M's, Bedard agree to 1-year deal

[O's84]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3846940

Some info from the article:

Bedard will be guaranteed $7.75 million. He could bump that to $8.35 million by pitching at least 205 innings. Bedard's incentives break down this way:

He would earn an additional $75,000 by reaching 150 innings, an additional $100,000 for reaching 165 innings, another $150,000 for reaching 180 innings, another $125,000 for reaching 195 innings and an additional $150,000 for making it to 205 innings.

[isestrex]

I sincerely hope he does well... though I won't lie that it was a bit fulfilling to watch him live out the M's worst fears. We got a TON for Bedard and it was the right decision as he's a huge injury risk.

That being said, IMO he's still one of the most entertaining pitchers to watch and it would be nice to see him have a bounce back year.

(Certainly for fantasy reasons as I have him as a big sleeper this year )

[O's are Legends]

Shocked he got that much.

[sangar]

I sincerely hope he does well... though I won't lie that it was a bit fulfilling to watch him live out the M's worst fears. We got a TON for Bedard and it was the right decision as he's a huge injury risk.

That being said, IMO he's still one of the most entertaining pitchers to watch and it would be nice to see him have a bounce back year.

(Certainly for fantasy reasons as I have him as a big sleeper this year )

I've read similar statements from various posters here and it is beyond me to understand how it could be "fulfilling" to watch a man become injured and fail. Perhaps you can give me some perspective that wouldn't make you sound petty and mean.

[Mackus]

Shocked he got that much.

Then you don't really understand how the arbitration process work.

He wasn't going to get a decrease. $7.75M is only a $750k increase from last year. Very reasonable for a guy who pitched very well when he was healthy, but missed most of the year. I'm actually surprised he didn't get more, he still managed to pitch 81 innings at a 3.67 ERA, its not like he missed the entire season.

[Spoonless]

I've read similar statements from various posters here and it is beyond me to understand how it could be "fulfilling" to watch a man become injured and fail. Perhaps you can give me some perspective that wouldn't make you sound petty and mean.

It's not so much about him actually getting injured. It's more about his injury validating that we traded him at the right time, at his peak value. Don't get me wrong, even if he had pitched well last season it would still have been the right move to trade him. It's just that his injury makes it look like an absolute steal from the O's perspective. It's not very often that the Orioles pulls one over on another organization, and that's what some people are feeling "fulfilled" by.

I don't personally get any kind of enjoyment out of seeing Bedard fail, but I can understand where it comes from.

[O's are Legends]

Then you don't really understand how the arbitration process work.

He wasn't going to get a decrease. $7.75M is only a $750k increase from last year. Very reasonable for a guy who pitched very well when he was healthy, but missed most of the year. I'm actually surprised he didn't get more, he still managed to pitch 81 innings at a 3.67 ERA, its not like he missed the entire season.

I didn't, thanks for clearing that up. I guess this year it's better to be an arbitration eligible pitcher like Bedard than a free agent like Sheets. Somewhere Varitek is asking the Red Sox front office if he can his arbitration deal back.

[Mackus]

Somewhere Varitek is asking the Red Sox front office if he can his arbitration deal back.

You nailed it here. I think he would love to settle for a 1/$10M deal from the Sox at this point.

Arbitration for FAs and arbitration for guys with less than 6 years service time is slightly different, though. The Red Sox could have offered him more than a 20% decrease (the max decrease year-to-year in under-6 guys), and probably have won the case, especially after the way this offseason has gone.

[Migrant Redbird]

I didn't' date=' thanks for clearing that up. I guess this year it's better to be an arbitration eligible pitcher like Bedard than a free agent like Sheets.[/quote']

And to have a team which wasn't willing to non-tender him, thereby conceding that they got nothing from that trade.

Pretty high hurdle on the incentives, without much of a reward. I'll be very surprised if Bedard manages 200 innings in 2009, coming off an injury like that.