BALTIMORE — Ordinarily, an April meeting between the Seattle Mariners and the Baltimore Orioles would seem relatively nondescript, void of any true intrigue. After all, it’s not like the two teams have been connected in meaningful way since the 1997 playoffs.
Until now.
It seems like just yesterday when the Mariners and Orioles were involved in one of the most anticipated, drawn-out and overwrought transactions in recent baseball history.
But the February trade of left-handed pitcher Erik Bedard to the Mariners for outfielder Adam Jones, reliever George Sherrill and three prospects has linked the two teams, for this season at least.
Why?
Well, because of the players involved and because in some ways the trade benefited both teams.
Seattle got the top-of-the-rotation starter that general manager Bill Bavasi had craved for so long, while Baltimore got a budding star in Jones, a veteran presence and now a closer in Sherrill and three talented prospects led by pitcher Chris Tillman. With Bedard, the Mariners can look to contend for the playoffs, while Jones and the prospects allow the Orioles rebuild with some hope to contend in the near future.
It seems fitting then that the teams meet so early in the season when the idea of the new players still seems fresh.
Still, it’s easy to forget that the players involved in the trade are more than commodities. They are people with feelings and emotions. They are players who will be special.
Jones was a first-round draft pick by the Mariners. Seattle groomed him from an athletic shortstop into a major league-ready outfielder, the prince of prospects in the organization and a fan favorite.
Whenever the phrase “a good guy in the clubhouse” came up concerning the Mariners, Sherrill’s name seemed to follow. Seattle helped resurrect Sherrill’s fading baseball dream and turned into a reality.
But none of that mattered with a chance to get Bedard — a franchise pitcher Baltimore had groomed to the brink of stardom.
Bedard, who was drafted by the Orioles in 1999, had never played outside of the organization till this season.
“They gave me my chance in baseball,” the pitcher said.
Baltimore gave him his first shot at pitching in the big leagues and he and his baseball career matured at Camden Yards.
“The guys on the team were great,” Bedard said. “That’s what you miss the most when you change teams, or even leave for the offseason.”
Stepping into the opposing clubhouse today at Oriole Park, sitting in the third base visitor’s dugout will be a surreal experience for Bedard. But the idea of standing on the mound and seeing such former teammates as Brian Roberts, Kevin Millar, Aubrey Huff and others in the batters’ box trying to crush one of his fastballs for a home run or slap one of his curveballs for a single will be, well, downright “weird.”
“It’s just like a family,” Bedard said of the dynamics of a big league clubhouse. “You’re there with them every day for 162 games plus spring training. You pretty much know everything about them and have fun with them.”
So does that mean he’ll have an advantage of perhaps knowing how to get the pesky Roberts out or what pitch is best to throw the pull-happy Millar in certain situations.
“They know as much on me as I know on them,” Bedard said. “So it’s not really an advantage.”
Still, there’s a good-natured ease to Bedard, a grin to the usually poker-faced pitcher about returning to Baltimore.
He’s not looking for the reunion to be strange or surreal or bittersweet. He knows he’ll get plenty of handshakes and hugs, good-natured trash talking from Millar during the game, positive and negative comments from Orioles fans, and he’s look forward to all of it; well, except for the probable clamor from local media.
“The media is going to make a big deal about everything,” he said.
But he isn’t about to let a few televisions cameras and microphone, a few too many questions ruin it for him.
“It’s going to be fun,” he said. “I don’t know how else to explain it.”
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