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Erik Bedard may pitch again in May. Or maybe in July. Either way, when he does pitch, it will be again for the Seattle Mariners, and he'll have a chance to make as much money in 2010 as he did in either of his first two seasons with the Mariners.Not bad for someone who has had two injury-plagued seasons in the Northwest and who had labrum surgery on his left shoulder on Aug. 14 after not having pitched following a here-inning stint on July 25.
The left-hander gets a $1.5 million base and could make as much as an addition $6 million in incentives. In addition, there is an mutual option for the 2011 season starting at $8 million. Bedard made $7.75 million last year.
Bedard headed to Arizona to resume his rehab work after signing. Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik was wrapping up a trip to the Dominican Republic with some of his staff, but results of Bedard's Friday physical came back showing no other damage to his shoulder, so the club made the announcement on Saturday morning, rare for the Mariners.
"We think Erik is an important piece for us to add," Zduriencik said in a club release. "We're confident he'll be ready to pitch Major League games this season. We've carefully monitored his recovery from surgery and his rehabilitation process and are confident he'll be a contributor to our 2010 campaign. We are looking forward to him returning and being a part of this organization as we move forward."
Left unanswered for now is the question of whether or not the Mariners still want to add a veteran starter they know will be ready to pitch come spring training. They've had interest in lefty Jarrod Washburn, but he said via text message this week that no deal was close.
Bedard hasn't pitched much in his two years in Seattle, certainly not as much as you'd like for someone former general manager Bill Bavasi gave up five players to get -- including All-Stars Adam Jones and George Sherrill. But when Bedard has pitched, even in pain, he's generally been effective, although mostly a five-inning pitcher.
He allowed two earned runs or less in 13 of his 15 starts last year in going 5-3 with a 2.82 ERA and struck out 90 batters in 83 innings. But two stints on the DL kept him from being the impact pitcher the Mariners had hoped he'd be.
"My first choice was to return to Seattle," Bedard said in the release, so I'm very happy to get this done. "I like the moves the team made this winter, and I'm looking forward to when I can get back on the mound and help them this year."
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