Erikkk Being Erikkk
NOW do you get it? :- )
....................
A picture's worth 1,000 words. Hopefully this episode will give everybody a FEEL for Erik Bedard's m.o., and hopefully that means we can all relax and enjoy the artwork.
Dr. D gets plenty of them wrong; in spring training this year Matty whooped me in a debate about whether the bullpen would be effective. It looked like a train wreck in waiting to me, but Wakamatsu has coaxed effectiveness out of every blinkin' one of those pokeys, so I was totally wrong on what would happen in the last three innings of the game.
So hopefully you'll indulge him when he slaps one into the gap. Erik Bedard went to Dr. Yocum -- the state of 21st-century sports medicine -- because Erikkkk wanted to be told he was fine. He got a rosy, glowing report on the shoulder. All the tissues in there are perfectly fine. Bedard wanted to hear that he was right, and he heard it. Do you "GET" this dude now?
.........................
What is kinda weird is that on this one, *everybody* was on pins and needles about the MRI, everybody except Dr. D and Don Wakamatsu. ;- ) "Boy, I just can't stand not knowing whether Erik Bedard's career will be over from one week to the next." Come on. Relax about this guy already.
One day, Bedard might suffer a terrible injury, as Felix might, as Strasburg might, as Roy Halladay might. Until that day comes, the two-three 15-day DL visits per year, that is just Erik being Erik. Okay?
..................
Again, Bedard's M.O. actually is conducive to his staying healthy. I think in 50 years, Bedard's way will be the norm.
.
=== Bill Krueger on Erikkk ===
Came on the radio, before the MRI was back, and talked with Groz and Gas about Bedard's future in Seattle. The contrast was sharp: the two DJ's (both of whom I like fine) hostile to the idea of Bedard staying, and Krueger (the man who has been through the wars) wondering what the deuce they were talking about.
All of this is loosely paraphrased, of course. :- )
.............
KJR: Wow, what do you make of this test and what will happen?
BK: Keep in mind that this is a guy who had offseason surgery -- and answered the bell in April. It was time to take a stop, rest up. There is nothing wrong with that. He'll return and be fine.
...............
KJR: Does he have any trade value whatsoever?
BK: He has stuffed the American League. How good would he be in the National League?
But why would you want to trade him? You might spend the next 10 years trying to develop an Erik Bedard -- and not be able to.
He's what, 30 years old? The talent is so compelling... I personally would figure out a way to keep him.
Anyway, whether WE want to deal him is conversation. We're not on the inside. What the M's want to do, we'll find out.
...............
KJR: But how do they keep him healthy?
BK: He saw Yocum. It's more like a check. He's going to be fine. All the 15-day DL is, it's like a few extra days between starts.
.................
KJR: So you have to decide whether or when to trade him.
BK: If Bedard doesn't WANT to stay, then you ramp him up, and then expose him to the market. Does he bring the kind of comp that beats the pants off the draft picks? :wryly: And then maybe, some day, we'll find another Erik Bedard.
.
=== Dr's Prognosis Dept. ===
It's nice to see Capt Jack and Wok saying exactly the kind of things they'd say if they were wooing Erik Bedard. And Erikkkkk himself speaks glowingly of his relationships with the M's staff. This suggests that they've been doing the kind of things that would position them to talk to him long-term.
Bedard is, it says here, also the kind of guy who will give a considerable home-town discount. He's evidently concerned about playing in terrible clubhouses (2008) vs great clubhouses (2009), and we all fear change. I'll bet you could get him very reasonably.
Now, the thought is out there that Bedard is worth $12M if healthy, and that the "risk premium" Grizzle so aptly named means he's worth maybe $8-9M per, short term.
Actual value for Bedard, however, is $20-23M per year if he's as healthy as Felix (which he isn't). Discounting him to $15-18M per year ... that IS asking him to accept a large risk discount.
The guess, and hope, here is that Bedard will take all this into consideration and accept something like $90 for five. Let's hope. Erik Bedard is what baseball is all about.
Cheers,
Dr D