Monday, November 9, 2009

General Managers Meetings - Day 1

As Yankee fans continue to celebrate their club’s 27th Championship, it’s back to business for GM Brian Cashman and all other MLB teams. No rest for the weary, I guess, so here is the baseball calendar for the remainder of this year:

Through Nov. 19—Free agent filing period.

Nov. 9-11—General managers meetings, Chicago.

Nov. 18-19—Owners meeting, Chicago.

Nov. 30-Dec. 4—Major League Baseball Players Association executive board meeting, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Dec. 1—Last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to their former players who became free agents.

Dec. 7—Last day for free agents offered salary arbitration to accept the offers.

Dec. 7-10—Winter meetings, Indianapolis.

Dec. 12—Last day for teams to offer 2010 contracts to unsigned players.

Not a lot of surprises coming out of the 1st day of the General Managers’ meeting in Chicago today:
  • The Red Sox have picked up the 2010 option for Victor Martinez who played in 56 games for Boston after being traded from the Indians. He hit .336 with 8 HRs and 41 RBI. Boston also declined options on catcher Jason Varitek (who has 5 days to exercise a $3 million player option) and SS Alex Gonzalez, and resigned knuckleballer Tim Wakefield after they came to an agreement on a 2 year contract worth $5 million.
  • The Tampa Bay Rays picked up the $10 million option on outfielder Carl Crawford for the 2010 season.
  • Carl Pavano is expected to meet with the Twins on tuesday whom, along with the Indians, have expressed interest in the free agent right hander.
  • And in the realm of unlikely possibilities, Mariners’ GM Jack Zduriencik said that he would “have to listen” to discussions regarding their ace Felix Hernandez in a possible trade. This is the same man who said back in August that Hernandez would be in a Mariners uniform in 2010 unless they get “Koufax or Maricahl”. File this report under “Fat Chance”.
If you are following the free-agency market at home, here is a link to all 2009-2010 MLB free-agents by team.

Photograph courtesy of the Associated Press.

No comments: