The best player in baseball

I've been waiting to write this entry for a few weeks. I keep thinking if I wait too long it will no longer be true, that I will no longer be able to say Erik Bedard has been the best player in baseball over the last month. (5-0, 1.71 ERA, league high 54 Ks) Instead, the timeline keeps getting longer, to the point I can say he's been the best player in the baseball over the last two months, (7-1, 2.08 ERA, league high 92 Ks) or even three! (7-2, 2.30 ERA, league high 144 Ks) Over the last three months Alex Rodriguez is hitting .292 with 21 HRs and 68 RBIs, good but not eyepopping numbers.

I still probably haven't convinced you he's better than ARod, but by every statistical measurement at ESPN and Yahoo Bedard is the #1 player in fantasy baseball since April 28th. "Yeah, maybe in fantasy," might be your response, but how is that so much different than reality? Baseball is a game of statistics, unlike football where everything is based on the team and system. Or you might point out how shitty the Orioles are, and my response to that would be that they're as close to the Yankees as the Yankees are to the Red Sox, and Bedard is the only plus player the Orioles have.

Maybe it's a stretch to call Bedard the best player in baseball already, but do believe if everyone in baseball were a free agent right now, Bedard would draw the third richest contract, behind ARod and Johan Santana. So it's only a matter of time before he ends up joining ARod on the Yankees.