Off-season Moves

Let's start with the story that has been dominating our off-season for the past couple of weeks. The Erik Bedard sweepstakes. I have been absolutely torn over this deal. For those of you who haven't heard, the deal revolves around Baltimore sending us their strikeout king and clearcut ace, and in return we would give up Adam Jones - "the future" as many believe, George Sherill, and a few other young guys. I am going to lay out my pros and cons, not only for you, but also for myself so I can see everything laid out.

Bedard's Pros
-Left Handed
-Strikeout Phenom (10.9 K's per 9 last season)
-Would make great 1-2 punch with Felix - Righty/Lefty (how much fun would it be seeing these guys pitch on back to back nights all season long?)
-Proven to a degree, great numbers (Top 5 in Win Pct, ERA, K's, and Whip) in tough AL East while on a miserable team

Bedard's Cons
-Poor mechanics could lead to injury
-Turns 29 in March (maybe not necessarily a con)

Adam Jones Pros
-Fantastic potential, truly can be a 5 tool star in this league
-Great kid, kind of guy you want in the clubhouse (so I hear)

Adam Jones Cons
-Has yet to prove anything in the bigs (.246 2HR in 65AB)

I am huge on Jones. He will be a very good player in this league. But two things are swaying my decision in favor of completing the deal.

1. I still have nightmares about Jeff Weaver (remember vs KC? 0.1IP, 7H, 6R, 6ER, 1BB, Current ERA 18.26, yeah that was fun) and Horacio Ramirez at the end of the rotation. Now with Bedard and Silva, I'm actually excited about how our rotation could look top to bottom.
2. The experience factor. I just don't know how Jones is going to turn out. Hitting was not a problem of ours last year (scoring runs perhaps was). The bullpen was fantastic for the most part. Fielding was phenomenal. The only key truly missing was our rotation. And Bedard gives us a proven #2 guy who has shown flashes of flat out dominance.

So I am officially for this deal, although we will all definitely be sad to see Jones go.

Now it looks like it's up to Peter Angelos now, and to be honest, I don't like how these negotiations are panning out. It looked like a done deal on Monday, now he's apparently angry about how word leaked out so quickly. I don't know. It just seems like if there weren't any big problems, this would have already been finished. Even Jones and Sherill were talking about getting their physicals out of the way.


Anyway, we will keep an eye on this and I will continue to hope for the trade to go through. And if I ever start to doubt that position, I just have to remember how much pain and anguish Jeff Weaver brought into my life. God, how often did we see that pose last year.