Bedard will be better than most anybody else we could put in his spot, better ERA, more strikeouts. But it’s a matter of him not falling apart before 100 IP.

We have Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman, who protect pitchers from hurting themse—- oh shit… this isn’t good.

Well, I’ll enjoy Bedard for the 85 IP he pitches here.

where a player didn’t have an injury history, to having chronic problems, back to not having problems?

Either way I say fuck it, why not if it is only a 1 year contract with incentives and an option what does it really hurt?

: Tooooooools! Once a player displays a tool, he owns that tool. Bedard is a legitimate ace!

and this one

and the Royals actually start strong and sustain it. It’s the AL [blanking] Central.

and this one because this was my initial reaction upon hearing this rumor

Stridently Sour Response: So for weeks the Royals have said they need to shed payroll, that they need to get young, that they need us to trust the process. Instead, it looks like that once again, Dayton can’t contain himself. Once again, we’re buying a player’s past performance. Eight Bedard starts (along with 400 status-update stories) with the Royals is a waste of everyone’s time. It’s better to use those starts to see what the Royals have with the Bannister-Hochevar-Tejeda-Davies gaggle. It’s complicated enough, and we don’t need to throw another body into the mix. Let’s see what the money ends up being. The years too. Dayton’s been absolutely brutal on the FA market. Be afraid of this rumor, because it signals another silly season from Dayton Moore.

I just don’t see it happening for a couple of reasons.
A) Trey has shown he wants tough pitchers and he’ll make them tough whether their shoulder likes it or not. Why would a pitcher that has battled injuries the last two years sign on for that?

B) It’s only a good move if it is a cheap contract with incentives with the incentives only kicking in if Bedard performs well. How many teams will be offering that contract? 20? 30?

if the money is right, even on a 1 year deal. i think davies may be gone and i would put hochevar in middle relief to get his confidence back, for at least half a season a la Greinke…our rotation is a huge ? right now, with Meche and Bannister coming back from injuries. Our rotation currently with Davies gone and Hooch in the bullpen:

Greinke
Meche (?)
Bannister (?, even if healthy who knows what we get from him)
Tejeda, maybe?
???

Somebody has to pitch, and just because he is focusing on 0-3 players doesn’t mean the entire team should be a shithole.

Having some good players and good pitching might actually help the younger players develop at a more normal pace and gain some confidence without the pressure to be “the man”. It also fills a gap until one of our studs (Crow, Montgomery, Melville) is ready to produce at the major-league level.

Assuming that payroll will be around the same as last year, this signing still gives us the flexibility to spend a little bit to get an outfield bat, and/or maybe eat some of Guillen’s salary to pick up someone via trade.

The bottom line for me, the thinking is sound-get value wherever you can get it.

There was a Bleacher Report story that of a signing that is pretty clearly bogus.

Then there is another story saying the Royals are extremely interested – but without making quoting or attributing anything to anyone. IOW – exactly the kinds of rumors that national “reporters” do by the dozens this time of year, and historically most of which have no basis in fact.

I suppose it’s nice to have rumors, but this has just as much substance behind it as does every story linking John Lackey to half of the clubs in MLB.

Now – I’m sure that there has been contact between the Royals and Bedard’s agent – just because every team that has a need will, at the minimum, have contact with every agent for a player who might fill that need. Often when a writer needs a few lines such contacts get written up as something such as “strong interest”, “serious discussions”, or similar.

However, to the best of my knowledge there’s nothing involving the Royals and Bedard that have is anywhere close to vapor, let alone substance.

…attempted a play on words with RR’s “Joyous Respone” scenario.

He wrote: “Once a player displays a tool, he owns that tool.”

As such, shouldn’t we also express, in the “Stridently Sour Response” scenario, the following:

“Once a player is a tool, he is always a tool.”

For is it not true that Bedard has that reputation? And are we not attempting a Larry Johson-esque addition-by-subtraction scenario with one tool already, Jose Guillen?

:) – TL

Really, if we’re talking about 3 million dollars—shoot, even if we’re talking about 4-5 million—what’s not to like? The thing I hate about typical Royals acquisitions is their lack of upside. Catching lightning in a bottle, Bedard has Cy Young upside. Look at his line last year. In a non-Greinke-goes-cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs year, extrapolating those numbers over a full season with the requisite wins, that’s a Cy Young line. Sure, he had labrum surgery which is a death knell for some, but Meche had the same surgery and was a better pitcher after his rebound. I hear bloggers and reporters arguing that the Yankees or Angels or Red Sox or Mets or Dodgers or Cardinals should sign Bedard to a one year contract. If the Royals were to scoop him, wouldn’t that be sort of shocking? The guy lives in the strike zone and his stuff isn’t all that hittable. In a pipe dream, he makes a nasty number two…

Look, as bad as our offense was last year, our rotation has a lot of problems. Hochevar looks to me like an eighth inning guy (which wouldn’t be such a terrible thing). Banny, god love him, is one game at a time—life is a box of chocolates, never know what yer gonna get. Who knows what happens to Meche next year. Davies? Tejeda? In my eyes, Greinke is our only non-question mark in the rotation. How many teams have ONE non-question mark. If you think about it, our rotation is actually a bigger priority than our lineup, which is horrifying. So you look at our options to fix that problem. No one in his (or her—shout out to Kim Ng) right mind is going to trade any quality starting pitching. You look at the free agent market. Lackey? Forget it (obviously). Doug Davis? For some reason, good teams in big markets fall all over themselves to sing guys like Davis. Randy Wolf ain’t coming to KC. Ditto Ben Sheets (who is just like Bedard in my mind). And I’d have thought the same about Bedard. But lo and behold, Bedard might come here? On a one-year contract? Fine with me. Fiiiine with me. I don’t know what alternatives to fix the rotation the anti-Bedards are contemplating, but I’m all ears.

I get irrationally hopeful in the offseason. Apologies.

nearly half of bedard’s starts as a Mariner he made while injured, wouldn’t tell M’s about it

He won’t play most of next season and when he does play he’s not likely to be 100%. For 2011, he’s not worth much guaranteed. I think if a team pays him $3M guaranteed, they’re giving it away.

“Wow, the transition from “The Process” into “The Plan” was so gradual that no one even noticed! Change “Juan Gonzales” to “Erik Bedard” and they’re pretty much the same".

My more measured response is somewhere between the “Mostly Measured Response” and “Slightly Sour Response”. I’m glad Dayton’s trying to win without sacrificing the future too much, but a one year deal for Bedard? In a year that his other moves seem to indicate that we’re playing for 2011?

This wouldn’t be a move to win the division in 2010 — it would be a Dotel-esque move: Grab a rehab project, get some minor useful performance out of him, and trade him at the deadline for a prospect. Basically buying a prospect for 3+ million. For the quality we’d likely get in return for a 1/2 season rental of an injured player, there’s not a huge benefit here.