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Erik Bedard

Brad Wilkerson Signs With Mariners

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The Mariners officially signed Brad Wilkerson today to a one-year deal.  Scott Boras says he’s a good fit even if the Ms don’t trade Adam Jones.  Now that I think about it and see the price – $3MM – I might agree with that.  The Seattle Times’ Larry Stone considers this signing a "possible precursor to finalization" of a Jones trade.  So maybe progress has been made on the Erik Bedard front.

Wilkerson, 29, hit .234/.319/.467 for the Rangers in ’07, earning $4.35MM.  Wilkerson had some interesting years from 2002-04, putting up OPSs above .840.  Wrist and shoulder injuries seemingly had a lot to do with his struggles thereafter.

Erik Bedard Rumors

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UPDATES, 1-31-08 at 2:13pm: Interesting note from SI.com’s Jon Heyman – the Indians made a late bid for Bedard.

UPDATE, 1-31-08 at 11:36am: Bedard’s agent takes a swing at MLB.com for suggesting that the deal was held up because of extension talks with the Orioles.  Not true.

UPDATE, 1-31-08 at 11:24am: Buster Olney checks in with some new info.  He explains a tricky situation regarding the rules of making trades and passing physicals.  Olney says the Orioles have asked the Mariners for an agreement where they would have have to make the trade if Adam Jones and George Sherrill passed their physicals.  This written agreement could move things along.

FROM 1-31-08 at 9:12am:

Erik Bedard rumors/drama – here’s the latest.

  • Andy MacPhail says Peter Angelos did not nix any deal.  McPhail says trade talks are ongoing and no deals are expected today.
  • Yesterday it was reported by MLB.com’s Jim Street that the Orioles were making a last-ditch effort to sign Bedard to an extension, perhaps as long as five years.

Mariners Close To Bedard Deal?

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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.

UPDATE, 1-30-08 at 4:38pm: Geoff Baker checks in.  He’s not able to corroborate the MLB.com report.  He was able to dismiss the Adam Jones hip stuff.  Baker’s heard that Angelos was angry about the Jones leak though.  Baker does not buy Andy MacPhail’s talk of other clubs being in the mix – the Mariners have a very strong offer.

FROM 1-30-08 at 3:56pm:

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).

The Adam Jones Degenerative Hip Rumor

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UPDATE, 1-30-08 at 9:09am: John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer calls Charles’ report "completely unsubstantiated."

FROM 1-29-08 at 10:40pm:

This story got lost in the shuffle today.  Let’s take a look at what we know about the Adam Jones degenerative hip rumor.

  • The rumor originated with Stan Charles, publisher of a Baltimore sports weekly called Press Box.  Charles appeared on the Mark Viviano Show on ESPN 1300 Tuesday afternoon. 
  • Unfortunately I did not hear exactly what Charles said – the show may be up for download on Wednesday.  But the gist of Charles’ rumor based on emailers who listened is that the Orioles believe Jones has a degenerative hip condition.  They are trying to use this leverage to get more players for Erik Bedard.  The Orioles saw firsthand how quickly a degenerative hip killed Albert Belle’s career.
  • Roch Kubatko of the Baltimore Sun: All I can say about the topic is that the Orioles became concerned with something related to Jones, and the fact that they wanted to bring him in for a physical before alerting Bedard’s agent that a trade agreement was reached should send off signals. But we’ve heard nothing up to this point about his hip.  Kubatko implied that Charles was in dangerous territory with his claim.

Mariners Have Company In Bedard Pursuit

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Andy MacPhail told the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec today that teams other than the Mariners have "chimed in" on Erik Bedard.  What is the goal of this public statement?  To push the Mariners to up their offer?

MacPhail says he’s just having conversations with the Mariners currently.  He’s been in touch with Peter Angelos and not much has changed of late.

Hard to say which other clubs chimed in on Bedard, if it’s true.  I have heard that the Cubs haven’t talked to the O’s in over a week.  Teams like the Reds, Indians, Angels, and Rockies could theoretically jump in.

Johan Santana Traded To Mets

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UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 4:22: Ken Rosenthal says the 72-hour window to sign Santana is now open.

UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 3:15pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today says an agreement to trade Santana to the Mets has been reached.  They’ll send Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra, and Kevin Mulvey to the Twins.  The Mets still have to work out a six or seven year extension for Santana, according to Nightengale.  If this baby reaches its true conclusion we’ll sit down and analyze.

UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 2:55pm: More from Olney.  His sources say the Mets have the best offer, the Red Sox also made offers, and the Yanks are out.  Santana apparently asked the Twins to make a decision, wrap this thing up.  Wrap it up!  Olney is not sure whether F-Mart is part of the Mets’ offer.

UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 2:06pm: SI.com’s Jon Heyman weighs in.  He sees the Mets as the frontrunner, the Red Sox on the fringes, and the Yankees as nearly out of the running.  The Mets are offering Gomez/Humber/Mulvey/Guerra but not Fernando Martinez.  If they get Santana, the Mets will commit to only five years but with a high average annual value of $22-25MM.

UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 1:11pm: WFAN’s Mike Francesa believes the Twins upped their offer to five years, $100MM for Santana, but he rejected it.

UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 9:42am: ESPN’s Buster Olney says the Twins asked for each team’s "last and best offers" on Monday.  They could decide Santana’s fate as early as today.  Olney adds that the Yankees "appear to be not presently engaged whatsoever in the Santana talks."  Olney used to be a Yankees beat writer, so he’s bound to have a good line on this.

As for the Red Sox – Olney is hearing conflicting things about Jon Lester’s availability.  It’s possible that Lester could only be had in a more limited package – he, Coco Crisp, and not much else.

FROM 1-29-08 at 8:02am:

Over at MetsBlog today, Matthew Cerrone does a nice job summing up the Johan Santana situation. 

The New York Daily News indicates that the Mets are the one team pushing for Santana, but the Twins might use the Erik Bedard haul as a measuring stick.  Joel Sherman sees it as a Mets-Red Sox battle.  He notes that Carlos Gomez will skip the Caribbean Series not because of an impending trade but just to limit his games. 

We could finally get some kind of resolution with Santana this week.  Just to keep things interesting, check out Mark Healey’s note about the Dodgers "creeping into the picture."

Erik Bedard Rumors: Tuesday

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UPDATE, 1-29-08 at 3:45pm: The Baltimore Sun’s Roch Kubatko weighs in on a radio rumor going around.  The radio rumor says that the O’s are holding up the deal over a possible degenerative hip condition with Adam Jones.  Kubatko could only confirm that the Orioles "became concerned with something related to Jones."

FROM 1-29-08 at 7:50am:

Why can’t all megadeals be as simple as Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera acquisition?  The Erik Bedard to Seattle has become a full-blown mess.  As always, MLBTradeRumors.com has the latest.

Ken Rosenthal expounds on three theories as to why Orioles owner Peter Angelos may be holding up the deal.  Maybe he still wants to sign Bedard to an extension.  Maybe he’s mad about Adam Jones leaking the deal to the Venezuelan press.  Or maybe he just wants more/different players than Andy MacPhail negotiated.  Or my own theory – maybe he was just busy Monday with a family matter, as has been suggested, and nothing’s wrong.

Erik Bedard Rumors: Monday

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UPDATE, 1-28-08 at 8:58pm: The drama continues.  Baker believes the deal is still alive, and heard the original quotes from Jones with his own two ears.  Jones did say he was traded to the Orioles and that he was off to Baltimore for a physical, despite the KOMO 1000 backpedaling.  In other words, the Orioles asked him to kindly stop talking.

Jeff Zrebiec has the latest from the Baltimore side.  The O’s are holding this up over "unspecified complex issues," which might mean Angelos’ approval.  Zrebiec believes the framework of a deal has been agreed upon, and that Jones was at one point scheduled to fly to Baltimore for a physical.  Zrebiec also got in touch with Mariners GM Bill Bavasi, who apparently pulled Jones from winter ball simply because he "met his goals."

UPDATE, 1-28-08 at 5:46pm: According to KOMO 1000 News Radio, Jones has been ordered not to play but remains in Venezuela.  He was also misquoted by the Venezuelan press – he did not mention getting traded.

UPDATE, 1-28-08 at 4:51pm: I honestly didn’t think Angelos would interfere with this one.  But according to Ken Rosenthal, the deal is on hold and possibly off because of him.  Then again, we knew it was on hold until Tuesday anyway because of Angelos’ availability.

FROM 1-28-08 at 1:43pm:

Let’s get a fresh post going for the Erik Bedard rumors.

  • According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, the Bedard to Seattle trade awaits Peter Angelos’ approval.  Angelos will not be available today to evaluate the deal because of a family matter.  So this should drag a bit more.
  • Stark still expects the deal to get done but verifies that Adam Jones was not sent to Baltimore for a physical. 
  • Jerry Crasnick says both Jones and George Sherrill have been told to take physicals in anticipation of the deal.  Sherrill disputes this in the Seattle PI, though.
  • Stark and Crasnick say the current package from Seattle is Jones, Sherrill, Chris Tillman, and a fourth unknown prospect.  Tillman, however, hasn’t yet been informed of a trade.

Wilkerson Signs With Mariners?

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Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times is being told that "the Mariners already have a one-year deal with free-agent Brad Wilkerson in their back pocket for the moment a Bedard trade is finalized."  Wilkerson will pass on a one-year, $2MM plus incentives offer to be a Red Sox backup.  This all gels with MLBTR’s report from January 24th.

ESPN’s Jayson Stark mentioned that Luis Gonzalez could be another option for the Ms.  Gonzalez recently scoffed at a $2MM Marlins offer.  Gonzo made $7.35MM in ’07.

Bedard Traded To Mariners?

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UPDATE, 1-27-08 at 11:29pm: Geoff Baker checks in again.  He notes MacPhail’s careful choice of words and reiterates that a deal appears close.  He seems to think only a Peter Angelos objection could kill it, but would consider that a crazy thing for him to do.

UPDATE, 1-27-08 at 10:55pm: Jason Churchill, referencing three sources, believes this to be 99% done.  He is hearing Jones, Tillman, Sherrill, Tony Butler, and Kameron Mickolio to the O’s.  He’s not sure whether Bedard extension talks are a factor but you have to think that might be holding it up.  He’s also unsure on whether the O’s would include anyone else with Bedard.

UPDATE, 1-27-08 at 10:25pm: Jon Heyman of SI.com says "there is still some internal debate in Baltimore over the deal."  Heyman’s heard that Jones, Tillman, and Sherrill are possibilities but the Ms may keep Jeff Clement.  Heyman then goes on to add that the O’s might send Brian Roberts to the Cubs for Sean Gallagher and Felix Pie if they finish the Bedard deal.

UPDATE, 1-27-08 at 9:32pm: No deal, says Andy MacPhail.  He denies that Jones is headed to Baltimore for a physical.  This Baltimore Sun link also has quotes from Jones, which kind of started the whole thing.  Someone must’ve said something to him.

UPDATE, 1-27-08 at 8:45pm: A high-ranking Orioles official told the Baltimore Sun that a trade has not been completed.  Meanwhile MLB.com’s Jim Street believes the Ms will send Jones, Sherrill, Chris Tillman, and a minor leaguer for Bedard.

FROM 1-27-08 at 7:49pm:

According to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, Adam Jones is headed to Baltimore in an Erik Bedard trade.  Jones was pulled from the Lara Cardinals’ lineup today in Venezuela.  Cardinals manager Luis Sojo confirmed Jones went to Baltimore for a physical.

Baker got in touch with reliever George Sherrill, who has not been informed of any involvement in a trade.  When we hear about the other players involved we’ll post it here.

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