Our MLB editor files dispatches from this year's Winter Meetings in Las Vegas in Notes From Sin City.Baseball fans know what the Winter Meetings are. They know what happens every year -- trades, big signings, and plenty of gossip in the lobby of a grand hotel. What they might not have an idea about is what the atmosphere is like inside the Bellagio.
(Full disclosure: This is my first trip to the Winter Meetings, and, frankly, it was a little bit terrifying flying out here. I had absolutely no idea what to expect.)
Let's start with the city. Las Vegas seemed a bit deflated when I arrived Sunday night -- a perfectly understandable feel considering the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight was the night before. The Winter Meetings are a nice distraction, but Vegas seems to love big prizefights more than anything else.
Still, if my conversation with the cab driver who took me from the airport to my hotel is any indication, the denizens of Sin City seem virtually oblivious to the baseball invasion. He had no idea what the Winter Meetings were or that they were taking place in Las Vegas, but he had plenty to say about the National Finals Rodeo, which are taking place through the end of this week at the Thomas and Mack Center. Go figure.
As my colleague Matt Watson pointed out, Vegas is always busy, but for a rodeo to register above Major League Baseball, well, that's a bit jarring, and it may say something about the viability of this city as a baseball city.
The hotel itself? Well, it's simply crawling with baseball people. I know there were many complaints last year about the labyrinthine layout of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., but the Bellagio isn't exactly an easily navigable grid. On my winding trek to the media room, I passed Rockies manager Clint Hurdle in the lobby, Rangers manager Ron Washington asking an employee for directions and Mets general manager Omar Minaya apparently going to get a morning workout in (no word on whether Francisco Rodriguez was spotting for him.)
It's somewhat jarring to see these guys in such an informal setting, but also a nice reminder that these are just regular people, and that I'm not the only one who had trouble finding my way around the hotel.
Here are some highlights from a morning in the media room that included Greg Maddux's retirement press conference.
- Second baseman Joe Gordon was elected to the Hall of Fame by the veteran's committee, but none of the post-WWII candidates, including Ron Santo and Gil Hodges, made it.
- The Tigers just confirmed that they have acquired catcher Gerald Laird from the Rangers for a pair of prospects. Both GM Dave Dombrowski and manager Jim Leyland seemed genuinely excited about the addition, with Leyland saying "a month ago we were pretty nervous about our situation [at catcher]."
Dombrowski admitted that Detroit briefly looked at free-agent backstop Jason Varitek, but that once the Red Sox offered him arbitration, it "pretty much put a dent" in the club's thoughts of making an offer to him.
- We'll have more on Maddux later Monday night, but when asked what pitchers he thought could put together a career like his -- (fat chance!) -- he mentioned Clayton Kershaw and Jake Peavy specifically.
