During the final week of the 2008 calendar year, rumors flew around the Internet that left-hander Erik Bedard is a candidate to be traded to the New York Yankees.
It's not that a trade couldn't happen -- the top rumor had the Yankees sending often injured outfielder Hideki Matsui -- but that's not the direction that Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik seems to be headed. Zduriencik has had several conversations with Bedard, who has professed his good health and good spirits looking ahead to 2009 after shoulder surgery ended his 2008 season.
Just as significantly, the reports Zduriencik is getting from the Seattle medical staff say that Bedard, who is already throwing in preparation for a full spring training, should be completely healthy this season after he was limited to 15 starts and an average of a little more than five innings per start last year.
"He will be in our rotation," Zduriencik said in mid-December. "We need him to be the Erik Bedard we traded for."
The Mariners sent five players, including outfielder Adam Jones and left-hander George Sherrill, to Baltimore to land Bedard.
"He's not going to be traded," Zduriencik said. "Trades are based on value, and after last year he doesn't have the (same) value."
That was before Matsui's name surfaced. It's not at all clear that Matsui, who has power the Mariners need and a huge salary the club doesn't need, would be deemed similar value.
