SAN DIEGO – You’ve heard the story by now, right? The one about the trade-obsessed general manager who managed to put the finishing touches on a three-team deal last December from his hospital bed in Las Vegas?



It’s fun and quirky on the surface, especially since the executive in question (Seattle’s Jerry Dipoto) was in the clear by the time his scare was released to the world. A day after he was admitted to Las Vegas’ Spring Valley Hospital for treatment for a pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs), Dipoto sat up in his bed, smiling while giving a thumbs up, an IV still stuck in his arm. Mariners’ assistant GM Justin Hollander stood next to the bed, hammering out financial details by phone with Indians’ assistant GM Matt Forman.



Seattle manager Scott Servais snapped a photo of the unlikely scene, which would surely be remembered as yet another chapter, albeit a peculiar one, detailing Dipoto’s panache for trades.