Hype Fest
Listed in:This just in; every team in baseball would love to have Johan Santana, Eric Bedard and Dan Haren.
Shocking, I know.
Thursday baseball general managers left Nashville after taking part in one of the most hyped winter meetings in recent memory. And to its credit, it did produce a bit of action. Andruw Jones signed with the Dodgers, Elijah Dukes got shipped to Washington as Jim Bowden continues to collect outfielders with bad reps, Aaron Cook made people wish they had been pitchers and the Tigers pulled off one of the bigger trades in recent memory for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.
Then again, with all of the hype going in, around and during the winter meetings, the talk is less over what did happen and what didn't.
Johan Santana was going to be a Yankee. Then he wasn't. Then he was going to be a Red Sox. Then he wasn't. Then he was going to be a Met in an crazy three way deal. Oh no wait, now he isn't. Afterwards the Twins said they wanted to wrap it up in the following 24 hours. Then, because Jack Bauer apparently failed to save the day, the Twins decided they'll keep him for now. And by now, I mean talk about extending his contract and keeping him for a while.
Get all of that? No? That's okay. I got to digest all of that as it came in and I still have no idea what the heck is going on. That goes ditto for Bedard and Haren.
The winter meetings reporting ultimately degenerated into a giant unsubstantiated rumor fest. They say that you can never trust anything from the internet; well this week it was "trust nothing coming from Nashville". In fact, I'm going to hold off believing Miguel Cabrera isn't coming to kill the Mets 19 times this year until I actually see him in a Tigers uniform.
In all seriousness, it is hard to take anything that was reported this week as accurate. Reporters contradicted each other all the time. It wasn't as if rival competitors were doing it either; ESPN's own twenty reporters were coming up with different takes on the same story. Heck they were contradicting themselves fifteen minutes later. And by themselves I mean Peter Gammons arguing with Peter Gammons.
I guess the goal for ESPN was to get the right story by sending every baseball writer they could find there. And I also suppose they succeeded, if only because so many possibilities were reported someone had to eventually get it right.
But it wasn't just ESPN. Everyone had to be there first and for the most part, everyone was wrong.
On the first night, WFAN reported the Mets were close to Eric Bedard. I didn't get excited. Instead I waited for the other shoe to drop. It did of course; soon close meant "maybe will meet in the future." Or maybe it meant discussed something in passing earlier. Or… well you get the idea.
Of course the next day, sources also said the Dodgers were on the verge of acquiring the lefty for Matt Kemp and Jonathan Broxton. Guess what? Didn't happen. In fact, the Dodgers went as far as to say Broxton was off limits. So where exactly did people get that rumor from?
One of the oddest moments when an online blog posted a crazy Mets/Twins/A's three way rumor involving Jose Reyes, Johan Santana and Dan Haren. It was so insane that Billy Beane called it "a complete fabrication."
The sad thing is that blog rumor was about as accurate as what the mainstream news was reporting. How do we know the Santana to the Red Sox deals were anymore valid? Or the ones about the Cubs and Orioles over Brian Roberts. How about the A's discussing Dan Haren with the Diamondbacks for about eight different guys depending on whom you talk to.
Ironically, reporters thought the Marlins and Tigers were just putting up a smokescreen. It was just to get the Angels price up we heard. Surprise, they were wrong about that too. The one trade that was rumored to have no chance of going down actually did. So what the heck is the point???
It sells of course. I freely admit to refreshing Rotoworld, Metsblog and MLB Trade Rumors to see if anything interesting was being talked about. The thing was, it's never a good sign when you can figure out if trade rumors are bogus or not.
A good example is something that one writer had yesterday. He claimed the Mets tried to trade Aaron Heilman for Brian Fuentes but balked at it when the Rockies wanted Scott Schoeneweis?
Um what?
Now I can't tell you with 100% certainty this trade was BS. But common sense says it is. Schoeneweis has been a major disappointment in New York and is under contract for two more years. Why would the Mets balk at taking him out of the bullpen, when they'd be adding another lefty to their pen in Fuentes?
Furthermore why would the Rockies want that? They could resign Jeremy Affeldt for the same amount or less. In addition, this is a team that won't go more than one year with LaTroy Hawkins. Why would they for a lefty who is about as inconsistent?
It doesn't make much sense. While I rip the Lastings Milledge trade, I understand why the Mets did it, even if it was for the wrong reasons. I have no idea why the Mets would agree to trade Heilman to the Rockies and then refuse to deal a guy who has negative value in the deal. If I can figure this out, why can't the person reporting it?
At some point we have to wonder whether these reporters are actually reporting stories or guessing at what makes sense to them… you know, what I did last Friday. Of course I said I was guessing at what made sense to me. They claim sources.
Or could it be worse? Could these guys listening to something, anything, just to be the ones who broke it. In the flurry of rumors, something that does not pan out is quickly forgotten. But if you break the Johan trade before everyone else, then that's a big feather in your cap.
On that note, here's a rumor for you. Johan Santana will not get traded in the next 10 minutes. Yeah it's completely baseless. But you know what? So was 95% of everything else you heard this week.
Which means you should go check your computers in a half hour or so. Knowing every other rumor this week, this one will probably end up being false too.
