers. Most athletes will "play the game" and give you the I-Gave-170,000-Percent-Out-There platitudes you deserve, but Bedard did not roll like that. Do not knock the guy for being the rare athlete who is too smart for the sports media charade.
The following video is from today; unfortunately, I could not find any vintage Bedard Staredowns, but believe me, they were as funny as a Christopher Guest movie.
Anyway, as one last tribute to Erik Bedard's Oriole career, please check out the video below. On July 8, 2007, Bedard pitched the finest game of his career, striking out an Orioles club record 15 batters against the Texas Rangers. He allowed only two hits, no walks and faced the minimum 27 batters in a 3-0 shutout.
There's overpowering, there's dominating, and then there's what Bedard did to the Rangers that night. I believe the kids today call it "pwning".
But don't take my word for it. In the official game recap, then-Orioles pitching coach Leo Mazzone - who coached future Hall-of-Famers Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Greg Maddux - was quoted as saying, "That ranks up there with any of the greatest performances I've ever seen."
Good luck, Erik.
