Stone on the Bedard trade
Larry Stone, in Sunday’s Times runs down the state of the trade:
All current indications are that, after all the histrionics of the past week, the Mariners and Orioles will really, truly, actually, once and for all, no turning back, no mulligans, no backing out, no passing go, get this trade done. But check back tomorrow, because nothing is for certain in this messed-up deal.
Yeah.
Anyway, the particularly interesting part is that Stone talks about the who of the trade, and it reads like he’s a lot more sure of it than we’ve seen anywhere else:
The trio of young pitchers they’re talking to Baltimore about as part of the Erik Bedard package — 6-foot-9 Kam Mickolio, 6-foot-7 Tony Butler and 6-foot-5 Chris Tillman
then the complete deal:
If the deal turns out to be as speculated this past week — Bedard for Adam Jones, reliever George Sherrill and the aforementioned triplet towers of Tillman, Mickolio and Butler (to rank them by potential rather than height) — then the Orioles will have gone a long way toward replenishing their sagging talent base.
Ugh. What a crappy deal. I know we’ve discussed it to death here before, but every time it’s laid out like that it makes me want to throw up in my M’s cap. And then mail the cap to the team. Enough about that, though.
Here’s a fun game, though — who’s the executive?
One major-league executive said, “It’s a lot to give up, but the Mariners have to make that trade. So do the Orioles. With Felix and Bedard, it gives the Mariners a rotation that can compete with the Angels. And it gives the Orioles the pieces to rebuild a sorry situation.”
Let’s assume it’s not the Mariners or the Orioles. Probably not the Angels. If they’re being honest, it’s not one of the teams that knows how valuable that package is, and the M’s relative position in the league (I mean sure, it could be Beane trying to egg the M’s on, but I don’t see it). Someone who’d give Stone a quote while he’s working on the story for a Sunday edition, so probably someone he knows or who is known to be media-friendly…
Gillick? Kenny Williams?