Mariners Hesitant To Part With Jones For Bedard?

In recent memory the Orioles have been usually the organization accused of being slow to move, waffling, and hesitant to even acknowledge trade talks. Though in my opinion, here the Orioles have been smart. They're wise to ply thru offers. It's the other teams who have been tentative and waffling.

At first the Reds supposedly wouldn't include Cueto at all, and, never offer two players the caliber of Bailey and Votto in the same deal, but they've been reportedly changed their minds. The Mets initially would not even consider Fernando Martinez and insisted on having Heilman in a deal to offset having to deal young prospects but now every Mets rumor has Fernando in and Heilman out. When this offseason began the Ms GM said Morrow was more or less untouchable, though lately they seem to be a little more open to that idea. To me as long as the trade partners are willing to up their offers, and the Orioles have time, the Orioles can just entertain offers up until July 31 (and perhaps beyond).

Basically speaking whoever deals for Bedard has to be 100% committed to winning today. If there's even an ounce of thinking "we MIGHT be able to make it in our division," then I think that's the difference in a trade NOT happening. To the Orioles dismay their prospective trade partners either sit in a competitive division or lack the prospects. I personally think the Dodgers was the best fit for the Orioles because of the wealth and high competition of their division combined with their plethora of talent.

I think pulling the trigger on this trade is a huge decision on the part of the Mariners that essentially boils down to compete now or compete later. Adding Bedard to the rotation to pair with Felix Hernandez will produce one of the best 1 two punches in baseball for at least Bedard's remaining arbitration years. Adam Jones, from what I hear is a budding superstar which could help a team for many years.

If Bedard is willing to sign an extension, I would do it if I were the mariners GM. If he is not willing I would assess the clubs chances of seriously competing against the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels and Cleveland and the newly revamped Tigers.

I do not believe the addition of bedard will allow them to overtake the Angels in the division and it may make them equal if not better that than Cleveland and the yankees for the wildcard..... Tough decision, would not want to be the mariners GM on this one.

I love it how every proposal for Bedard from every team has started out with premier top prospect deals and slowly devolved to quantity offers.

He might be able to "shut teams down" but he's yet to have consecutive healthy seasons and the next time he pitches 200 innings in a year will be the first.

True that he hasn't pitched more than 200 IP. Though if he didn't have some blemishes we'd probably not be hearing the possibility of him being traded as much and/or the cost in prospects would be that much higher. The Os need to rebuild but I am not sure how much of a that compels them to deal him if he's a lock to be great. A legitimately great pitcher can stay great at Bedard's age for the next decade. That is surely enough of a time table for the Orioles to restock. The Os aren't the Twins and do have the funds to sign players.

Another caveat to this is that Bedard has never pitched on a competitive team expected to win. At an early age he suffered a potential career-threatening injury before it even got started. Since then I think he's always measured things in a longterm career context. In Baltimore every now and then, whispers arise as to how much he's willing to lay it on the line for a losing team. You can argue that point however you want but such a formula might have contributed to times when he's opted to stay out of the rotation to make absolutely sure he was healthy enough to pitch again. Such a formula would contribute to his lack of 200 IP seasons. And, taht formula would be completely different if he's pitching for a contender.

Basura,
This is the typical nonsense I've heard about Bedard. "He hasn't pitched 200 innings yet, so he isn't that valuable".

In 2006, he pitched 196.3 innings. In 2007 it was 182 innings before he was shut down because the Orioles weren't going anywhere.

So, the 200 inning argument about Bedard boils down to 21.6 innings, which is 5.7% of the innings he did pitch.

Funny how people love to point out 5% but chose to totally ignore the other 95%.

FYI, no Mariner pitcher pitched over 200 innings in 06 and 07 either.

The way this Bedard thing is going, it should be interesting to see how this plays out and where he ends up. IMO the O'S are playing the Reds and Mariners against each other to get the best deal. Who can blame them?

If the FO was reading blogs, I want to know the blog that they read that they were like "Oh maybe we shouldn't trade Jones!" I would spam that blog with PORN. I fucking hate that this most likely won't happen now.

Its not losing Jones that worries me. Its the fact that Baltimore wants 3 other legit prospects ON TOP OF Jones.

Pass.

In our situation, Jones can be replaced with Balentien since he will be somewhat wasted in RF. Losing a good chunk of the talent it took 4 years for this team to build isn't worth sacrificing for two years of Bedard. Especially when we don't have the offense to be a legit contender in the AL anyway.

baseballismylyf4....

The very points you make about Triunfel and Tillman, are exact evidence as to why we should look at not trading them.

Triunfel is presently a shortstop, but is projected as a future third baseman. Beltre is only under contract through 2009. Who replaces him?

Tillman will be coming into his own right about the time that 1) Batista's contract is up, Washburn will be gone, Silva towards the end of his contract and Felix about ready to file for free agency.

Balentien will be good...as will Jones. Ibanez will be 36 this season and Ichiro is getting older as well..

I think Balentien's bat has as much upside as Jones' if not more. He has more natural power than Jones. Jones is the more naturally athletic of the two and plays a premium position. Thats the difference between them.

I think Seattle sees this and if Baltimore just wanted Jones plus maybe one other guy, they might do it. I think whats holding things up is Baltimore wanting a mint of talent along with Jones.

I've said it before. Triunfel is a teen phenom and will be in AA this year. I can see this kid being ready to step in at 3rd when Beltre comes up for free agency.