What About The Rest of Us?

You just can't pitch well without bling

If you're wondering why we're not doing the usual "oh thank the lord that Johan Santana is out of the AL Central" article, it's because you've already read it, and we don't really like to re-hash an old story that was well done. Instead, let's look at the real impact: Bedard is going to be on the trading block a little longer.

I like to think of Bedard as the second-best pitcher in baseball. His K/BB ratio is filthy, he's young, and his stats have improved every year. With the Santana deal setting a sort of "benchmark" for other teams to work with, Peter Angelos knows a ballpark figure for what he can demand from other ballclubs. It's no longer guesswork, which gives teams that were sitting on the sidelines time to jump in. It also doesn't hurt that Angelos is a spazz who will try and change a deal up to the last minute. Thank God he's not in my fantasy league.

Everyone knows that Bedard is a likely candidate to go to the Marlins over the Cubs. The Marlins have the "super-prospect" that the Orioles are looking for (Adam Jones), along with a young core of players that can help the Orioles rebuild after they deal Roberts. However, with everyone expecting Bedard to get a comparable trade offer to Santana (the Twins got ripped), teams with a lot of AAA talent to blow are coming to the forefront.

Enter the White Sox.

I know, call me crazy, but Kenny Williams has been alluding to Bedard for quite some time. We no longer have any one amazing prospect, but we DO have a lot of AAA/AAAA players that we need to move. A solid core of Danks, Anderson, Floyd and a player to be named later (Nick Masset?) could probably net us Bedard if Kenny has already proposed it. I'm not going to cream myself over the potential rotation of Bedard, Buerhle, Vazquez, Contreras, ____ until it's a reality, but I can certainly see the Sox using the Santana trade for a move.

For the Cubs, they don't have enough players to get what they want (Bedard and Roberts), but with the market on Roberts closing quickly, the Cubs may find themselves getting a steal (think Hill and a player to be named later)...or a ROIDED OUT FREAK. Nah, I think Roberts is clean -- he's a good (injury prone) player, but if he IS on roids, he should fit right in.