Executives and agents packed their bags and boarded planes in Chicago, thinking about what they had seen and heard over the previous 48 hours, such as:
The Rust Belt Ripples. Just months after the Indians' payroll concerns nudged them into unloading Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez, the Tigers and Reds have indicated to other teams a willingness -- and rival executives are reading it as a plea -- to dump salary. Among the players said to be in play: Bronson Arroyo, Curtis Granderson, Edwin Jackson, Carlos Guillen, Brandon Phillips, Aaron Harang et al. This is a surprise to no one, because of the discounts given out by teams during the season in an effort to bolster sagging attendance and to make up for revenue lost with expiring sponsorships. This will have a major bearing on the current personnel market, presenting unique opportunities for the big-market teams.
For example (and to be clear, what follows in this paragraph is pure speculation): Could the Red Sox call the Reds and say, "OK, we'll take the $13 million that you still owe to Bronson Arroyo or Aaron Harang off your hands -- if you give us Brandon Phillips so we can play him at shortstop." Or maybe the Yankees could propose a deal with the Tigers for Curtis Granderson that has New York absorbing the bulk of the last dollars owed to Dontrelle Willis.
"I don't think this is nearly that far along," said one GM, "but I think it's pretty clear that there are real financial concerns driving those teams."
For more lessons learned from the GM meetings, and a mountain of free-agency news and chatter, you must be an ESPN Insider.
Buster Olney
Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.
He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).
Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."
For more lessons learned from the GM meetings, and a mountain of free-agency news and chatter, you must be an ESPN Insider.
Buster Olney
