Late arrivals slow winter meetings
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Baseball’s annual winter meetings are off to a slow start, which some teams apparently predicted. Although many general managers got to Indianapolis on Sunday -- the Boston Red Sox’s brass, including General Manager Theo Epstein, sat in the press box during the Colts-Tennessee Titans game -- a handful of organizations, including the Angels, Florida Marlins and Cleveland Indians, won’t see their general managers check in until this afternoon.
Über agent Scott Boras is here, however, and the St. Louis Cardinals have apparently told him they’d like to sit down and talk about free-agent outfielder Matt Holliday.
The first deal to be announced here could very well be the Seattle Mariners’ signing of free-agent infielder Chone Figgins, who has spent his whole big-league career with the Angels. The Mariners say they are waiting for the results of Figgins’ physical before confirming the deal. That announcement could come late today or early Tuesday.
The most surprising news to date is the fact the Yankees are reportedly serious about cutting their $200-million payroll a month after winning the World Series. General Manager Brian Cashman‘s target figure is $185 million, ESPN is reporting, which would still be the largest in baseball by about $35 million. But the Yankees do hope to find enough spare change in the sofa cushions to bring back left-hander Andy Pettitte for a 16th season. Pettitte, 37, signed for an incentive-laden $5-million contract last winter and wound up winning 14 regular-season games before earning the victory in the clinching game of the World Series.
One rumor that has proved untrue involved the Pittsburgh Pirates’ apparent interest in Dodger outfielder Juan Pierre. The Dodgers had hoped to move Pierre in exchange for some of Pittsburgh’s young pitchers, but the Pirates say they’re keeping their arms.
-- Kevin Baxter in Indianapolis