Fantasy MLB: Bedard on the mend
Posted May 20, 2011 5:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Just a few years back, Erik Bedard was a legitimate ace who was in such high demand that the Seattle Mariners practically gave up the farm to the Orioles in order to get the hard-throwing southpaw.
Between 2006 and 2007, Bedard picked up 28 wins compared to just 16 losses. In 2007, he was a dominant hurler with 221 strikeouts in just 182 innings. Furthermore, the Ontario native was in his mid-20s and appeared to have the brightest years ahead of him. In need of a front-of-the-rotation hurler to provide Ichiro Suzuki with a chance at winning, the Mariners willingly sent top prospect Adam Jones and reliever George Sherill to Baltimore in exchange for Bedard.
In nearly two seasons with the Orioles, Sherrill nabbed 51 saves and was later sent to the Dodgers in return for top prospect Josh Bell. Jones, at just 25 years old, is still working on reaching his potential, but has already earned a Gold Glove award and blasted 19 home runs in back-to-back seasons.
While the Orioles have been content with those players, the Mariners are merely hoping to salvage something from the trade this season. Bedard has made just 30 starts in three seasons with the Mariners, and didn’t take the hill all of last season because of shoulder injuries.
At 32 years old, Bedard is no longer a dominant ace, but instead a veteran southpaw trying to extend his career. This season got off to an ugly start when Bedard picked up losses in his first four starts while holding a 7.71 ERA. Armed with an 89.9 MPH fastball, Bedard had lost a great deal of his velocity and was very hittable. The graphic below shows where he surrendered extra-base hits in his first four starts.
Bloomberg Sports
The most notable difference between the first four starts and the past three is that Bedard is no longer getting hurt as much on his fastball. While eight of the 11 extra-base hits were surrendered on fastballs through the first four starts, Bedard has surrended just one extra-base hit on a fastball in the three games since.
The additional velocity on his fastball has certainly had an impact. Bedard has tossed 166 fastballs over the last three games, resulting in a .091 average with 10 Ks. Through the first four games, Bedard threw 222 fastballs resulting in a .273 average with five home runs surrendered.
Though Bedard relies on off-speed pitches for 42 per cent of his deliveries, the Mariner hurler’s bellwether pitch has been the heater. So when you see Bedard take the hill against the Padres on Friday night, feel free to glance at the radar gun. If he’s throwing his fastball under 90 MPH, be prepared for a long night.
