Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« Vamos al Autobús | Oh Yeah, the SOTU »

Monday, January 28, 2008

Trades

posted by on January 28 at 10:46 AM

A friend-of-Slog sent me this email:

In an effort to get decent top-of-rotation pitching in Erik Bedard from Baltimore, The Mariners will trade 23 yo outfielder Adam Jones and lefty reliever (and fan favorite) George Sherrill to Baltimore.

Bedard’s stats are 13-6 last season with the Orioles before being sidelined by a strained oblique for the rest of the season. “He was thought to be a strong contender for the Cy Young award, pitching 182 innings and striking out 221 batters, a total that ended up leading the American League.” accordign to MLB.com. More here.

This FOS originally sent this email to Brad, since Brad cares about the Ms. But Brad’s not in and so he sent it to me. And asked me to post it. So here it is. I can’t fully appreciate the implications, of course, since I only go to the games for the beer.

RSS icon Comments

1

Most common Mariners fans aren't grasping the lopsidedness of this trade. It's rumored to be Jones and Sherril as a starting point, with at least two of the following top prospects thrown in: Clement, Tillman, Triunfel.

While Bedard was arguably one of the top two or three pitchers in the majors last year, that is a LOT of cheap talent to give up for one guy. But then, if people are interested, they should check out the discussions at USS Mariner and Lookout Landing.

Posted by Nerdy Nerdy Stathead Nerd | January 28, 2008 10:52 AM
2

No Triunfel? OK, it's bad, but not TOTALLY catastrophic. We're still a stupid team.

Posted by Fnarf | January 28, 2008 10:53 AM
3

Going to M's games for the beer? Jesus, Dan!

Posted by Will/HA | January 28, 2008 10:53 AM
4

And quality father-son-beer time.

Posted by Dan Savage | January 28, 2008 10:58 AM
5

Bavasi gave up far too much and mistakenly believes we're one pitcher away from World Series contention. But I'll take one of the best pitchers in baseball, even if it means a gaping hole in RF, losing our top lefty reliever and a couple of top prospects.

Posted by Gomez | January 28, 2008 10:59 AM
6

Ah yes, that's better.

My dad routinely brought a paperback to many an M's game. His love for his son was bigger than his loathing of all things sports.

Posted by Will/HA | January 28, 2008 11:10 AM
7

Bedard seems great, and since McClaren kept Jones on the bench after bringing him up last season, why not go for this trade? I can't even remember the last time someone offered us a trade for a starter like this.

Honestly, it doesn't matter what they do unless they do a complete rosterectomy -- this is all just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. I'll be startled not to see them finish third in their division for the remainder of the decade.

While you're briefly covering the Ms, you should post about the wrangling between the various Seattle teams trying to make a grab for the "temporary" Safeco taxes that are running out...

Posted by ms fan in recovery | January 28, 2008 11:12 AM
8

jones is a dime a dozen,the rest of the package was a bad move, relief pitching is essential for a long run, but oh well.

overall, its a good trade, there isn't much out there, unless you want to pay the entire 2008 seattle school budget for an ace pitcher.

and another thing, the goddamn ticket prices went up again!!!

Posted by SeMe | January 28, 2008 11:12 AM
9

I only go to the games for the beer

Don't forget all the cute boys.

Posted by Mike in MO | January 28, 2008 11:18 AM
10

You pay for tickets and then pay $8 per beer and you don't even like baseball? That's bizarre.

Posted by tomcat98109 | January 28, 2008 11:45 AM
11

George Sherrill's only a fan favorite if you like to watch the M's lose.

Posted by wbrproductions | January 28, 2008 12:16 PM
12

Go to the games for the (vodka) lemonades. Requires a stop at the liquor store and a stop in a stadium bathroom. It's delicious!

I say go for the Bedard trade. Everyone knows that our starting pitching killed us last year. You have a chance to put Bedard at #1 and everyone else improves by bumping down a rotation slot.

Adam Jones? Potentially good. Sherill? You do have to give something to get something. Reports say that they're not going to include Clement, Ballentin, or Morrow, so fucking do the deal already. IT ADDRESSES THE BIGGEST PROBLEM OF LAST SEASON, fellow fans. The M's ain't giving up the farm in this deal.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | January 28, 2008 12:17 PM
13

If Triunfel's in the deal, they are.

Jones is not a prospect; he's the real deal. He saves as much with his glove as he adds with his bat, remember -- which was our glaring weakness last year: defense, not pitching. We now have one outfielder, a tree, and a open roster spot patrolling the outfielder, to go with one of the worst infields in baseball (only Beltre is above average with the glove OR the bat). Jones is going to be an All-Star in a year or two, and we're going to be losing a lot of low-scoring games when Bedard's fly outs start dropping like acorns on the heads of our hopeless fielders.

Posted by Fnarf | January 28, 2008 12:31 PM
14

"Jones is going to be an All-Star in a year"

I dont know about that. He is no Carlos Guillen. You gotta pull the the trigger on this deal.

Posted by SeMe | January 28, 2008 12:43 PM
15

Well, Fnarf, I think the roster will play up to better quality pitching this year for one. For two, I think you need to make an improvement in pitching now to try to take advantage of other guys you already have on your roster - like Ichiro, Beltre, Ibanez. You have to put those guys in a better (uh, more hopeful) situation so that they can show the younger guys how the big boys lead. I think you have to improve the starting pitching to start competing now.

What's the opposite scenario? Throw HoRam back out there and talk forever about how deep the farm teams are...and never bring those guys up to play. In other words: More doing nothing.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | January 28, 2008 12:43 PM
16

"Lefty reliever". . . I can only assume that this means he holds his dick in his left hand as he takes a piss, and I wonder if this is because he is left-handed, or because he's doing something else with his dominant hand.

Posted by violet_dagrinder | January 28, 2008 1:14 PM
17

Jones is going to be an All-Star in a year

Only if Nick Markakis drops dead and he's picked as the Orioles' token rep. Adam Jones is a poor man's Cammy.

Posted by Gomez | January 28, 2008 1:59 PM
18

Our pitching isn't going to get better, Bedard or no Bedard, unless we get some guys who can play defense. LF, RF, 1B, 2B, SS -- we range from worst in the league mediocre at best at every one of those. We're not going anywhere. And Jones is better than you think he is.

Posted by Fnarf | January 28, 2008 2:52 PM
19

Now, allegedly, Orioles GM Andy McPhail is being a bitch about the details, and the deal isn't necessarily assured of going down. There is a chance this deal crashes and burns and Adam Jones is in RF on Opening Day.

Posted by Gomez | January 28, 2008 3:32 PM
20

I agree that Jones is probably the real deal, but Bedard went 13-5 for a SHITTY Orioles team, including 9 straight Quality Starts before going down in September with the oblique injury. He is definitely the real deal (assuming he can make it through an entire season without getting hurt

The other thing is Bedard's current contract is only for one year, so keeping him beyond that will be expensive. Trading our best prospect for one-year's service from a pitcher is a possibility here.

Regardless, it sounds like it's actually happening, as the Mariners have recalled Jones from Venezuela, where his winter team is currently in the middle of the league championship series.

Maybe the Mariners can recall Jay Buhner to play the outfield.

Posted by Mahtli69 | January 28, 2008 4:15 PM
21

Won-lost record tells you zilch about a pitcher.

Posted by Fnarf | January 28, 2008 4:39 PM
22

@21 - I agree. Last season, Bedard had 9 straight starts giving up 3 ER's or less to end the season. Over the entire season, opponents batted .212 against him, and he had a 3.16 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, with 221 Strikeouts. He also allowed just 5 stolen bases, which is remarkable.

The only knock on his stats is last year was a big improvement over the previous two seasons, which could put him in Adrian Beltre territory. But the Mariners wouldn't make that mistake again, would they?

Posted by Mahtli69 | January 28, 2008 5:18 PM
23

Beltre wasn't a mistake. He's earned his contract.

I'm not that keen on those stats either. The only things pitchers have total control over are the Three True Outcomes: walks, strikeouts, and home runs. I'll grant that Bedard is good -- not #1, but good -- at those things, last year. The question is, how much are starting pitchers really worth? Not as much as some people think.

The biggest knock on Bedard for me is his durability. He went down injured last year. If he's hurt for more than a minute of the next two years, he's a bad deal.

But then, it looks like the deal is off. Thank you, Peter Angelos. This is bound to disappoint Dan, as it turns out his last name rhymes with GAY-dar.

Posted by Fnarf | January 28, 2008 7:39 PM
24

Beltre "earned" his Seattle contract with a fluke .334, 48 HR, 121 RBI performance with the Dodgers in 2004. While he's improved each year with the Mariners, he hasn't even come close to that. Then again, he makes about the same per year as Richie Sexson (both $12+ million). Next to Sexson, Beltre looks like Ted Williams.

Starting pitchers are extremely valuable if they can eat innings and save the bullpen. Bedard routinely went 7 in his starts last year, so he's in that category if he stays healthy.

I agree that durability is really the issue. He's not a big guy for a pitcher (6'1, but only 190 lbs), so maybe he overthrows. And, he's a free agent after next season, meaning the M's would almost be better off if he misses next September with another injury! (assuming, of course, they're not in the post-season, which they won't be)

Posted by Mahtli69 | January 28, 2008 9:44 PM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).