Bedard contract extension?

[Mackus]

Why would they make the offer if they were considering trading him? He might accept.

Most here take the attitude that they trade him only if he rejects a reasonable offer. But the FO may not feel that way. In fact, every day that goes by without an offer makes me think that they really are contemplating a trade.

(We don't know for sure that there hasn't been an offer, but probably not).

They can explore trades and try to extend him at the same time. They want him to accept an extension, that wouldn't be a bad thing. Offer him a solid extension, and if he turns it down, pull the trigger on one of the trades you've been exploring.

[B-more]

They can explore trades and try to extend him at the same time. They want him to accept an extension, that wouldn't be a bad thing. Offer him a solid extension, and if he turns it down, pull the trigger on one of the trades you've been exploring.

A simple answer could be that MacPhail is serious about trading him and wants to gauge the interest in Bedard at the GM meetings and what types of deals are possibly out there. Once the GM meetings are done, he can offer an extension.

If the possible trade offers are enticing, MacPhail probably wont go as high in any extension offer because he'll see greater value in a trade. With the history of how we supposedly turned Bedard off with our offer last offseason, MacPhail probably wants to make sure any first offer is decent, but is not too high as a starting offer with the knowledge that it'll probbaly increase.

[Scribo]

They can explore trades and try to extend him at the same time. They want him to accept an extension, that wouldn't be a bad thing. Offer him a solid extension, and if he turns it down, pull the trigger on one of the trades you've been exploring.

Yeah, but that gets tricky. If the contract is too generous, it lessens his trade value. And it may have to be real generous to interest him.

If he turns down a good offer, that means he is definitely gone. That puts a different tone on his last two years here and increases the pressure to move him. Then the Orioles are dealing from a position of necessity rather than choice, which somewhat undermines their bargaining position in a trade.

Furthermore, having him turn down a reasonable offer lessens his trade value as well, because it could scare people off. If he is going to insist on Zito money (and he might) I would rather have that fact established when he is under contract to somebody else, not while he belongs to the O's.

[CEB]

Regardless of what the offer is, why haven't we made an offer yet?

Why? Neither party has incentive to move quickly. As I posted last week...

Eric Bedard will want to see what the free agency market yields for this year's crop of free agents before he signs. And the O's front office should want to get the rest of its house in order to free-up payroll and convince him that the club can contend in the not too distant future.

For those reasons, I suspect that the Bedard situation will not be resolved quickly, unless he indicates that he is not interested in signing under any circumstances... which would be uncharacteristic. But even then, if the front office is intent on trading him, his apparent value will be higher after one or two free agents sign.

[Mackus]

Yeah, but that gets tricky. If the contract is too generous, it lessens his trade value. And it may have to be real generous to interest him.

If he turns down a good offer, that means he is definitely gone. That puts a different tone on his last two years here and increases the pressure to move him. Then the Orioles are dealing from a position of necessity rather than choice, which somewhat undermines their bargaining position in a trade.

Furthermore, having him turn down a reasonable offer lessens his trade value as well, because it could scare people off. If he is going to insist on Zito money (and he might) I would rather have that fact established when he is under contract to somebody else, not while he belongs to the O's.

You don't have to make a contract offer public, to either your own fans or other GMs.

[Mackus]

Regardless of what the offer is, why haven't we made an offer yet? What are we waiting for?

There is no incentive for the Orioles to publicize a contract offer to Bedard unless it is accepted. Us not hearing about a contract offer is a good thing, not a bad thing.