First Look at Erik Bedard

It appears as though the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed Erik Bedard, one of the top pitchers on the free agent market this offseason. The deal has been reported to be for 1 year and $4.5 million with incentives. That deal is very favorable for the Pirates, especially knowing Bedard's injury history.

The Baltimore Orioles picked Bedard in the 6th round of the 1999 draft. He made his major league debut in 2002 and spent 4 full seasons with the Orioles after that. After the 2007 season, Bedard moved on to the Seattle Mariners, where he posted two very strong seasons in 2008 and 2009 despite only making 15 starts both years because of injuries. In 2009, Bedard posted a 2.82 ERA with 9.8 K/9 in his limited action. Bedard missed the entire 2010 season and then started last year in Seattle, where he posted a 3.45 ERA in 16 starts with 8.6 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 before being traded to Boston, where he would finish out the year with 8 starts and a 4.03 ERA. His final 2011 line was a 3.62 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9.

Bedard's 2011 FIP (adjusted ERA based on fielding and other factors that the pitcher can't control) was 3.64, so pretty much right on with his ERA. He had a 42% ground ball percentage and a 70.6% strand rate. That strand rate was much lower than his career average of 73%. His BABIP last year was .295, which is right around the league average. Bedard is definitely a strikeout pitcher, as he has averaged 8.76 strikeouts per nine innings in his career.

Coming into the 2012 season a Pirate, Bedard should be the ace of this staff. There are always question marks with pitchers, especially guys with injury histories, and Bedard isn't young anymore at the age of 32 (he'll be 33 by season's start). However, if he can stay healthy and pitch close to how he's pitched in his career, he is a strong candidate to be the best Pirates pitcher this year. I would fully expect Bedard to have the ball on Opening Day for the Pirates.

I am pretty ecstatic about this sign. The Pirates have a potential ace on the staff, which we haven't been able to say for a long time. If Charlie Morton and James McDonald reach their potential, that's three very strong pitchers for the Pirates to rely on in 2012. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, all three of those guys have a lot of question marks and it would be surprising to see them all put up great seasons, but at least the potential is there.

This deal was also very favorable for the Pirates on the financial side. I fully expected Bedard to get 6-8 million dollars for one year, but the Pirates nabbed him for $4.5. There are going to be some pretty heavy incentives in this deal, and Bedard can earn himself a good amount of money by throwing a certain number of innings, but isn't that how it should always be? Make the guy perform first, then pay him for his performance. 4.5 million guaranteed is a steal for a guy at this level.

Also, the one-year deal puts pressure on Bedard to perform well so he can get more money next year when he's a free agent again. I couldn't be much happier with this signing.