GM Meetings: Tuesday Afternoon Bullshit Buzz

The GM Meetings are in full swing in Chicago, which means that so is the 20th century media hack ritual of trying to get scoops to print in the next morning’s paper, so that people can read rumours tomorrow morning, just as they hit their fifteenth hour of being completely shut down, and trying to create content out of absolutely fucking nothing by disrespecting the power of the written word and, Kenny Ken Ken-like, printing bullshit that they know is bullshit, giving out a few clues as to why it’s bullshit (i.e. that the Jays want no part of Milton Bradley), and then printing it anyway, so as to create a stir that will justify their expensive business trip to Chicago. So… with that in mind, here’s the latest shit…

Let There Be No Doubt, This Is A Rebuild

“I don’t see us, next year, being in the free-agent market. Or this year, I guess that’s what we’re saying,” said Paul Beeston, according to the Calgary Herald. “Unless something really puts itself in front of us that’s too good to resist. Because we have to rebuild this team,” he added, before quickly correcting himself to use the “building” term — not rebuilding — Anthopoulos prefers.

NBC Philadelphia Demonstrates How To Half-Ass Coverage In The Internet Age

Are you fucking serious, NBC Philadelphia? You’re going to legitimize a rumour—one that has the Phillies dangling Cole Hamels for Roy Halladay— that came from “a report on Comcast Sportsnet Philly that was quoted on Bleacher Report.com.” For fucking real? Fucking Bleacher Report???? That’s your source? Holy fuck. Do you fucking seriously not have anybody working there who knows that Bleacher Report is little more than giant pool of nonsense turds left by shit retards? Honest to fucking god, NBC Philadelphia, way to make yourselves fucking worthless.

I mean, maybe the Comcast guy said it, but you’re really going to trust Bleacher Report that they have it right? Meh… your funeral.

Mike Silva Says Things I Think I Like

“It was reported that former Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi asked for Ruben Tejeda, Jonathan Niese, Fernando Martinez, and Bobby Parnell,” writes Mike Silva of New York Baseball Digest, of the Mets offer for Halladay this summer. “It’s a deal that, if offered and rejected, I am sure the Mets would like to have back.”

“If the July deal doesn’t get it done I would offer to replace Niese with Mejia and Parnell with Holt. … I would even explore if the inclusion of Mike Pelfrey could replace a prospect or two or sweeten the deal. … Let’s go one step further. Would I make Ike Davis untouchable? The answer is no. Obviously I wouldn’t just throw players in the deal to acquire Halladay, but if Toronto wants Davis perhaps you downgrade the pitchers in the deal and ask for Lyle Overbay (if he still is with Toronto at that point),” he adds.

“Reality is such that the Mets are built to win now. If you are not going to trade Beltran and Santana then you might as well go for it in a one to two year period. … You might not like hearing this, but right now the Mets don’t have the luxury of winning now and building for the future. Incompetent management has destroyed that opportunity and only breaking this down and building it up can fix that. Unfortunately there is a team across town that makes any idea of rebuilding dangerous. A conservative plan threatens to set the franchise back a decade and reap long term harm to fan loyalty. Remember, the kids want to root for a winner, not share in the pain of their parents. The Mets need star power both on the field and in the box office. Roy Halladay meets both those needs.”

Sherman: Halladay’s Market, AA’s Focus, Belief In Rogers?

Joel Sherman of the New York Post gives a nice summary of the Halladay situation, noting that “In some respects, little has changed. Blue Jays officials are saying they are going to have to be wowed -- think one elite prospect as part of a package at minimum -- to consider moving Halladay. One Toronto executive said, ‘We would rather have one above-average impact guy than eight ordinary guys.’ So it is quality over quantity, or else the Jays are insisting they will try to find those high-end guys with the two draft picks they would receive in compensation if Halladay leaves in free agency.”

Interestingly, Sherman also points out a couple of nuggets that either haven’t been said so clearly before, or that I’ve just completely missed.

We all know that Anthopoulos has focussed his reshape of the front office on scouting and player development, and Sherman says that the Jays have hired an “unprecedented” number of scouts—25 amateur and 25 pro. “The idea of new GM Alex Anthopoulos is to try to become the best drafting and trading team in the sport -- essentially to know available players at all levels better than any other team to avoid expensive free agents.”

He also has one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen attributed to someone in the Jays front office who I assume wasn’t completely bullshitting. “Wouldn't it be valuable to get the best possible deal for Halladay plus use the $15.75 million in other ways?” he asks, and then says that “Toronto officials counter that their ownership, Rogers Communication, is the richest of any team and has no problem paying Halladay if that is what is best for the overall health of the franchise.”

Based on system access fees alone, that might actually be fucking true. Holy shit.

And while I don’t think they want any part of keeping Halladay and then just taking the picks, I’m starting to believe that Rogers might actually be prepared to not be complete pieces of shit—going forward, that is. Not this year. This year they were total fucks.

We Didn’t Need To Be Told This, But Thanks…

I like Jerry Crasnick of ESPN, and not just because he was kind enough to be on our podcast, and I think the rest of his Eight Questions For Baseball Executives post was pretty great, but did he really have to go and hammer home the point that Vernon Wells has a shitty contract by asking 20 executives who is more untradable, Wells or Milton Bradley—about which 20 of 20 said Wells.

Seriously… we know. OK????

Montreal Still Grieving Over Expos

Not hotstove-related, but here’s a fantastic piece from Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette, Part of Montreal’s soul died when Expos left, which reopens the wounds of five years ago when the team left town for good. Yep… it still sucks.