Twenty-five years have passed since the Orioles last won or played in a World Series. The once-revered franchise last made the playoffs in 1997, and has since disgraced itself and burned its fan base with 10 consecutive losing seasons.

And some think the team looks bad because it is dragging out an impending deal with the Seattle Mariners for pitcher Erik Bedard. Some think this is a sign Andy MacPhail, hired eight months ago as the team’s president of baseball operations, is just as hamstrung by meddlesome owner Peter Angelos as every other baseball man has been over the years by The Lawyer at Camden Yards.

To which I say: relax. Let this critical deal happen at its own pace, and don’t forget to check your history book while you’re waiting for this messy organization to do some serious cleansing.

It has taken a generation marked by short-sighted decisions and misplaced spending priorities for the Orioles to fall into this hole, and they’re not climbing out of it overnight, regardless of how quickly Bedard is packing for the left coast or someplace else.

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In light of the Orioles’ endless bumbling in the past, it’s hard to believe. Yet, MacPhail and Angelos have earned somewhat the benefit of the doubt.

When MacPhail, with Angelos‚ blessing, moved fading, overpaid shortstop Miguel Tejada to the Houston Astros for five players back in December, that qualified as a shocking sign that things indeed might be changing on Eutaw Street.

Maybe, just maybe, The Lawyer is getting it.

This was not Angelos, circa 1996, jumping in to veto former General Manager Pat Gillick’s attempted unloading of aging, overpaid Bobby Bonilla for a bag of prospects. Nor was it Angelos demanding the sorry signing of injured, past-his-prime Albert Belle, or diddling over retaining Mike Mussina and Rafael Palmeiro when those players were highly productive and ready to be the Orioles’ core.

No, the Tejada trade struck me as a sea change, evidence of MacPhail’s clear-eyed view on the way to rebuild at the warehouse, and evidence Angelos is on board.

The next few days and weeks could prove to be the most pivotal for the Orioles since the glory years, when the Oriole Way stood for Ripken, Murray and Weaver and meant something more than a cynical punch line.

It’s no secret the Chicago Cubs are hard after Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts, the team’s lone All-Star last season. The Cubs reportedly are dangling a group of players led by projected starting pitcher Sean Gallagher, ranked as Chicago’s fifth-best prospect.

Should the team get Bedard and Roberts out of town, it would remake the face of the franchise in ways previously unimaginable under Angelos. Besides stockpiling talent to minor league teams with much-needed new blood, those deals could produce a nice chunk of the Orioles’ major league roster for years to come.

The key to getting there is Bedard, the young left-hander with some of the nastiest stuff in the big leagues, who could take a number of teams to a championship-caliber level immediately.

It appears the Orioles are so close to doing the deal with Seattle, which reportedly is prepared to send prized outfielder Adam Jones, relief pitcher George Sherrill and pitching prospect Chris Tillman to Baltimore. Jones and Sherrill are projected as immediate impact players.

Whether the hold up involves personnel or players’ pending physicals or hesitation by Angelos is good fodder for those quick to point the finger at the Orioles for not making the deal happen now.

Whatever the actual scenario is, this much is simple: The Orioles hold the ace — literally and figuratively. Bedard arguably is the best left-handed pitcher in the majors, and that’s not going to change soon. And the Orioles are best served by using some rare leverage to extract the most fruit for moving Bedard.

In a better world, the Orioles would sign their cornerstone pitcher to a hefty extension and rebuild around him as Bedard reaches his prime. But MacPhail, and apparently Angelos as well, appear poised to do the right and painful thing by parting with Bedard, for the sake of an actual plan for the future.

And if that course isn’t taking shape quickly enough for some to stomach, too bad.

Gary Lambrecht writes about the NFL, Major League Baseball and college sports. He can be reached at glambrecht@baltimoreexaminer.com.