Thursday, January 31st

This is the self imposed deadline for Andy MacPhail to trade Erik Bedard and Brian Roberts or to keep them.

This will also be the day everything goes down IMO with one big press conference on Friday.

MacPhail has shown a history of making good deals at the last possible second for the Orioles. First there was the Wieters negotiations, which looked bleak all the way until one minute before the midnight deadline to sign him, but he signed and MacPhail was able to keep him off the 40 man roster, a huge plus.

The second deadline deal was the Trachsel deal, when all throughout the month of August Orioles fans constantly berated MacPhail for not trading Trax (I admit I was one of them). Instead he hung on to him listening to offers until the last day for players traded to be eligible for the postseason. That's when he was able to get Hendry to overpay by giving us not two but eventually three useful pieces for the organization, for one guy who is still looking for a job.

The Tejada deal was much quicker, but that's because he was dealing with Ed Wade, one of the worst GM's in baseball. We netted a large bounty of players, including one who should match Tejada's #'s this season, so this deal was another success.

But now as we wait for the Bedard trade, we as Oriole fans shouldn't expect anything less from MacPhail then to wait Bavasi and the Mariners out until the last possible instant in order to try to get the best deal for Bedard. The Roberts deal to the Cubs is pretty much agreed upon from all reports and it's just waiting for the Bedard domino to fall.

It's been a long excruciating wait that's for sure, but the wait seems almost over. Hopefully at the last minute, MacPhail can continue his success.

Friday is the first day of February, and hopefully the first look at our new 2008 Baltimore Orioles.