Out of Jones/Bedard Titles

posted by Jon

I'm getting a little tired of the subject, especially since no puzzle pieces seem to lock together. Here are a couple odds and ends from today, but take everything with a large grain of salt at this point.

I already wrote about the Adam Jones degenerated hip rumor in my last post, but like everyone else knew next to no details at the time. Looks like the Stan Charles of Press Box is the one who brought it up. Press Box is a Baltimore sports site. They say nothing about the injury, and without hearing or reading an exact quote it's hard to tell what is going on.

MLB Rumors had this to say a couple hours ago:

The trade for Erik Bedard is not official, and probably won't be until the end of the week. It appears the Orioles brought Jones into Baltimore to check out his hip, and assuming that goes well, Bedard should be in Seattle by Monday. What happened earlier this week was probably just miscommunication by Jones and the reporters in Venezuela. Still, it seems like a deal will get done. Yes Orioles owner and "co-GM" Peter Angelos has to sign off on the trade but I think the Orioles realize that if they do not make a trade soon, the offers will only get worse. By trading Bedard, they clear up money to make a splash in the upcoming off seasons that feature better talent.

I can't tell if those first couple sentences are new information, or if Eli just fell behind in the chaos of these rumors. Either way, once reliable MLB Rumors has been questionable at best lately. Hopefully they can turn it around, as they were formerly one of my favorite resources.

More news you are bound to love; the Baltimore Sun has a report that the Mariners are not the only team in on Bedard at this point. Common speculation seems to be that this is just a ploy to drive up the price, but who really knows at this point.

Patrick and I have a bit of a running bet whether or not the Yankees and Sox will become players for Bedard by the end of this. I still don't think the O's would deal within the division. I heard somewhere that they almost had a deal in place with the Blue Jays earlier this Winter and Angelos nixed it. Anyone else hear that?

"We continue to talk [to the Mariners]," MacPhail was quoted today. "We've had some other clubs chime in as well."

That's all I've got today. Anyone else ready for something concrete?

Also, anyone else hoping that the Orioles will learn from the Minnesota Twins' mistake? From the Baltimore side of things, they need to trade Bedard before the offers get worse. I suppose there is always next offseason, though.