Baseball’s Winter Meeting

This article originally appeared on Yahoo November 2010

For baseball fans like me winter is a long and empty time. When the last out of the World Series is made and the baseball season is officially over the days begins to drag. The only light at the end of the tunnel is when pitchers and catchers report in mid February. The only real relief those of us who love baseball get during the off-season is the brief respite and excitement the Baseball Winter Meetings offers.

The Winter Meetings are an annual event which take place over a three-and-a-half day period in December. Every Major League team’s general manager meet and with the trades and free agent signings that take place during the meetings they are considered the unofficial end of the “Hot Stove League.” This year’s Winter Meetings, the 109^th annual, is being held in Orlando.

Baseball off-season meetings are nothing new. They can be traced back all the way to 1877 when the then National League was initially formed and such rules as no gambling, no drinking and no games on Sundays were instituted. William Hulbert was also named as the new league President. Over the years the off-season meetings took on a new meaning and importance transforming into the event we recognize today.

The Winter Meetings now include a baseball trade show which includes over 300 companies and their exhibits. This trade show is visited by an estimated 200 representatives of both the Major and Minor Leagues. The Professional Baseball Employment Opportunities holds a job fair as well. This is attended by 400-500 hopeful job seekers looking to capture lightening in a bottle by finding employment with a professional baseball team.

The Rule 5 Draft takes place on the last day of the Winter Meetings. This is when teams can draft players who are not listed on a team’s 40-man roster. Most of these players are fairly young unknowns playing at the lower Minor League level or rookie ball.

This year the Hall of Fame Veteran’s Committee will also be gathering. This committee meets every couple of years to vote on players who are no longer eligible to be voted into Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writer’s of America. At this year’s Winter Meetings the veterans will be voting on baseball icons like former Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner and former Major League manager, Billy Martin to name a few.

However, most fans, myself included, look forward to the Winter Meetings to see which player will sign where, not to mention the hope a favorite team will pull off a blockbuster trade. This year is no different with names like Cliff Lee, Derek Jeter, Adam Dunn, and Prince Fielder floating out in the baseball ether.

Everything I have read and heard so far leads me to believe the Winter Meetings could be very active. After Cliff Lee signs with either the Yankees or Rangers look for other big name free agents to start falling like dominoes as they sign with various teams. There is a slim possibility both Adrian Gonzalez and Prince Fielder could be moved. If this is the case look for both Chicago teams as well as the Red Sox to be in the mix. The Cubs could also make some noise by trading controversial starting pitcher, Carlos Zambrano and to a lesser degree third baseman, Aramis Ramirez.

In the spirit of the hot stove rumor mill let me put out a potential deal I have heard rumblings about. The trade would include Carlos Zambrano and another pitcher from the Cubs’ roster like Jeff Samardzija to the Brewers fro Prince Fielder and either Manny Parra or Carlos Villanueva. I have heard many variations of this trade which have included names like Kosuke Fukudome and Corey Hart as well as varying amounts of money going to the two teams to help offset some of the higher priced contracts. Now this deal is highly unlikely, but rumors like this are what the Winter Meetings are all about.

Maury Brown, “Inside the 2010 Baseball winter Meetings”, Bizofbaseball.com

“William Hulbert”, Sportsecyclopedia.com