Well, what we are calling the Bedard trade is producing a few interesting twists and turns.  First, if you are Mariners fan, it isn’t the Bedard trade at all, its the Jones trade, and Ted Miller writes a great column about what the trade can mean to the Mariners and to their fans.   Sounds like the fans aren’t happy with the team, and though I had thought with their 88 wins last season and the oncoming of Felix Hernandez that they were in pretty good shape.  Again, that was me being lazy, because as Miller points out, they have a lot of wholes.  While they might hit well, with guys like Rickie Sexson playing first their defense will be atrocious.  Jose Vidro, though formally a great defender, doesn’t have the range any longer to cover the ground Sexson can’t.  And the wholes in the outfield are too many to even begin to talk about.  Bedard wouldn’t be the answer for them, but he would be an answer.  He’s good enough, and experienced enough that he could help Hernandez shoulder the load that he is expected to carry next year.  He is a step in building towards something but not the  single piece that is going to allow the M’s to beat out the Angels without a lot of luck coming into play. Bill Bavasi, the M’s GM, can make this deal, but he has to be careful how he sells it.  From the Orioles standpoint its a no-brainer.  You are getting as close to a can’t miss center-fielder who could start in the Majors if needed today, and a few other pieces for the future.  It may not be Peter Angelos that needs to be convinced as everyone is reporting, it may be that Bavasi has heard the criticism from the fans and realized he may not get away with this deal.  A GM like Bavasi is ‘playing for his contract’ too, and you can make a bad deal but if you can’t sell it to the fans that bad deal with be the reason you are let go.  From the M’s standpoint though, it puts more pressure on the Twins to make the right deal.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they offer up Santana to the M’s for the same deal.  Its more then they would be getting from the Mets, and Jones would quickly slot into replacing Torii Hunter, which is piece they are looking for.  At first glance,  I thought this was another story about how Peter Angelos was going to screw his fans by not making a deal, but I really think it is something that got leaked for a reason, to test the market, and may never happen because the deal doesn’t benefit both team equally.  Its charged me up for the season.  We will see what happens, but this is a good story, one that will change the landscape significantly for both teams, and send some serious signals to both sets of fans.  Just fascinating.