THE SILLY SEASON CONVENTION

Also known as the Baseball Winter Meetings.

It's in Las Vegas this year which will give the General Managers something to do. It used to be they all met to discuss rule changes and make trades, but because everything is money these days, nobody makes a move without checking with the owners and the geeks in the front office. Why?
 1)  The players agents' ask for astronomical money
 2)  All rule changes must be geared toward getting more fans (money) into the stadiums
 3)  Trades are determined by the saber metrics, not statistics
 4)  Most owners are megalomaniacs (Actually, this one probably supersedes the first three)

In the past, it could have been called uber-agent Scott Boras' house party. He didn't walk around the hotel, he was carried by GMs carrying him in a litter that would have been envied by Egyptian pharaohs. These days, it's not so much about the annual salaries as the extreme lengths of the contracts. 10-year deals are not out of the ordinary now. Multiply the yearly figure by the number of years and you get numbers that are mind-boggling. Bryce Harper is reportedly looking for 10 years at $40 million per. That's $400 million dollars people. Manny Machado is looking for $300 million. Imagine that? $30 million a year to jog to first base.

In spite of these numbers, the Scott Boras theory (TODO) is still in effect -  The One Dumb Owner. This year, the prime candidate is John Middleton and his son, John Jr. of the Philadelphia Phillies. He's already stated that he's willing to spend "stupid money," a phrase that has Boras salivating worse than Pavlov's dogs.

The Baseball Hall of Fame Veterans committee has elected two players into the hall this week. Harold Baines and Lee Smith. Again, my standards for election are much higher than the people who actually get a vote. I believe the Hall should be reserved for great or outstanding players and not just very-good players. Smith is certainly a deserving choice but not Baines. He may have been very popular but his numbers are very good but  not outstanding. David Schoenfield, an ESPN Senior Writer, had this to say about Baines: "A nice player, good enough to make some All-Star teams, but not a great player, not in the way you think of Hall of Famers."  The 35 players on the ballot in January for the BBWAA regular selection contain only four players worthy of consideration.
Mariano Rivera - a shoo-in
Mike Mussina - somewhat marginal but he should make it.
Edgar Martinez - his numbers aren't quite good enough
Curt Schilling - good, but his numbers aren't even as good as Mussina's
I don't count Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens, since the stigma of PEDs are paramount in their consideration. Maybe this shouldn't count, but for some reason, these two seem to bear the burden of guilt. Both have captured a little more than 50% of the vote last time. We'll have to wait to see if this continues.

Soon, I will comment on this years College Football Bowl Games.

Congratulations to Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times and author of Sideline Chatter, a wry look at sports. He has just completed his 19th year and I've enjoyed his humor for at least 10 of those years.

***THEY SAID IT***
"Long-time Bears fan Danica Patrick says she is a Packers fan now that she's dating QB Aaron Rodgers. Oh well, after all her years with NASCAR, she's used to trailing the competition."  -- RJ Currie
"Colin Kaepernick reportedly would consider a tryout with the Washington Redskins. So the former Super Bowl QB is willing to compromise on his stated desire to play for an NFL team?"  -- Janice Hough
" Dec. 1’s St. John’s-Georgia Tech “Miami Invitational” in 20,000-seat  American Airlines Arena,
 officially reported 5,749 in the house. Thus, as seen — or not seen — on ESPNU, at least 5,000 were hiding."  -- Phil Mushnick
"Clippers guard Patrick Beverley got ejected and fined $25,000 for throwing a bounce pass at a courtside fan who heckled him in Dallas. Flummoxed statisticians were hopelessly torn: assist or turnover?"  -- Dwight Perry
" Yahoo! Sports reports Wizards centre Dwight Howard needs surgery for a lingering gluteal injury. Ironic for a guy widely considered by so many teammates as a pain in the ass."  -- RJ Currie
"’ll say this about Robinson Cano: He did seem more excited to be a Met than Carlos Beltran, who practically showed up for his introductory Mets press conference wearing a Yankees cap."  -- Mike Vaccaro, NY Post
"MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wants to do something next year to limit shifts. Uh, here’s a solution – teach players to bunt."  -- Janice Hough
"Kyler Murray won the Heisman which I attribute mostly to the difficulty of spelling "Tua Tagovailoa" -- Brad Dickson

"(Harold Baines made the HOF, George Steinbrenner didn't) "In what universe did Baines impact Major League Baseball more than The Boss?"  -- Ken Davidoff, NY Post
"Derek Fisher says moving to the WNBA was not a step down. Which is actually true considering his last job before that was coaching the Knicks" -- Jim Barach (jokesbyjim.blogspot.com)

CP-