Early this month, Baltimore Orioles baseball operations president Andy MacPhail said he would keep ace pitcher Erik Bedard if no team met his trade price by the end of January.
The Seattle Mariners, considered to have the most interest in Bedard, appear to have responded without alarm. The Mariners have their offer on the table and apparently haven’t altered it significantly in order to meet MacPhail’s needs or his timeline. Adam Jones, projected to be the Mariners’ starting right fielder, remains the key trade chip, and the M’s seem perfectly willing to ship him away in return for a starter they believe can be their ace. So far, the Mariners have resisted including pitcher Brandon Morrow and catcher Jeff Clement in such a deal and, it seems from here, they’re reluctant to clean out the best of their farm system for one pitcher.
MacPhail is known as a person who establishes a price for a player and sticks to it. As for his timeline, that’s apparently a lot more fluid. MacPhail told the Baltimore Sun today that a trade could be made up to the beginning of spring training.
“I’ve been telling everybody by the end of the month,” he told The Sun. “But it’s not necessarily a calendar issue. There is no magic date between Jan. 22 and Feb. 2. The date that probably matters more is Feb. 13.”
That’s the reporting date for both the Orioles’ and Mariners’ pitchers and catchers to report.
It’s no secret that the Mariners would love to add Bedard to their rotation, and that Jones is sure to go because of the Orioles’ dire need for a center fielder. But, so far, the Orioles’ high price is too high.
Whether the three weeks between now and Feb. 13 change both the Orioles’ or the Mariners’ thinking, we’ll see.
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