The annual General Managers Meetings officially begins on Monday night in Phoenix, AZ where everyone will meet for dinner and learn who was named the 2014 MLB Executive of the Year. But of course that is merely the backdrop.
The GM Meetings have evolved into a staging ground for all of the wheeling and dealing that is to come this winter. It’s the official start of the Hot Stove season and more and more trades and signings come out of it with each passing year.
Coincidentally – or perhaps not – Monday is also the deadline for free agents who received a $15.3 million qualifying offer to either reject or accept. And for players like Max Scherzer, Victor Martinez, Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval – who are certain to reject their QO – you can expect to see them or their agents roaming the lobbies and rubbing shoulders with team executives over the next three days.
Looking back a year ago, the Mets began the GM Meetings with a joke when Sandy Alderson told reporters he was late because he was upstairs counting big stacks of five-dollar bills in his hotel room.
Not to be outdone, Scott Boras smirked and responded, “The Mets are like NASA. They have big rockets, a lot of platforms but very few astronauts.”
The next day, after learning that Sandy Alderson had no interest in any $100 million dollar players, Boras quipped: “The hardest thing about limits is that it doesn’t limit others. It limits you.”
Mets co-owner Jeff Wilpon showed up on day two and upon arriving he told reporters that the Mets had something big cooking and that Sandy would be making an announcement later that evening.
But an hour later, when Sandy was informed about his boss’s comments he exclaimed, “No, no, no” and told reporters that “nothing was imminent.” And with that, the 2013 GM Meetings came to a close.
That was then and this is now.
This will be Sandy Alderson’s fifth offseason with the Mets and most agree that it will be his most important. With a fan base that has grown very weary and apathetic, he can’t afford to show up to Spring Training with a team that appears to be less than a bonafide pennant contender.
My guess is that this year’s GM Meetings will be more substantive and that the Mets will be spending a great deal of their time trying to gauge interest in Daniel Murphy, Bartolo Colon, Dillon Gee and Jon Niese.
Of course, they’ll also try to ascertain what they would have to give up for players like Alex Gordon, Yoenis Cespedes, Alexei Ramirez, and even Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki whom Sandy coveted before they got hurt.
There will be plenty of questions and story lines…
Do we go with Matt den Dekker in right field and get a right-handed bat to platoon with him?
Should we just hand shortstop to Wilmer Flores? Or does he replace Murphy at second?
Should Mets trade one of their young arms for an impact bat?
Can we unload Bartolo Colon’s contract this offseason?
We’re looking forward to covering all the action from Phoenix, and as always, MMO promises not to run with any blog sourced rumors. Our bullshit detectors will be armed and ready.
This should be a fun three days and we look forward to debating everything with all of you in our comment threads.
Lets Go Mets!
