MLB GM Meetings preview

The old saying is that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. That’s unlikely to be the case at this week’s General Managers Meetings, which serve annually as the unofficial start to another Hot Stove season.

What happens in Vegas this week may not result in many concrete moves, but executives and agents will have an opportunity to set the tone for their offseason work, much of which will carry into the weeks and months ahead.

Unlike the Winter Meetings, which is a time for clubs and agents to dive head-first into the task of roster-building for the upcoming season, the GM meetings present an opportunity for the league’s top baseball executives to gather to discuss the game in general — and get a jump on potential moves.

Executives will be in meetings to discuss league-related issues for much of their time in Las Vegas, though they’ll surely find time to begin discussing trade opportunities with each other and meet with agents about this year’s free-agent class.

Here’s a primer on what to expect this week during the GM meetings:

Free agent frenzy
Although free agency officially began late last week, the GM meetings are typically where clubs and agents begin to lay the groundwork for this winter’s deals.

Executives from all 30 clubs will be in Las Vegas for the meetings, as will the vast majority of agents, whose annual meeting will be held later in the week after the GM meetings have concluded. Although executives will be occupied with other business this week, they will surely find time to sit down with a number of agents as the feeling-out process gets underway.

Our annual warning: The fact that free agents are permitted to discuss financial parameters with all 30 clubs doesn’t mean we’ll see any signings during the meetings. These things tend to take some time, and while teams and agents handle much of their business via phone, text and e-mail, there’s something to be said for sitting in the same room together.

New faces at the top
Last year, Buster Posey was the only new executive to make his GM meetings debut.

Paul DePodesta, Chaim Bloom and Paul Toboni are no strangers to this event, but all three will arrive in Las Vegas in different roles than they’ve had in the past.

DePodesta was hired this week as the Rockies’ president of baseball operations, jumping back to the baseball world after spending the past decade in the Cleveland Browns’ front office.

DePodesta served as an assistant GM under Billy Beane with the Athletics from 1999-2004, then spent two seasons as the Dodgers’ GM. His return to baseball is one of the top off-the-field stories of this offseason, and this week will give him a chance to sit down with his counterparts for the first time in his new role.

The Nationals hired Toboni last month, installing the 35-year-old as the club’s new president of baseball operations. Toboni spent the past decade with the Red Sox, working his way up from baseball operations intern all the way to assistant GM, a role he assumed two years ago.

Bloom officially assumed the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations position last week, having spent the past two seasons as an advisor to John Mozeliak. Bloom’s familiarity with the organization should allow him to make a seamless transition into the top job, though this week will mark his first official GM meetings as the man in charge in St. Louis.

Bloom spent 15 seasons with the Rays, working with an array of execs including Andrew Friedman, Erik Neander, Matt Arnold and James Click. Bloom was hired as chief baseball officer by the Red Sox after the 2019 season, spending four seasons at the helm in Boston before being let go in September 2023.

Trade szn
Although transactions are rare at the GM Meetings, they’re not unheard of. The Rangers acquired Jake Odorizzi from the Braves during the 2022 meetings, while the Rays dealt for Mike Zunino in 2018. Craig Kimbrel, Andrelton Simmons, Aaron Hicks and Jeremy Hellickson were all traded during the meetings in 2015, one of the busier weeks we’ve seen at the event.

Even if no trades are finalized this week, the groundwork for offseason trades is often laid at these meetings, one of the rare times that executives from all 30 clubs are in the same place at the same time.

A year ago, the trade market began to simmer at the meetings in San Antonio, with names such as Garrett Crochet and Josh Naylor being tossed around in different conversations.

At the conclusion of those meetings, one executive predicted a trade-filled offseason that would see notable names on the move.

“At least initially, teams seem more willing to talk about names that they weren’t willing to talk about in the past, so I think that’s encouraging,” the executive said.

The following month, Crochet was traded from the White Sox to the Red Sox, and Naylor was dealt from the Guardians to the D-backs. Other players traded last winter included Kyle Tucker, Devin Williams, Cody Bellinger, Jonathan India and Jesús Luzardo.

Qualifying offer decisions looming
Unlike some previous years, when the deadline to accept qualifying offers fell during the GM meetings, this year’s deadline is Nov. 18 — nearly a week after executives head home from Las Vegas.

According to sources, a few players — namely Gleyber Torres, Brandon Woodruff and Shota Imanaga — might consider accepting the one-year, $22.025 million deal, though any or all of them may roll the dice and hit the free-agent market. The conversations their representatives have this week with various clubs may help them make that final determination.