I have never sought a job in MLB or MiLB but have been to a few winter meetings, which are slightly mislabeled because they always occur before the
official start of winter on Dec. 21. I was in San Diego in 1984 not long after Calvin Griffith sold the Minnesota Twins to banker Carl Pohlad.
No longer was the franchise in his family that had owned the original Washington Senators since 1919 (patriarch Clark Griffith after managing the New York Highlanders before they became the Yankees, actually arrived in DC as manager in 1912.). In 1984, Calvin, his adopted nephew, looked very relaxed, not worrying about losing his star players to free agency - that had started 8 years earlier - or worrying about extending them and finding their productivity decline.
I commended Griffith on the good work of his franchise's scouts over the years, finding future Hall of Famers like Walter Johnson and Harmon Killebrew and developing other less heralded but genuine major leaguers. He explained one of his secrets of scouting: "We always look in a boy's mouth. If he doesn't take care of his teeth, how will he take care of his arm?"
In 1992, I was in Louisville when former Pirates president Carl Barger was preparing to take on a similar role in the expansion Florida (now Miami) Marlins. Speaking at an executive session of owners, Barger, who helped keep his home town team in Pittsburgh after the death of longtime owner John K. Galbreath in 1985, warned his colleagues about the rising salaries in baseball.
As reported later, Barger pleaded with them to stop their reckless spending and to consider the needs of the smaller markets. Taking a break from the session, Barger stepped out into a hallway and collapsed from an aneurysm and was dead before he arrived in a hospital. He was only 58.
The plight of the smaller markets and also the presence of many owners who do not want to spend money for proven players remains obviously a big issue in baseball.
Until the end of the twentieth century, the winter meetings were actually organized by the National Association, the minor leagues' ruling body. There was a far more collegial spirit then - the annual award of King of Baseball honored such revered figures as Roland Hemond and Paul Snyder, the lifelong Braves player, developer and scout who passed away on November 30 at the age of 88.
The Covid pandemic hastened the end of the National Association and now all control is located in MLB commissioner Rob Manfred's office. There is still lip service given to the importance of player development in every organization, but the win-now pressure from the 24/7/365 media and newbie owners and their analytic-drenched staffs is very hard to resist.
Which brings me to the future of my Orioles. I'm all for building good farm systems and growing the core of your team from within. Yet I'm holding my breath that the Orioles don't really think that their amorphous title of "Best Minor League System in MLB" leads them to ditch more vital veterans.
It was no surprise that Kyle Gibson, who turned 36 on October 23, will be wearing the uniform of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2024. Though his numbers did not impress the analytic crowd, his ability to change speeds led to his throwing 25 double play grounders, one of the highest rates in the majors. As I wrote here this summer, his understanding of the art of pitching was as good as it gets.
I repeat it again via my paraphrase. You have to know when (a) you don't have anything working and find a way to get through a game; or (b) when you have to choose correctly between the pitches that are working on a day when only a couple of them are going well; and perhaps most interestingly, is the almost zen-like or gallows humor-like, (c) you have to know not to blow it when all your pitches are working on that rare day.
Now there is talk that Baltimore brass are thinking of trading Anthony Santander, their valuable switch-hitting DH and competent right fielder, because he might get as much $13 million through arbitration and will be a free agent at the end of 2024 season. Sure, there are talented Oriole prospects on the doorstep of the majors, including Heston Kjerstad and Colton Cowser - both of them who got a taste of MLB in 2023. There is also Kyle Stowers who showed some promise in 2022 but 2023 was consumed by injuries.
I am not the only one in Oriole fandom who would rue the day that "Midnight Tony" (a nicknamed bestowed early in his career as a Rule 5 pickup from Cleveland because he wore sunglasses night and day) is no longer an Oriole. I would buy out at least one of his free agent years coming up after his coming last year of arbitration. He turned 29 on October 18 so he should be entering his prime years.
Maybe I'm being too pessimistic (there remains a Masochist Mel alter ego lurking in my marrow!). Am crossing fingers that general manager Mike Elias makes the right decisions because it seems likely that owner John Angelos doesn't want to invest in his stars.
I think it is far too early to think about longterm signings of blossoming young stars Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman. But something more than a one-year commitment to Santander makes a lot of sense to me.
Be patient, dear readers. Days will start getting longer around Dec 21 and by Valentine's Day the trucks with baseball equipmentds will have arrived in Florida and Arizona.
Before I close, here are a few TCM movie tips for the first half of December.
The only baseball film of note the first half of this month is Su DEC 10 1130A "Pride of the Yankees" (1942) - preceded oddly by Noir Alley's
"I Wouldn't Be In Your Shoes" (1948) with Regis Toomey/Elyse Knox
**Every Friday in December will be Cary Grant Night.
DEC 8 features 4p "Once Upon Hollywood" (1942) Directed by Leo McCarey with Ginger Rogers, Walter Slezak
6p "Dream Wife" (1953 dir. Sidney Sheldon - before he became a best-selling novelist - with Deborah Kerr/Walter Pidgeon
10p "Holiday" (1938) based on Phillip Barry's Broadway play, with Katherine Hepburn
DEC 15-actually early morning Sa Dec 16 two Hitchcock classics
2a "Suspicion" (1941) with Joan Fontaine
4a "North By Northwest" (1959) with Eva Marie Saint/James Masons
(unfortunately no "Notorious" with Ingrid Bergman all month)
W DEC 6 is the first of two gifted writer Paddy Chayevsky Nights
8p the classic "Marty" (1955) with Betsy Blair/Ernest Borgnine
2a "Middle of the Night" (1959) with Fredric March/Kim Novak
W DEC 13 how about this back-to-back-to-back trio of Chayevsky!
8p "Network" (1976) with Faye Dunaway/Peter Finch/William Holden
1015p "The Hospital" (1971) Chayevsky's Oscar with George C. Scott/Diana Rigg/many others
1215a "Americanization of Emily" (1964) with Julie Andrews/James Coburn/James Garner/Melvyn Douglas
Set before D-Day, with the wonderful Johnny Mandel song "Emily" - sadly, itt didn't qualify for a Best Song Oscar because
it was never completely performed in film, but an immortal song and a wonderful if biting movie.
That's all for now - take it easy but take it!