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Welcome To The Winter Meetings And Other MLBullets

One of baseball's busiest and most exciting weeks takes place months after the season ends.

By Brett Taylor
Greg Fiume

MLB's Winter Meetings kick off today, so you can expect the rumors and cocktails to be flowing this week in Nashville ...

  • The Daily Dish takes a look at the buyer and seller story lines from the Winter Meetings, and then talks to fans about what move their team needs to make this week.
  • Baseball Nation's Rob Neyer is on the scene in Nashville, so I reckon he's got you covered.
  • The Rays may be poised to make the first move of the Winter Meetings, signing free agent first baseman James Loney. Not sure whether he's expected to be their regular first baseman this year - they do have an opening - as he hit just .249/.293/.336 last year. Can't really get by with that from your first baseman.
  • I guess the Rays' move might not count as the first if you're counting a re-signing - the Rangers non-tendered Geovany Soto on Friday, and then brought him back on a one-year deal. Hopefully he can rebound after a couple rough years.
  • Flashback: Rich Harden and Brandon Webb are free agents, and looking to make a deal. A sentence that would have sent happy tingles down your spine a few years ago now just makes you wonder whether your team can get one of them on a minor league deal and see what's up in Spring Training.
  • Ozzie Smith has sold his 13 (consecutive) Gold Glove trophies for a hair over $500,000. He also sold his 2006 and 2011 World Series rings, which were gifts from the Cardinals. So, either Ozzie is hard-up for cash, is cleaning out his garage, or kind of hates the Cardinals.
  • MLB and the NPB may be looking to change the posting system that confounds teams when they want to bring over a Japanese ballplayer who is being made available before he's a free agent. Instead of a blind bidding system, they may go to a straight auction.
  • Beyond the Boxscore analyzes power - what does the simple "HR" stat tell us? What about home run distance? What about isolated power? And on and on. Interesting stuff.
  • MLBTR did a Q&A with Peter Gammons.

Brett Taylor is the Lead Writer at Bleacher Nation, and a Contributor here at Bleed Cubbie Blue.

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