It is an historic day for Royal Revival. This will be the first rumor ever discussed here. According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports the Royals are making a very strong push for free agent starter Erik Bedard. Last season in 15 starts Bedard threw 83 innings and had a k:bb rate of 90:34 plus an era of 2.82. For his career Bedard is 51-41 with a 3.71 era and and k:bb rate of 831:325.
Obviously the major drawback to Bedard would be the injury risk, but let's be realistic here he wouldn't be available to the Royals without this drawback. The Royals have several options for their rotation for the upcoming season (Davies, Hochevar, Tejeda, and Bannister) and two locks in Meche and Greinke. Bedard is the perfect kind of guys for the Royals to attempt to sign to a one year incentive laden contract. No big risks involved but very high rewards. If Bedard is able to stay healthy then the rotation either helps carry the team to a surprise season or you flip him at the deadline for a couple of prospects. If he isn't able to stay healthy no loss he wasn't blocking a prized prospect anyway.
Right now the Royals are stockpiling a great amount of high potential arms, but they are all at least a full season away, except for maybe 2009 first round pick Aaron Crow. Signing Bedard would be a great deal for Kansas City for the right price and even if he flops it would not hurt the future of the club. The potential gains though could be huge. Let's hope that Dayton Moore continues to push.
Update: This information comes from a very questionable source, but Bleacher Report has reported that Bedard has signed a one year deal worth 3.2 million dollars with the Kansas City Royals.
Update: Bleacher Report was obviously wrong, as usual.
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