Seattle reporter dripping with hatred for Ex-Gm and Bedard.

[Gurgi]

http://www.examiner.com/x-216-Seattle-Sports-Examiner~topic26181-Sign-Bedard-then-trade-him

All five either are in the big leagues or will be. What did we get in return? A guy with a 6-4 record and 3.67 ERA in 15 games, fractured by a bunch of injuries, ailments and whining. As Manager Dick Williams once said of Mark Langston, "he doesn't have gut one.'' He's not a leader. He's not a gamer. He's a self-centered malcontent.

He had surgery a couple weeks ago to take out a cyst (or as one wag said 'a cyst-ee) in his left arm. That's actually real good news.

If he had something more serious, like labrum or rotator cuff damage, he would have been out most of the the 2009 season. Then the Mariners likely would have had no choice but to non-tender him. That means they would have lost him, all for nothing.

Now, if I ran the club, I'd try to convince Bedard to sign a long-term deal, three or four years. That gives him value to any other club. Then as soon as he shows he's back to form next season, trade his butt as far from Seattle as possible. If there was a team in Kathmandu it wouldn't be far enough.

Thanks Bill. You left Bedard and your legacy behind. Everyone else is gone.

[Frobby]

This guy really does hate Bedard. I was looking through his columns and he's been uniformly negative.

[byrdz]

Sounds like someone needs a nap.

[Greg Pappas]

http://www.examiner.com/x-216-Seattle-Sports-Examiner~topic26181-Sign-Bedard-then-trade-him

All five either are in the big leagues or will be. What did we get in return? A guy with a 6-4 record and 3.67 ERA in 15 games, fractured by a bunch of injuries, ailments and whining. As Manager Dick Williams once said of Mark Langston, "he doesn't have gut one.'' He's not a leader. He's not a gamer. He's a self-centered malcontent.

He had surgery a couple weeks ago to take out a cyst (or as one wag said 'a cyst-ee) in his left arm. That's actually real good news.

If he had something more serious, like labrum or rotator cuff damage, he would have been out most of the the 2009 season. Then the Mariners likely would have had no choice but to non-tender him. That means they would have lost him, all for nothing.

Now, if I ran the club, I'd try to convince Bedard to sign a long-term deal, three or four years. That gives him value to any other club. Then as soon as he shows he's back to form next season, trade his butt as far from Seattle as possible. If there was a team in Kathmandu it wouldn't be far enough.

Thanks Bill. You left Bedard and your legacy behind. Everyone else is gone.

I personally find these articles a bit ironic...

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20080517&content_id=2720753&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080208&content_id=2368934&vkey=hotstove2007&fext=.jsp&partnered=rss_mlb

He didn't seem to hate the deal until their season went in the gutter and Bedard was out injured. Hinsight is 20/20...

[TyCobb]

http://www.examiner.com/x-216-Seattle-Sports-Examiner~topic26181-Sign-Bedard-then-trade-him

All five either are in the big leagues or will be. What did we get in return? A guy with a 6-4 record and 3.67 ERA in 15 games, fractured by a bunch of injuries, ailments and whining. As Manager Dick Williams once said of Mark Langston, "he doesn't have gut one.'' He's not a leader. He's not a gamer. He's a self-centered malcontent.

He had surgery a couple weeks ago to take out a cyst (or as one wag said 'a cyst-ee) in his left arm. That's actually real good news.

If he had something more serious, like labrum or rotator cuff damage, he would have been out most of the the 2009 season. Then the Mariners likely would have had no choice but to non-tender him. That means they would have lost him, all for nothing.

Now, if I ran the club, I'd try to convince Bedard to sign a long-term deal, three or four years. That gives him value to any other club. Then as soon as he shows he's back to form next season, trade his butt as far from Seattle as possible. If there was a team in Kathmandu it wouldn't be far enough.

Thanks Bill. You left Bedard and your legacy behind. Everyone else is gone.

I think Bedard hates Seattle as much as they hate him. No way he signs any deal to that club.

[orifan]

This guy really does hate Bedard. I was looking through his columns and he's been uniformly negative.

He really is negative, especially in this one. Good to see someone pointed out how wrong he was in the comments section....which is the best part of his columns. Do you guys think he'd ennjoy reading this one,

But the major highlight of the evening was Erik Bedard. First of all, he spent a good portion of the game chatting with Jeff Clement and a few others. More specifically, after Adam Jones singled in his second trip to the plate in the 5th inning meltdown which made the score 9-0 there was a prolonged moment of relative silence and I, for whatever reason, yelled out "Hey Erik, that's what we traded for you!" Not expecting to get any reaction from the man who according to local media hates all living things.

Erik, in turn, responded by shaking a fist in mock anger at me and smiling. Red and Graham shouted apologies on my behalf to no avail until about 10 minutes later during another moment of quiet when I yelled my own apology to Erik and a profusion of love for his talents which garnered another smile and acknowledgment from Erik.

With all apparently forgiven, Bedard would return an inning or so later this time sipping out of a Starbucks-looking cup. Red inquired as to the nature of the drink only to get several head shakes from Erik. We never did find out what it was he was drinking.

Later still, as the Mariners tossed a warm up ball back toward the dugout, Erik barehanded it on a hop with his left hand and tossed it into the dugout. This did not please us and Red promptly warned Erik not to use his left hand for such matters. Bedard then playfully acted like he had a dead left arm and then went back to joking with Jeff Clement, who I would like to think acknowledged our calls of love with his 9th inning single.

I already liked Erik Bedard the pitcher. And I had strong clues that based on his reactions to the typical asinine questions posed by media that I would like Erik Bedard the person. Last night further reinforced that inkling. Erik Bedard is awesome. Get well soon and fully.

[twoBshorty]

Slightly off-topic, but does ANYBODY want to be the Mariners GM? I'm fascinated by baseball front offices so I tend to follow GM searches pretty closely regardless of team, and the external candidate pool seems to be shrinking by the hour.

They've gotten Tony LaCava, Peter Woodfork, and Kim Ng to interview.

Rick Hahn was denied permission by the White Sox to interview.

Chris Antonetti apparently won't interview for anything because he's gearing for an internal promotion when Mark Shapiro moves further upstairs.

David Forst said basically the same thing: Billy Beane is going to split his attention with soccer and he should be moving up into the GM chair soon.

Then I just read that the Mariners asked Jed Hoyer and he said no. Unlike Hahn, the Red Sox didn't deny him permission. Unlike Antonetti and Forst, he has basically no hope of internal advancement for the forseeable future, as Epstein just re-upped. So apparently, he just doesn't want to be anywhere near that team. Not even a preliminary interview? He could have gotten a free trip to Seattle out of it at the very least and he didn't even want that? That's got to be disheartening for the Mariners.

Who's up next?

[Mackus]

This guy really does hate Bedard. I was looking through his columns and he's been uniformly negative.

If all you knew about Bedard was what he's done since becoming a Mariner, I don't see how you could do anything but hate him.

[wickedwitch]

If all you knew about Bedard was what he's done since becoming a Mariner, I don't see how you could do anything but hate him.

Could you explain this more?

[Frobby]

http://www.examiner.com/x-216-Seattle-Sports-Examiner~y2008m8d27-Hey-Erik-pay-attention-to-Shawne-Merriman?comments=true#comments

Ironic that he's bashing Erik for not playing through pain, and now Merriman lasted 1 game and risked a potentially career ending injury to play in what ended up as one game.

Yeah, but he's a real man!