MLB Delly: Albert Pujols Passes Mickey Mantle; Ruben Amaro is Getting Upset

Welcome to MLB DailyDelly on a Friday. We close the week with the Mets in first place …

See ya, Mick: Albert Pujols passed Mickey Mantle last night in Tampa with his 537th home run.

He’ll pass Mike Schmidt (548) soon enough and possibly Manny Ramirez (555) before the season is over.

Oh Ruben: We’re getting close to the point, if we haven’t crossed that point already, where any time Philadelphia Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. opens his mouth it makes for hilarious blog headlines. Yesterday there were some scattered reports that the Mariners were interested in  Ben Revere. True or not, rumors said the Phillies wanted either James Paxton — a solid, if injury-prone lefty — or Taijuan Walker — their top pitching prospect — for Revere (.270/.312/.352).

Amaro actually addressed the rumors to Ken Rosenthal:

"“Typically we would not comment on rumors. But when they reach this level of ridiculousness, I can say unequivocally that what has been written is false.”"

You almost feel bad for Amaro that baseball reporters and sites have no problem publishing trade rumors that would make most fantasy GMs laugh.

Happy Trails: Canadian-born southpaw Erik Bedard retired Thursday. The 35-year-old was in the Dodgers’ organization but decided to hang them up instead of trying to get back to the majors. The reason I mention Bedard today is in the future he may be linked to a series of “worst trade” type Internet lists considering the Orioles swapped him for Adam Jones in 2008 in a deal that also saw Baltimore land Chris Tillman.

All-in-all Bedard’s numbers in Seattle are much better than I’d have guessed, finishing with 3.31 ERA. He only made 36 starts over three seasons, however, while Jones blossomed into one of the American League’s best outfielders and perennial All Star. The Mariners would probably like that one back, along with the Michael Pineda-Jesus Montero swap.

This is thinking out loud on a frazzled Friday morning, but is the Bedard-Jones deal the most lopsided in recent baseball memory that didn’t involve primarily minor leaguers? Jones only played 73 games for the Mariners but he’d at least been in the majors for parts of two seasons. The Braves giving up Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to get a year and a half out of Mark Teixeira isn’t great, but it’s not historically awful. In a couple years, the Padres dealing Anthony Rizzo — who is somehow vastly underrated — for Andrew Cashner is going to look terrible for San Diego. The Tigers ended up giving up next to nothing to acquire Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins. Andrew Miller has since established himself as a quality reliever — but it took a couple seasons changes of scenery.

Offer up your thoughts in the comments because I’m surely forgetting a couple.

For whatever bar trivia it’s worth, Bedard retires with 71 wins — tied with the immortal Rheal Cormier for 8th all time by Canadians in MLB.

Presidential: President Obama hung out with the Nationals President racers yesterday. The picture has 7,000 RTs and counting.

Sadly, nobody in attendance at Griffith Stadium thought to capture a Vine of William Howard Taft when he threw out the first-ever Presidential First pitch in 1911.

Burns, Baby, Burns!: A’s centerfielder Billy Burns made a couple nice grabs yesterday vs. the Rangers. Watch them yourself!

More relevant to anything, Scott Kazmir held Texas to one hit over eight scoreless innings. He’ll be traded sooner rather than later, most likely with Oakland 12 games under .500.

Friends, Forever: Curtis Granderson knows a lot about Saved by the Bell.

This & That: The Orioles swept the Red Sox. It feels like these two teams have beat up on each other and as a result neither has been able to move up in the division. … Zach Cozart is out for the year. If the Reds weren’t sellers already, well, they are now but will wait to do business until after the All Star Game leaves Great America Ballpark. … You can now watch/stream MLB Network on your phone in the At Bat app or on MLB.com through service provider authorization. … The Royals and Cardinals meet for a three-game set at Busch Stadium, highlighting the weekend matchups. …

[That’s a Wrap]