To Trade the Bedard or to not Trade the Bedard...

There has been a lot of talk on the rumor mill of the possibility of Erik Bedard being traded. Me and fellow blogger Jeff weighed in and gave our opinions regarding the situation.

Kevin: Jeff, should the Seattle Mariners trade Erik Bedard?

Jeff: Yes we should. The mariners are in need of a leader and he is far from it.

Kevin: Couldn't we argue that Ichiro Suzuki is the leader of the team though?

Jeff: I think that he is far from it. We need a vocal leader, Ichiro doesn't deliver.

Kevin: Maybe because his primary language is Japanese? Whatever, that's besides the point...I think JJ Putz would be the next in line.

Jeff: I agree that J.J. would be helpful, but unless he gets back to where he was last year, those are too big of shoes for a closer to fill.

Kevin: Agreed.

Jeff: And Bedard doesn't even need to be a leader, just somebody who is willing to do anything to win.

Kevin: I think his terrific stuff though accounts for doing anything to win..

Jeff: Yeah, but he has kinda been far from terrific at times this year. Also I have respect for those pitchers who get pitched when the see the manager walking out to take them out, Bedard is happy enough doing it himself

Kevin: He has been much better than Miguel Batista, Jarrod Washburn, and Carlos Silva. I think he has the right to do that considering his injury problem. I think he has a right to do what he wants considering this team is going nowhere. Put yourself in his shoes. He is in the worst situation in baseball. He needs to protect himself for himself his trade value and his chances of making significant money. I agree totally that he has under-performed

Jeff: Good point. What I see as the biggest reason as to why need to trade him right now is that the Mariners need to rebuild, and we can get an important piece of the puzzle through a trade for Bedard. Unless the M's turn it around and start winning next year which is about a 30% chance, he probably won't want to resign and we are left with nothing. Its all about his willingness to resign and to do it quickly so this team can start moving forward.

Kevin: I don't think we need to do a complete overhaul. We have some core pieces in place to make this team a contender next year. Keeping Bedard would be. I've said this a lot, think of the first three next year...King Felix-Erik Bedard-Brandon Morrow...might as well ride out Bedard's contract while we have him...

Jeff: But that would require pulling in a dominant hitter of at least Jose Guillen's 30 HR caliber and probably more in order to be a contender. Bedard doesn't appear to be happy here and unless we two or three solid hitters to rework our offense, it will be another dissapointing season that will result in Bedard leaving for a more attractive offer that a team like New York would be more than happy to offer.

Kevin: It's a definite possibility of trading the loose pieces (johjima, ibanez, etc..) for a 30 HR bat.

Jeff: Or at least a much improved defense. I really don't like our chances on getting this done, I guess it all sorta depends on the new GM. But face it, if Bedard continues to pitch over 4.00 for the rest of the year and his injuries keep nagging him, would he be the most effective piece? I would love to grab a pitcher with Adam Jones-like potential that will be around for a few years minimum. There’s gotta be a couple out there.

Kevin: I don't think he's a 4.00era pitcher. He had 3 horrendous starts that kind of inflated his era. Besides that he remains a 1-2run pitcher. Yes, he remains an important piece. Starting pitching is hard to come by. Good, solid starters like Bedard are hard to come by. LEFT-Handed aces are hard to come by. Of course there are prospects out there, but I don't think rebuilding would be the best idea considering Ichiro is starting to decline.

Jeff: So we would need to take a Phoenix Suns approach, trying to utilize Nash before he's gone? I'd love to see us win with Ichiro, but if we couldn't do it with Randy, Griffey, and A-Rod, I don't know what to think. He was an amazing player when he first came here. Now he is a very good player but nowhere where he used to be. I say we enjoy his final years here but start working towards building a team that can contend without Ichiro. 2011 World Champs!!!

Kevin: The Florida Marlins approach? I think we can succeed with the Boston Red Sox approach. Keep the good guys we have and go from there, the chemistry is there, we just need more young players to fire this place up! I think if you weeded out the bad players the clubhouse chemistry would be a lot better. I am all for rebuilding the farm system and getting some young talent but I don't think it's worth giving up Bedard for some prospects.

It's hard to believe we gave up the next Ken Griffey Jr. for him...Adam Jones..But it's even tougher to admit it was a mistake. I was a fan of the trade, and I liked it because we were committed to winning NOW. Would you disagree saying that the core pieces are just not good enough to make us a contender soon?

Jeff: I would sort of disagree. Our bullpen should be back to normal, so thats good. Our rotation should be good/great next year with Hernandez-Bedard-Morrow (hopefully the next Lincecum). But our hitting has next to no core. A lead off hitter in Ichiro, and pretty much nothing else. Beltre and Lopez should stay, but they would be 6 and 7 hitters on most other ballclubs.

So the arguement of whether we should trade or keep Bedard really hinges on what the Mariners can do to build a competitive offense within a year or two.

Kevin: Do you not think we can trade kenji, ibanez, reed, or some of our prospects for a solid bat? I would also add Jeff Clement to that list of bats to keep Ichiro, Beltre, Lopez, Clement would make up the core. I think Yuni would also be awesome trade bait to use. We are 5 hitters away from being a contender. Jesus.

Jeff: I guess thats up to the whoever the new GM is. He is gonna have to very crafty with his trades though because even though Kenji, Ibanez, Reed, and Yuni are solid hitters, we need to get five solid defenders and hitters that would help the clubhouse chemistry. And 94% of Mariner trades result in failure.

Kevin: Well, 94% of Bavasi's trades ended up in failure.

Kevin: Mark Teixeira...

Jeff: We just need the kind of guys that you don't need a huge payroll to be successful with, because obviously we don't know what to do with our money (Sexson, Weaver, Silva). There's probably enough bats on the market to get something started.

Kevin: Conclusion: We should keep Erik Bedard. We traded for him and we should use all our efforts to resign him next year. He could be part of one of the best young rotations in all of baseball. Sure we need a couple bats, but Erik Bedard would only get us prospects. My position is bound to change pending the decisions of the current interim GM and the to-be-hired GM after the season.

Jeff. Conclusion: My position is bound to change just like you said, but thats going to require a lot. Bedard was a great attempt to make what was thought to be an already good team into a World Series contender, but as we have all found out, this is not a good team, and by no stretch of the imagination a World Series contender.

The Mariners need a change of pace in terms of attitude and Bedard's going in the opposite direction. Bottom line: Freddy Garcia is the future of the Mariners.

Kevin: hahahahahhahahhaha, that made my day

James's simple, two sentence answer: If we think that what we could get in return for Bedard is more valuable than one year of Bedard and the two draft picks, then yes, we should trade Bedard. If we think that the draft picks would be worth more/we can reach a good deal to keep Bedard, than no.