The Baseball Winter Meetings kick off in Nashville, Tennessee today, and last until Thursday afternoon. The four day event brings together major league and minor league clubs, players, agents, countless organizations and people associated with the business end of baseball, along with writers from around the world. There are seminars, sessions, luncheons, job fairs, and trade shows, and that’s not even the best part.
All 30 29 major league general managers will be attending the event. Over the next four days, GMs will begin to put forth the plans they’ve set up over the last baseball-free month. Not only will the seeds be set, but a lot of these plans will come to fruition. Welcome to the busiest part of the offseason. There’s plenty to be done, and the rumor mill will surely convey that, but be wary of everything that you read. Prepare for an onslaught of rumors, many of which are planted by teams and agents.
The Marlins kicked off last year’s meetings by signing Jose Reyes, and then the Angels ended it by signing C.J. Wilson and Albert Pujols. The Yankees didn’t do very much at this time last year, but there were also much fewer needs. In 2010, the Yankees were quite again, but they did make a substantial (apparently not substantial enough) offer to Cliff Lee, as well as bid up the Red Sox for Carl Crawford.
The Yankees had much bigger needs in the two years previous to that. Cashman was able to start the 2008 winter meetings off by signing CC Sabathia. During that time he also targeted A.J. Burnett, who would go on to sign the week after the event. The team also completed one huge trade in 2009, sending Austin Jackson and Phil Coke to Detroit, as well as Ian Kennedy to Arizona for Curtis Granderson.
Cashman and the organization have a long history of big moves at this time of year. Coincidentally, the Yankees need a starting catcher, right fielder, and a designated hitter, amongst a number of other smaller areas. With big needs and a small budget, I wouldn’t be surprised if a major trade happens by Thursday.
It all ends on that last day with the Rule 5 draft, where the organization has been quite active lately. Last year they acquired Cesar Cabral and Brad Meyers, and in 2010 they received Robert Fish and Daniel Turpen. As it stands right now, the team’s roster is full, so they will have to trade or designate a 40-man rostered player if they plan to select someone. If you’re curious to who’s available, check out Jonathan Mayo’s top 20 list from MLB.com.
I’ve always thought that the winter meetings mark the end of the 2012 season and the beginning of the 2013 season. The rest of the offseason is pretty slow until mid-February, so enjoy the last flood of baseball for 2012.
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3 Responses to Welcome To The Winter Meetings
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TIQ IQ
Well you can put 3B on the list with RF and C, Alex is having hip surgery again this time on his left hip and is expected to be out until June. Apparently he played through the season with the injury, which makes sense in hindsight looking at his diminished power.
Apparently the Yankees are stepping up courting Stephen Drew, though that makes little sense to me since he hasn’t played 3B and is coming off terrible offensive numbers. Keppinger makes more sense, though he recently fell in his home and broke his leg. Of course Headley is the number 1 name in everyones head I assume, but they’d likely hold our feet to the fire and I’m not tradingh Sanchez and Williams+ for him if I’m the Yankees. Chavez and Reynolds would probably be the 1 year contract options available, Reynolds could DH once Alex gets back but he’s awful at 3B. I’d like to see Ian Stewart brought in on a minor league deal, his swing is perfect for YS.
my question is why wait for surgery until now? He has a whole month that he wasted.
From what I read he’s not having surgery until January, so he’s waiting another month to get it done.