If Erik Bedard were basing his travel plans on recent reports, the Orioles? ace would have accumulated thousands of frequent flier miles ? for nothing.
Bedard is still an Oriole, said Andy MacPhail, the team?s president of baseball operations, despite reports claiming he?s been traded to Seattle.
“There?s more of people reacting to immediate things,” MacPhail said. “We?ve had this before where people have been moved, that did not turn out to be accurate.”
The left-handed Bedard, 28, went 13-5 with a 3.16 earned-run average and a team-record 221 strikeouts in 182 innings last season.
The Orioles publicly have denied the teams have come to an agreement, but the Seattle Times reported a deal is on the horizon, as the Mariners? top prospect, outfielder Adam Jones, was called home from his Venezuelan winter team Sunday.
A Mariners spokesman told the Seattle Times Sunday night: “We did ask Adam to come back from Venezuela.”
The Mariners did not specify a reason for the request.
Jones, however, did it for them.
In a comment originally given to a Venezuelan reporter, and posted on the Seattle Times Web site Sunday evening, Jones said he was going to report to Baltimore Monday. He acknowledged himself as “the centerpiece of the deal on the Mariners? side.”
Jones, 22, did not report to Baltimore Monday, but remains the reported centerpiece of a trade, which is also said to include left-handed reliever George Sherrill and at least one mid-to-upper-level minor league prospect.
ESPN.com reported Monday the trade was awaiting approval from Orioles owner Peter Angelos. Angelos and Bedard?s agent, Mark Pieper, did not return phone calls Monday.
The Orioles haven?t declared publicly they are in a rebuilding mode, but MacPhail has made the necessary steps to indicate it by trading star shortstop Miguel Tejada to Houston for five prospects, and listening to offers for many of his other top players.
But in general, MacPhail?s first offseason with the club has been a roller coaster of rumors and working on trades that have not materialized.
“It?s been slow,” MacPhail said. “In a lot of respects, it?s been a slow moving market on a bunch of fronts. Not just trades, but free agents, too.”
