Jones for Bedard deal all but completed

The AP reports:

The Seattle Mariners have asked top prospect Adam Jones to leave his Venezuelan Winter League team and return to the U.S., amid reports he’s headed to Baltimore as part of a trade for pitcher Erik Bedard.

Mariners spokesman Tim Hevly confirmed Sunday night the team had requested the return of Jones, who was expected to be one of Seattle’s starting outfielders when the season begins.

“We did ask Adam to come back from Venezuela,” Hevly said, declining to give a reason for the request.

That confirmation followed Sunday’s Seattle Times report that Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi was making Jones the centerpiece of a deal for Bedard. The Times, citing comments obtained from a Venezuelan newspaper, reported Jones said he’d discussed the deal with Bavasi and was going to Baltimore on Monday for a physical.

Last week, Bavasi said his team, a surprise contender last summer until a weak starting rotation finally collapsed in September, expects to have a newly acquired opening-day starter on March 31 against Texas.

“We are at the point now where we have to try to make these moves to get that top-of-the-rotation guy, to slot the rest of the rotation,” Bavasi said Thursday. “We feel we have to make one more move.”

The 28-year-old Bedard went 13-5 last season with a 3.16 ERA and 221 strikeouts, third in the AL. He’s currently scheduled for an arbitration hearing next month, with the left-hander asking for $8 million per season and Baltimore countering at $6 million.

Jones, who will turn 23 this summer, hit .246 in 41 games last year.

But this is only half the story, which the Seattle Times has on its blog, with reports from Venezuela as well as straight from Adam Jones:

Jones did not mince words when he spoke to a reporter from Diario Panorama in Venezuela today. We have a relationship with the reporter and paper and they have graciously supplied us with quotes from the interview with Jones.

“I received a call from Seattle saying that is no more playing for me and I can’t do anything about that,” Jones said. “I leave tomorrow morning…It sucks. I want to play. This is Game 4 of the finals and I really want to be there for my team, but it’s something that all the guys understand. I really want to play, but I can’t.”

On the actual deal itself: “(Bill Bavasi) called me yesterday and told me the news. I’ve got to go to Baltimore tomorrow morning and handle things there. I’m the centerpiece of the deal on the Mariners side. It’s an honor to get traded for such a highly talented pitcher as Bedard is. He’s one of the best. Last year he finished up as arguably one of the top candidates for the Cy Young. He’s that good, so for me it’s an honor. You know, I like Seattle, but if I am in Baltimore, as I think now I am, I’m going to embrace it and have the best time of my life in Major League Baseball.”

Looks like Erik Bedard is indeed headed to the Pacific Northwest, to pitch for a Mariners team with a decimated offense. He better be prepared to win plenty of 2-1 games.

Now with Guillen gone and Jones all but traded, what are the Mariners’ plans for the outfield?

UPDATE: The Orioles are stating that the Bedard-Jones trade is not, I repeat not, imminent.