Bernstein: MLB Spotlight Not On Cubs, Sox
By Dan Bernstein--
If the respective general managers of the Cubs and Sox attended the recent meetings in Orlando, you'd hardly know it. Jim Hendry and Kenny Williams are overseeing what is, to this point, the quietest start to an offseason for both teams in years.
The all-encompassing immediacy of modern media makes every speculative phone call a story. There is no tweet too innocuous, no expression of mild interest too vague, and no rumored free agent too insignificant to escape attention. But on sites like mlbtraderumors.com, it seems as if Chicago is no longer on the map.
Don't misconstrue this as a simplistic "Do something!" demand. You know that I'm aware that there is a relatively long time before a meaningful pitch is thrown, and that shrewd patience in a market can be rewarded.
It's just such a departure from what we have gotten used to in recent years here. On one side of town, freewheelin' Jim was waving around his giant checkbook, passing out no-trade clauses like Halloween candy, signing deals in between bites of prime steak, and even during angioplasty. They hired a hitting coach with the fanfare of an inauguration. On the other side, angry Kenny worked the phones and paced the hotel corridors, staying in the running for star players while fuming about loose-lipped agents and prospective trade partners' leaks to the media.
Different times, now, though.
Hendry's checkbook is gone -- locked away by new ownership looking at grim economic reality -- and he has nothing to do. The manly recruiting dinners are over. It's more likely he's reduced to tinkering around the edges.
Williams has depleted an already-thin farm system in his constant efforts to maximize each year's chance at a title. Honorable in its sheer ballsiness, it's a plan that has consequences that are magnified when one of those prized acquisitions gets badly injured, like, say, with a torn latissimus muscle. Williams, too, is bound by a payroll higher than his bosses would like.
Both GMs will need more creativity and risk tolerance than ever if they are going to be active in the coming weeks. Without Yankee money to corner the talent market and buy off mistakes, they will now have to see what others may not, and look for puzzle-pieces that fit better in some places than others.
It's not as sexy as fancy dinners and splashy press conferences, but it can still be smart, winning baseball business.
(But just wait – the way this works, an hour after I write this we're breaking in with news of a four-team trade involving six All-Stars)
