I've been writing about pro football now for about ten years, a time span which has hopefully given me the wisdom to parse public statements from team executives. This education sometimes enables me to differentiate total crapola from the regular crapola.
After ten years of tracking the NFL, I've become somewhat of a connoisseur of crapola. I know the good stuff, and the weak stuff.
Anyhow, my crapola detector has gone off somewhat in the case of Orioles lefthander Erik Bedard, who is reportedly close to being dealt to the Seattle Mariners. Seattle has reportedly put together a package which includes Adam Jones, relief pitcher George Sherrill and some minor leagues.
The Indians are now supposedly involved, according to reports out of the Seattle Times. Which is where things start getting out of control.
The way information spreads across the internet these days might create more momentum for a Bedard-to-Tribe rumor than it really deserves. Here's an example: the "MLB News Blog" (which sounds official, but isn't) quotes "Yahoo! Sports" as saying the Angels and Indians are interested in Bedard.
But Yahoo! Sports, in this case, is just acting like KFFL and others do on the NFL side. They don't actually do any real footwork - they just quote people who do. In this case, the Seattle Times.
So, based on what I'm seeing, there's only one print publication saying that the Indians are involved. Not several, which you might think based on how poorly the actual source of the information is being referenced.
The second aspect of this that sets off the crapola meter is the involvement of Orioles owner/dolt Peter Angelos, whose meddlesome fingerprints have done to that franchise what Art Modell did to the Browns.
Here's a deal that's just about to be done, and Angelos may be hoping to get a little more out of the Mariners, or up the ante a little bit. All of a sudden, the press hears that a couple of other bidders may be involved. That's classic gamesmanship.
A friend of mine who I met through Scout has his ear the ground in Seattle. He tells me that the Mariners-Orioles deal isn't nearly as dead as some may be portraying it right now. If it's near the end, now is the time that mystery suitors often magically appear to force concessions or just get the deal done.
The third aspect of this story that concerns me is how little actual information about the Tribe's involvement is out there. The exact quote in the Seattle Times from Orioles GM Andy MacPhail is "we've had some other clubs chime in as well".
What does "chime in" mean? In this case, it doesn't mean anything substantial.
An Indians rotation which includes Bedard, Sabathia, and Carmona might just be enough to give everyone else in the AL a case of the willies. But based on how this story is being reported, and the type of machinations I've seen over the last decade, I'm not exactly holding my breath.