Las Vegas:Where GM’s Make Mistakes Too
The baseball world and mind converges on Las Vegas. With a real lack of activity leading up to the Winter Meetings this off season, there could be some high level deals made in places other than the black jack table and roulette wheel this week.
The meetings are a bit like sweeps week in television. Sometimes it just takes that concentration of attention to bring the big news to light. Things will start with the retirement of Greg Maddox tomorrow. The Mad Professor will be hanging up the spikes of his Hall of Fame career the same day the Veteran’s Committee is set to announce a couple of new entries into that shrine.
With some of the preliminaries out of the way, deals may come to light. Now, I’ve never been to the Winter Meetings (if it wasn’t for finals I would be there now) but I hold no delusions that the GM’s are sequestered in some conference room until at least some of the suspense of the hot stove is lifted. There is a reason these things are always held in fair weather, south of the Mason Dixon, its almost a vacation, with a little work mixed.
So the key is, how much work will those with the fate of millions in thier minds and moneyclips do? In my humble and completely unfounded opinion, I don’t really forsee this week solving the Sphinx of MLB 2009 in one fell swoop. There may be a trade or two, a signing here and there, but in reality this will be the final test of the market for those big names. They’ll take what they gather, sleep on it, and maybe before Christmas, we’ll have some answers.
Of course on the other hand the sun may stand still over the Nevada desert and deal after deal will be finalized and it will be on to spring training and points beyond.
Whatever the case, it’s sure to be an exciting time. In months to come decisions made in Vegas that go south will be defended with tearful cries of, “I never meant to hurt anyone, these people were my friends.” With the same token…good deals made this week may give some fans a vindication only rivaled in that town by a Goldman Family press conference.
Hey baseball…be sure to say hey to the Juice for me.
