Finally...

Now that Baltimore has finally pulled off the Erik Bedard trade I can comment on it.

Orioles get OF Adam Jones, and Pitchers George Sherill, Chris Tillman, Kam Mickolio and Tony Butler for Bedard.

Despite my hesitation all this time about trading away such a star as Bedard, they've received some important pieces in return.

Adam Jones is a great young player poised to breakout. He's got more power than most center fielders, with 25 hr's at Tacoma (AAA) last year. He's ready to take over in center field at the major league level and could be one of our cornerstones to the future.

George Sherrill is the only other player that is major league ready. He did well for Seattle on occasion but they didn't use him the way some people wanted . He will probably take over Jamie Walker's Lefty Specialist role if Walker is made the closer. I've been using MLB.com's Depth Chart Tool as I go along, they are listing Danys Baez (0-6, 6.44 ERA in 50 IP last year) as the closer, but I don't think Dave Trembly is that stupid.

Chris Tillman is a flamethrower with decent K/rates (9.2 K/9 in A last 2 years), He's young (20) and has been cited a few times for lack of focus.

Kam Mikolio is closer to the the majors but is much harder to get a clear picture of. He was known in college as a Daniel Cabrera-type: Tall (6'9") and throws hard but you never know where the pitch is going. He's seemed to make progress based on his moving up to Tacoma (AAA) in only two years.

Tony Butler is another tall lefty (6'7") with a little more of a control problem (~5 BB/9 IP) He's definitely a great prospect but he's only 20 so its going to be awhile before he'll be of any help. He's well liked by some people

Bedard is a legitimate Ace and Seattle has done a good job obtaining him. They've given up some serious prospects for him but Baltimore did not gain as much as looks considering they already have a great set of pitching in the minors. Baltimore should have tried to obtain at least one more position player. They did send Chris Roberson to the minors because of Adam Jones, so it does help there.