Too many people are guessing, theorizing, and pontificating as to what is going on. The agents for Reyes and most of the teams interested in him (including the Mets) have not leaked much information and that has people grasping for things. And to generate stories, people are taking leaps of faith. The biggest was those was on Sunday when it was leaked by one member of the media that a Reyes deal with the Marlins was done except for some minor details. PLEASE STOP THE INSANITY!
For example, some people suggest that Hanley Ramirez has been asked to switch positions — others contend he has not. Some says it is a slam dunk he will move anywhere — even center field. The only thing I can tell you is Hanley Ramirez said as recently as Friday,”I am the shortstop right now.”
All requisite hot-stove snark aside for a second, what percentage of baseball’s offseason rumors would you say are legitimately attached to actual front-office proceedings? I don’t mean nebulous “discussings” or “coulds” or “considerings.” I mean the real stuff — trade proposals, free-agent offers, things like that. Those can’t account for more than, what, 30 percent of the rumors, right?
And then think about how often a deal goes down that you hadn’t heard rumored at all. What percentage of the things that are actually happening do you think the things that are reported to be happening represent? I bet it’s not much. Maybe 20 percent, tops.
So even though there are decent reporters out there doing good work in the hot-stove season, it’s easy — perhaps even sensible — to get overwhelmed and frustrated with the glut of unsubstantiated nonsense, especially when there’s so little reward for sifting through the crap to find the real news.
To me it seems like the most productive use of offseason time is to avoid all speculative information and to instead just wait until deals actually get done and decide what I think about them then.
Something else to consider: When you see anonymously sourced hot-stove news credited to a team source, what’s in it for the team source? Why are we reading so many reports about the Marlins’ wooing free agents and so few about every other team? Are the Marlins really the only team pursuing free agents, or are they the only team very invested in having you know that they’re pursuing free agents?
Tedquarters 