FanHouse EricBedard

All winter, a Brian Roberts to the Cubs trade has kind of seemed like an inevitability. The Cubs and Orioles have been talking about this deal since before the Mitchell Report and it seemed like only a matter of time before these two crazy kids got together and figured things out. Now that doesn't appear terribly likely as Lou Piniella has this to say in today's Chicago Sun-Times:

''I don't think we're going to do anything, to be honest with you,'' he said when asked about trading for an infielder. ''If we do, it'll be in the outfield. ... It would be a right-handed bat to help out in center field. I would think that's probably a possibility, as opposed to the other things you all have been hearing about.''

That bat is rumored to be Marlon Byrd, who wouldn't help the Cubbies nearly as much as Brian Roberts would. It's worth noting that the Roberts deal reportedly fell apart on a huge 9 player trade that also involved Eric Bedard and that that story was, as near as I can tell, broken on Hire Jim Essian! earlier this week. Perhaps now Mark DeRosa can sleep easily and the Orioles and M's will complete their much rumored Bedard trade.

We know that the Dan Haren trade means that the Diamondbacks are going to have an impressive top of the rotation next year. And we know that it means the A's are pretty set on rebuilding. The remaining question is a big one: what does this trade mean for the Johan Santana derby?

During all of the Santana trade talks this winter, it kind of felt like both the Yankees and Red Sox felt like they could hold out on Santana because the A's were waiting in the wings to deal Haren to whoever lost out on the Santana sweepstakes. Now Haren is off the market (unless the D'Backs are planning something really crazy) and best second option is Erik Bedard, who'd older than Haren with more questions about durability and consistency (though he does have more of a track record against the AL East).

All this adds up to is little cash register noises going off in Twins' GM Bill Smith's head yesterday when the Haren trade went down. Without Haren around, he now may well be able to extract Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury from the Sox or Phillip Hughes and Ian Kennedy from the Yankees. Without Haren out there, whichever of the two picks up Santana won't just be upgrading their pitching staff, they'll be keeping the other team from doing the same.

Previously at FanHouse
D'Backs Get Dan Haren, Trade Jose Valverde
Prepare For a Rebuilding Process, Oakland