6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

It just doesn't seem that big. The Anaheim Marriott is as featureless as any hotel you could care to name; for all that it matters to the assembled crowd, the mobs of reporters, the tiny contingent of GMs, and the other myriad hangers-on, this could have been the Disneyland La Quinta Inn. The hotel lobby formed the axis of the swirling crowd, a constant loud buzz resounding through the room. Certainly, the stargazing was unmatched; in one thirty minute span, we saw Tommy Lasorda, Brian Cashman, and Frank McCourt. In other rooms, away from the noise, flitting in and out like a gray-haired Peter Pan flew Peter Gammons, cellphone always at hand by a surgically attached earpiece. The Fox Sports West crew -- including the impossibly thin Jeannie Zelasko -- had one of the side entrances partly shut down for filming.

My God is it tiring.

I hooked up with Jay Jaffe, Alex Ciepley, Rich Lederer, Will Carroll, Peter White, and Jon Weisman in the lobby, and that was my afternoon. Lederer, who has a quiet reserve about him at all times, might confuse some people into thinking he's shy. This is as far from the truth as the stated weight is on my driver's license; within a minute after I first encountered him, he excused himself and managed to buttonhole a VIP into giving him an interview later. (I won't spoil it for Rich, but let me say it should be interesting when he publishes it.) It's not surprising; he yesterday held court with Scott Boras over the Jared Weaver non-signing in what must have been one of the more ballsy interviews he's done yet:

I asked Boras about the status of Jered Weaver, and he turned to me and said “Is that a question?” I rephrased it, suggesting that it was the Angels and not Weaver who had the leverage at this point. Boy, did I strike a nerve! Boras said it was “disingenuous” of the Angels to draft Weaver and not negotiate with him in good faith. He made it clear that “our demands were fully known before the draft,” that “11 teams had passed on him,” and the fact that the whole process was “unfair to Jered.”

I told Boras that I was sympathetic to their situation but mentioned that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to make up the lost money should Weaver choose to wait and go back into the draft next June.

Jered is a special talent, a premier pitcher. He’s about as close as you can be from pitching in the major leagues. J.D. Drew decided that he didn’t want to play for a team that wasn’t going to treat him fairly. We’ll see what happens.

"Good faith", Rich confirmed, essentially meant -- to Boras -- meeting his published demands, $10M+ and six years guaranteed. The theory about this was, hey, Jered was still picked in the first round, the Angels knew what they were getting into. That is, this is not a negotiation. Take our price or back into the draft he goes. This, as Rich pointed out, is a remarkably bad deal if you're Weaver because it means he either returns to CSULB next year or goes undrafted in 2005. Never mind that it means Boras is essentially playing a game of chicken with his young charge's future; it wouldn't be the first time.

Will disappeared and reappeared numerous times, a Cheshire Cat feasting at a rich banquet of gossip and -- sometimes -- actual news. At one point, he rematerialized with a sly grin, to inform us Pavano had signed with the Yankees, for 4 years/$40M. Then he left just as quickly. This was how it went all day and into the night. Presently, we hooked up with Voros McCracken, a voluble fellow eager to discuss anything baseball-related, so long as it didn't have anything to do with the Red Sox. I asked him about Tom Tippett's 2003 response to DIPS, to which he replied

1. I subsequently backed away from some of the statements he attributes to me.
2. With regards to Jamie Moyer, how do you justify cutting off his career prior to 1996?

Update: we asked Voros about working with Bill James. He told us he hadn't actually worked that much with him, but he did attend a dinner with him once. He said that when James talks, you can tell that not only is he thinking about his first thought, but there are five thoughts behind it flying a holding pattern waiting to land immediately afterwards. He is a man you must -- must -- listen to attentively, or not at all. Why am I not surprised?

I met Joe Sheehan, who was nice enough to say nothing about this blog, assuming he had ever read it. And -- in case you were wondering, Jay's shoulder is doing fine, thank you. Me? I'm still panting a little just thinking about it all, feeling a little star-struck and numb. I think you really have to be an athlete to work this gig, or something.

---

Update: Oh, and of course, one good tidbit we did hear: the A's and Dodgers are working on moving Hudson to LA. No details, of course. Also, a rumor that the Yanks were never negotiating in good faith with Jaret Wright, as they had only contemplated him as a plan B at best, and a bargaining chip at worst, to get Pavano.

Update 12/12: Rich, Jon, Alex, Peter, Will, and Jay all have daily summaries up. No wonder Rich sauntered up so easily to Tommy Lasorda -- his dad used to cover the Dodgers for the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

About Jay: Jay is every bit as sharp in person as you would expect from his writing. With his dark glasses and wiry physique, he looks like the Elvis Costello of baseball bloggers, a human firecracker waiting to explode. Jay fielded a surprise rumor after I left when he wrote that the Angels are hotly pursuing 14.7 VORP Orlando Cabrera (vs 15.7 David Eckstein). I've heard this before, but just can't believe the Angels are in that desperate need of a worse-hitting, worse-fielding shortstop (RAR2 25 for Eckstein, vs 17 for Cabrera), especially with so much talent in the minors up the middle.