Bedard, Cabrera arbitration bound?

The O’s and pitchers Erik Bedard and Daniel Cabrera are a bit off in the figures they’re thinking for this season.

The Orioles have offered Bedard 6 million and Bedard wants 8 million. There’s a slight gap there.

The O’s have offered the frustratingly ‘talented’ Cabrera 2.6 million, Cabrera has his eyes set on 3.3 million.

Let’s start with Bedard. This shouldn’t be an issue. This is the pitcher who you’re looking to trade, so pay him. Some other team is going to paying him that money anyway. I probably shouldn’t say that. He’s supposedly supposed to be traded a few times already this offseason. The way things are going, he might retire an Oriole (that’s not a bad thing, mind you). But who am I kidding, he’ll be gone by the trading deadline at the latest. Bedard’s a good pitcher and he should be paid like one. Look at what Gil Meche and Jason Marquis are getting paid. Bedard’s better than them and he should get paid at least close to what these guys are getting.

Which brings up to Cabrera. Everytime I see his name I want bang my head against wall. Everytime I hear about his limitless untapped potential (if only he could harness it), I want to eat broken glass. For a baseball team, the difference between 2.6 and 3.3 isn’t much. But I think the O’s need to fight this one. If out of nothing else, SPITE. What did Cabrera do last season? He went 9-18 and had 5.55 ERA. Personally, I don’t think that merits a raise. If I stink at my job and I expected a hefty raise, I don’t get it. If I stink at my job, I’m not going to have it for long. But this is the sports world, not the real world. At least he’s an affordable bad pitcher (with a huge upside….arrgh!). Vicente Padilla got paid 9 million to be bad last season by the Rangers. Cabrera looks like a bargain.