Craig Calcaterra: What Are the GM Meetings?

[weams]

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/10/general-manager-meetings-begin-today-in-phoenix/

The first official hot stove season event gets underway today. It's the General Manager Meetings. Which are basically the less-noticed but possibly more interesting younger brother to the Winter Meetings. They get underway today at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix and go through Thursday.

Officially there is Major League Baseball business on the agenda - nothing massive like big rules changes or anything - but the real value of the GM meetings is for execs to being laying the groundwork for trades and free agent signings this offseason. To have preliminary conversations with other GMs and with agents. In the past this meant laying the groundwork for deals in December at the Winter Meetings and later. However, last year there was a lot of action in later November soon after the GM meetings concluded. Which means that the rumors you hear this week, as opposed to last week, may have more heft to them and may be a lot closer to actual deals.

[weams]

Paul Hagen of MLB.com has some details:

The official agenda of the Meetings is confidential, but it's known that there will be a standard umpiring report and reviews of both the inaugural season of expanded instant replay and a experimental Rule 7.13 governing home-plate collisions.

The Playing Rules Committee is expected to have a brief meeting to prepare for its report at the Winter Meetings in San Diego beginning Dec. 7. Among the topics that will be discussed are the new pace of game initiatives with a focus on the effect of changes that were implemented in the Arizona Fall League.

In addition, clubs are given the opportunity to discuss any issues they choose to raise. Recommendations may be made that can be considered at the Owners Meetings the following week in Kansas City.

[weams]

What Roch got from Dan Duquette

"We'll be looking for pitching and seeing if there's pitching that can help us. The bullpen will be the focus. Some of the holes on our team can be filled with some players we've got coming back to join us next year that weren't with us this year. That will be helpful. We do have established starting pitchers, so that's why the bullpen is more of a focus right now. If we have some pitching depth in our starting rotation, that would allow us to explore some trades."

[Ven6]

What are the GM meetings? A place for Markakis' agent to get a better deal:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/markakis-agent-to-meet-with-multiple-clubs-this-week.html

And I hope he does.

[weams]

What are the GM meetings? A place for Markakis' agent to get a better deal:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/markakis-agent-to-meet-with-multiple-clubs-this-week.html

And I hope he does.

Or a place for Nick to have his numbers adjusted. Most modern teams look at WAR and ISO in making their offers. That does not rule out the Phillies or the Royals.

[backwardsk]

Paul Hagen of MLB.com has some details:

9:30AM-11:00AM: Why Laz Diaz is So Bad

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[clapdiddy]

9:30AM-11:00AM: Why Laz Diaz is So Bad

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I think they'll need more time for that subject!

[sportsfan8703]

So the way DD it isn't sounding good for Matusz and Miller being Orioles next year. DD needs to find us our next Brach.

[Frobby]

Or a place for Nick to have his numbers adjusted. Most modern teams look at WAR and ISO in making their offers. That does not rule out the Phillies or the Royals.

How do you know what most teams look at? I'd say they have more sophisticated metrics than WAR, that ISO is a pretty tiny component of that they look at, but they also look at the reds of their own team in a sophisticated way to determine who fits them best.