The General Manager Meetings, which are taking place this week in Carlsbad, California, are generating this offseason’s first free-agent rumors, but here’s a little advice for you: Don’t read too much into this, at least not yet. I’m coming to you from a position of experience, as I used to attend these meetings when I worked for the Astros, with the specific task of organizing, scheduling and frequently conducting tête-à-têtes with agents, and they mean very little.
I’ve spent numerous November days and nights at various bougie resorts in Arizona and California, and while I’d love to tell you exactly what happens at the GM Meetings, I’m not in a position to do that. There are a number of actual meetings that occur, discussing arbitration, overall finances of the game, and the labor situation, but other than various social events with open bars and yummy snacks, along with the occasional informal roundtable to brainstorm on rules and processes, I never attended any of them. I had a very different assignment, but quite frankly, meeting with agents is a hell of a lot more fun than sitting in a ballroom staring at Power Point slides presented by the commissioner’s office.
The process begins in the weeks leading up to the meetings, as teams spend their Septembers and Octobers preparing for the off-season, sometimes in parallel with the work that is involved for a team that’s in the playoffs. Free agents, both real and potential (based on non-obvious option/opt-out decisions), are lined up and prioritized. Player agents are frequently just known, and if not, are accessed via MLB’s internal eBIS system. The week before is spent drawing up a schedule for your team during the meetings themselves. Texts are sent and times are set throughout the week for what will be the first sit-downs of the offseason. Read the rest of this entry »
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Dan Szymborski