Okay looks like it gets done in the next few days. Alot of new faces in the orioles system if the next two trades go down.
They traded Miggy and got back five from Houston.
Bedard will bring back five.
Roberts will bring back three or four.
So the birds lose three of the best players they have but get 13 to 14 young players. The rebuilding has finally begun after ten losing seasons.
Bedard saga to be resolved soon
O's, Mariners attempt to fix issues that stalled deal earlier this week
By Jeff Zrebiec
Sun reporter
7:13 PM EST, January 31, 2008
The Erik Bedard trade saga is expected to be resolved within the next couple of days as the Orioles and Seattle Mariners attempt to resolve issues that stalled a deal that was nearly completed earlier this week.
ESPN.com first reported that the holdup of the deal, which would send Bedard to the Mariners for young center fielder Adam Jones, reliever George Sherrill and three pitching prospects, is a "rules issue."
The story said that the Orioles are trying to acquire "written language" from the Mariners that would allow the Orioles to pull out of the deal if Jones or Sherrill failed his physical.
Jones' pronouncement Sunday to a Venezuelan reporter that he was headed to Baltimore to take a physical because he was the centerpiece of the Mariners' trade for Bedard angered Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who didn't want word of the deal to leak before physicals were taken. The Orioles canceled Jones' physical, which had been scheduled for Tuesday.
Angelos couldn't be reached Thursday to comment, and president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail hadn't returned a phone call from The Sun as of early Thursday evening.
However, team officials expect the deal for the Orioles' ace, which also would send pitching prospects Chris Tillman, Tony Butler and Kam Mickolio to Baltimore, to be resolved one way or another in the next 48 hours.
Angelos, a highly successful attorney, has long been wary of approving deals without a thorough -- too thorough, his critics say -- review of a player's medical history. His apprehension might have started in 1999 when the Orioles announced that they had signed free-agent pitcher Xavier Hernandez to a two-year, $2.5 million contract. The club's news release on the signing didn't mention that the deal was pending the results of a physical.
It was discovered that Hernandez had a partially torn rotator cuff, prompting Angelos to void the contract. Hernandez filed a grievance and the Orioles were ordered to pay him a $1.75 million settlement.
A year later, the Orioles announced that they had agreed in principal to a four-year, $29 million deal with free-agent pitcher Aaron Sele. This time, they noted that the deal was pending a physical. The exam turned up concern about the condition of Sele's shoulder and led to Angelos nixing the deal and asking executives to try to negotiate a two-year contract with the pitcher.
Sele, instead, signed a two-year deal with the Mariners and went 32-15 over those two seasons.
If the Bedard-to-Seattle deal goes through, it would help the Orioles in their attempt to stockpile as much young talent as possible to buoy a rebuilding effort.
In December, MacPhail secured five players from the Houston Astros in exchange for star shortstop Miguel Tejada. MacPhail could get as many as four players from the Chicago Cubs if he's able to finalize a deal for All-Star second baseman Brian Roberts. However, a Roberts trade isn't expected to happen before the Bedard matter is resolved.
Jones, a 22-year-old center fielder who is one of baseball's top prospects, is the gem of the Mariners' offer. He was the team's first-round selection in the 2003 draft, their minor league Player of the Year a season later and made his major league debut in 2005.
Jones started the 2007 season at Triple-A Tacoma but earned a promotion to the big leagues after hitting .314 with 25 home runs, 84 RBIs and eight steals in 101 games. He hit .246 with two home runs and 41 RBIs in 41 games with Seattle last year.
Jones likely would be the Orioles' Opening Day center fielder, and Sherrill probably would be the team's closer in 2008. The power left-hander went 2-0 with a 2.36 ERA in 73 appearances last year.
Tillman is the most promising pitching prospect in the Mariners' offer, though all three are big and have good arms. Tillman (6 feet 5, 190 pounds) is a 19-year-old right-hander who was Seattle's minor league Pitcher of the Year last season. In two minor league seasons, Tillman, a second-round pick in 2006, is 10-14 with a 4.93 ERA in 38 appearances, including 33 starts.
Butler, 20, is a 6-7, 218-pound left-hander who went 4-7 with a 4.75 ERA in 20 games (18 starts) at Single-A Wisconsin last year. Mickolio, 23, is the biggest and perhaps the rawest of the group. The 6-9, 256-pound Montana native was dominant at Double-A last season, going 3-1 with a 1.82 ERA in 18 relief appearances. Those numbers earned a promotion to Triple-A, where he went 3-3 with a 3.75 ERA and one save in 14 games, while striking out 28 in 24 innings.
jeff.zrebiec@baltsun.com
