Did something happen? (Seattle)

Here is what the Seattle Times had to say about the deal:

M's dealt an ace with Erik Bedard

Hustled in on a flight Thursday morning, Bedard spent that afternoon and early Friday running on a treadmill and being poked and prodded by team physicians. By the time he was trotted out Friday, the long-awaited, oft-delayed trade for his services finally complete, he admitted his next move is to fly right back home to Ottawa.

"I've got to fly home and pack up for spring training," he said.

And the Mariners will pack their bags along with him, their offseason plans — at least the major ones — finally complete. Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi gave up plenty to acquire Bedard, including outfield super-prospect Adam Jones, left-handed reliever George Sherrill and minor-league pitchers Chris Tillman, Cam Mickolio and Tony Butler.

But Bavasi is banking on Bedard, a left-hander who turns 29 next month, giving his team a one-two pitching punch with perhaps its best starter since Randy Johnson left town a decade ago. Bavasi won't get drawn in to such comparisons, nor will he anoint Bedard his No. 1 starter ahead of 21-year-old incumbent Felix Hernandez.

Detailing how a "done deal" took time to become a reality

In the big picture, of course, it won't matter one iota how long it took for the Mariners and Orioles to consummate the trade that was mercifully, and anti-climactically, announced Friday.

But given the frenzied interest over the past two weeks in whether the two teams would get 'er done, it's only fair to try to figure out how this went off track.

Turns out that Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi felt confident the deal was done as far back as Jan. 24 — three days before Adam Jones was pulled from his Venezuelan team.

That's when Bavasi stepped to the podium at a media luncheon and talked with optimism about the M's chances of adding a frontline pitcher.

"I probably was a little too aggressive in what I was telling you at the time," he said Friday. "But we had a deal in place at the time. We really felt it would go through. It was easy to say we could get a deal done, because we had one done."

Uh, not so fast. As Bavasi aptly added, "The only thing left was details. The devil's in the details, and sometimes it takes longer."

Geoff Baker has a long post on his blog on the day of the press conference. The key part for Rattler fans is near the end

Adam Jones and George Sherrill held a conference call with reporters a short while ago. Sherrill again talked about being disappoitned to leave Seattle, but said he's discussed the possibility of closing with his new manager and is excited about the future.

Jones is relieved this entire saga is finally done. "It's good to have it out of the way,'' he said.

As for spilling the beans about the trade to a Venezuelan reporter: "I was just trying to let everybody know what was going on -- all the information that I had. It blew up quickly and everybody started to know about it.''