MLBTR links to a GAKIII rumor concerning the Brewers and Sabathia. Milwaukee may give CC an opt-out after three years in an effort to get the lefty to stay. I’m sure that will end well for the Brewers.
Good morning from the Winter Meetings
It’s not even 8am here in Vegas, and we’ve already spotted Joe Girardi & Gene Monahan talking it up in the bowels of the Bellagio as we walked to the press room. We didn’t go over to introduce ourselves, Girardi looked like he was ready to rumble. We also spotted Billy Beane chatting with someone important looking in one of the hallways. Cool stuff.
There’s exactly six other people in the press room right now, so I guess most of the media is sleeping off their wild Sunday night. Joe and I don’t expect to be breaking any big news or rumors while we’re here, but we will pass along any info we manage to dig up. Right now we’re just trying not to step on anyone’s toes, and not look like fools. Check back often, we’ll be here all week.
Update (8:15am): We went looking for coffee and almost had a Homer Simpson-George Harrison moment with Billy Beane “Oh my God! Where did you get that breakfast!” Buck Martinez is recording a radio show next door, and you have to walk right by him to get the free coffee and breakfast (which we eventually found). The media room is ever so slowly starting to fill out, and they’re setting up for the HOF Press Conference, which starts at 10.
Update (8:40am): We have major breaking news from Vegas: Sweeny Murti is in the house. There’s not a whole lot going on, most of the media guys are just catching up with each other after not having seen one another in a while, and other than Billy Beane (who went into the trainer’s conference) there’s not an exec (that I recognize) to be found. I’ll pick up soon.
Reassessing the arbitration decisions
By the time the dust settled last night, only two players accepted their clubs’ offers of arbitration. Of the players I thought might accept — Jason Varitek, Jon Garland and even Mark Grudzielanek — none accepted. So I have to wonder if the Yanks misread the market. Should they have offered arbitration to Bobby Abreu and Ivan Rodriguez? Of course, their decision would have impacted the Adam Dunn and Pat Burrell decisions as well, and it’s really hard to play the “What If?” game here. Yet, I wonder who is making the bigger mistake: the second-tier players for not accepting arbitration or the risk- and cost-averse clubs who simply do not want these players around at any cost anymore?
Calm before the storm
All hell breaks loose tomorrow, but for now here’s one last Sunday night update. Joe and I grabbed a few drinks at various Bellagio bars, and recognized some faces as we walked the floor: Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports (he makes Dustin Pedroia look like Gheorghe Muresan), plus Jayson Stark and Jerry Crasnick of ESPN (we’re sure it was Crasnick this time). We also ran into PeteAbe, who was cool enough to stand around and talk to a bunch of lowly bloggers for a good 15-20 mins. I’m sure we passed by some other important people, but just didn’t recognize them.
Word on the street is that Brian Cashman left for dinner with his homies while rockin’ one of his four World Series rings, which he never wears. Could he have been flaunting it to CC during a meeting? Feel free to speculate. ‘Til tomorrow …
Setting up Vegas with a rumor round-up
Now that the non-law school students among us are gambling away our advertising revenue settling in to Sin City, let’s set the stage.
Right now, we’re not sure what’s going to come of our heading to Vegas except wall-to-wall coverage of the Winter Meetings and a whole of standing around, according to this guy. Mike and Joe will be at Greg Maddux’s retirement announcement tomorrow; they’ll sit in on Brian Cashman’s media moment; and they’ll get the lay of the land.
To keep up to date with RAB during the week, we can offer you a few choice ways of staying in touch. First and foremost, keep checking back here. We’ll have updates as soon as we can on site. For up-to-the-moment Twitter updates, you can follow RAB on the social networking service. Joe will be updating via Blackberry as he can. You should join us on Facebook too. We also have a RAB Yahoo! Groups page for rapid-fire e-mail updates, but we’re not totally sure what’s going on with that yet.
Anyway, that’s that for staying in touch. Now, on to the good stuff: rumors, rumors rumors.
- To clarify an item from earlier in the week, CC Sabathia’s agent requested the meeting with Brian Cashman and not the other way around. I think Sabathia’s agent is going to set a time parameter with the Yanks. He’s also meeting with the Red Sox, but that’s just to put some pressure on the Yankees.
- In what was just a formality, Manny Ramirez has declined arbitration. It sounds more and more likely that he’ll be a part of the offensive-focused Plan B if the Yanks sense Sabathia is not interested.
- Jason Varitek will reject arbitration. I think this sets the stage for a divorce between the Red Sox and their erstwhile Captain. While Theo Epstein had been pledging lip service to Varitek, this move means that Jason and Scott Boras think he can get a multi-year deal, and there is little chance Boston would do that.
- Playing closer roulette in Vegas, the Mets are going to make an offer to Francisco Rodriguez. They also plan to go after Brian Fuentes, Trevor Hoffman and, potentially, Kerry Wood. The first guy to accept wins the job. The K-Rod offer is rumored to be for three years with an option.
- Talking Chop, a Braves blog, wants Atlanta to take a Rule V flyer on Kei Igawa. Be my guest.
- The New York Times reminds us that Scott Boras is very good at his job.
Setting up at the Winter Meetings
So we’re here, we’re registered, and we’ve feasted on the Bellagio buffet (couldn’t have asked for much more; we had a hard time walking back to our hotel). So while we digest, here are some pictures from the early goings.
Yep, that’s us. For some reason, I had this nagging fear that something would have gotten screwed up and we wouldn’t have gotten these.
The press room. We’re 90 percent certain Jerry Crasnick of ESPN was in there. On our way out, we 100 percent saw Gene Monahan, who was there for the trainers conference.
NERDS!!!!! Seriously, this is one comprehensive stat package. No wOBA, though.
This is the TOC of the cool binder they gave us. Disappointingly, the Rule 5 worksheet lists all teams, not just team which have picks.
This is probably all we’ve got for tonight. Everyone’s getting here and getting settled in, and even then a lot of people are flying in tomorrow morning. Mike and I will have a drink for each of you.
The Greg Maddux press conference is at 11:30 tomorrow, so we’ll be there for that, as will most everyone there I assume. Girardi’s availability is on Tuesday, and we’ll probably pop in for Torre’s on Wednesday.
‘Till then…
RAB arrives in Vegas
And we were on the same plane as Brian Cashman. At least I think we were, why else would he would be waiting for his bag at the same baggage claim as us?
Oh yeah, this is cool.