Winter meetings offer chance to see how cards will be played
Spin the roulette wheel and let's go.
Baseball's annual winter meetings open Monday in Las Vegas, and let's hope somebody starts signing the big shooters so that this winter's rumor mill -- more overheated than a bad Vegas lounge act -- can give way to stuff that's actually happening.
The player market so far this offseason?
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| Forget sentiment, expect Mark Teixeira to sign for the maximum. (Getty Images) |
Or, as the late executive Syd Thrift once said in a classic line when he was swinging and missing on free agents for Baltimore under owner Peter Angelos, "It's like we're trying to spend Confederate money."
Tell the Yankees -- with their six-year, $140 million offer to CC Sabathia that has been cooling for a couple of weeks now -- about it.
As for the rest, the thing to remember in today's game, as Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro points out, is that the days where the goal is to put together the perfect opening day roster have long since passed. Given the game's economic realities, most clubs are on the constant work-in-progress plan.
"You don't need to have a perfect team on opening day, anyway," Shapiro said. "You start there and go through the season until June and then see where you are and what you need to do in July."
There are signs that the logjam is beginning to crack, especially in regard to the market for infielders. San Francisco signed shortstop Edgar Renteria. San Diego traded shortstop Khalil Greene to St. Louis. Madonna is test-driving Alex Rodriguez.
Several pitchers are primed to sign, A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe among them. Watch the mad scramble for dollars and landing spots begin for the rest as soon as Sabathia signs. Same in the sluggers' market once Mark Teixeira and Manny Ramirez are gone.
Some of it is sure to happen in Sin City, though activity has been sleepy enough so far, and there is so much work for most teams to do, that much of it surely won't be accomplished in the flurry between Monday and Thursday at the Bellagio.
"The week after the winter meetings, I think, is going to be the busiest that you've seen in a long time," Chicago White Sox GM Kenny Williams said. "I don't believe there are going to be very many trades because the market is flooded with free agents right now and the economy has slapped the industry smack in the face.
"I think there will be opportunities and realizations from both sides that what used to be the market is no longer the market as a result of the economy and the realities of the world.
