Every year at the start of winter, a swarm of zip-up sweaters descend on a gigantic, labyrinthine hotel to whisper, whine, gossip and drink alcohol.
These are the MLB Winter Meetings, an annual jamboree of handshakes, negotiations and general industry jibber-jabbing. If you’re a casual baseball fan, you’ve probably heard of the reunions as a place where off-season business takes place. It’s somewhat true. The event – this year’s edition will take place Sunday through Wednesday in Dallas – is both much more and much less than that.
It’s best to think of this gathering as the annual convention of the baseball world.
Besides the All-Star Game and the World Series, this event is probably the stop on the calendar that attracts the largest number of baseball players to one location. These people include the bigwigs: team owners, executives, agents, casual baseball players. However, it is rare, if ever, for highly sought-after players to be present. It’s usually lower level free agents or established veterans with off-season homes in the area who come to say hello.
Winter meetings are also a place to ask questions about a job, have a job interview or take a job. An army of energetic, wide-eyed young people eager to work in baseball will dot the hall, handing out resumes by the dozen. Some of these candidates have meetings with potential employers, but many do not.
Throughout the week, the agents meet with the teams. Companies meet teams. Teams meet other teams. The teams meet together. These sit-down meetings take place upstairs, in hotel suites, away from the gaze of the media. Meanwhile, fans from the host city wander the halls hoping to spot something interesting. Their best bet is usually the hotel bar, where one or two retired baseball players can often be found having a drink.
Every so often a news story breaks, sending crowds of journalists rushing to their laptops. A major trade or signing may require an in-person press conference. There’s usually about one a year, plus the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee announcement sends a few more people to Cooperstown. In 2023, Jackson Chourio and the Brewers announce his contract extension during the winter meetings. In 2017, Giancarlo Stanton appeared on the pinstripe podium less than 48 hours after the Marlins traded him to the Yankees.
In recent years, the MLB Draft Lottery has also been held at the meetings. It’s a pretty farcical spectacle: representatives of the worst teams in the league wait on stage, hoping the odds will turn in their favor. There are no ping pong balls, but it’s still pretty fun. The Rule 5 Draft also takes place on the final day, with teams hoping to uncover undervalued minor leaguers trapped in other teams’ farm systems.
But in reality, it’s a lot of waiting, talking, and talking. As Pulitzer Prize-winning sports writer Arthur Daley wrote in the December 11, 1947 edition of The New York Times:
“Baseball games never seem to change from year to year. And none of the characters seem to age a day. Maybe this settled life keeps them young because they are the craziest group of lobbyists you’ve ever seen.
The winter meetings began out of necessity. Before cell phones, computers, fax machines and the like, gathering in a central location once a winter was the quickest way for baseball executives to communicate and conduct off-season business. The first edition took place in 1876, when the National League came together. expel two clubs for refusing to take the last road trip of the season.
As the sport grew over time, the event became a trade incubator, with executives working out the details over a few drinks in the hotel lobby. Another Daley New York Times article from 1950 tells the story of New York Giants skipper Leo Durocher walking into the Lord Baltimore Hotel and shouting to no one in particular, “Anybody want to make a trade?” I want it. And when free agency took the league by storm in the 1970s, agents flocked to meetings to negotiate on behalf of their clients.
These days, real business happens out of sight. Some executives avoid lobbying to avoid being harassed by members of the media and job seekers. Others enjoy small talk and have been known to linger at the hotel bar well after last call.
Some years the meetings are a real snoozefest. Last December, reporters wandered aimlessly around the Opryland Resort in Nashville, waiting for Shohei Ohtani to sign. He didn’t do so until the following weekend, which helped turn the meetings into an arctic freeze. There were trade controversies with Juan Soto, but that deal wasn’t finalized until everyone left Nashville. The biggest transaction of the meetings turned out to be the Yankees-Red Sox Alex Verdugo trade.
But sometimes the annual meeting produces drama of the highest order. In 2022, an incorrect report claiming free agent Aaron Judge and the San Francisco Giants had agreed to terms sent the entire conference into a frenzy. In 2019, agent Scott Boras closed massive contracts for Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon and Gerrit Cole on three consecutive days. The 1992 Louisville Meetings saw a young baseball player named Barry Bonds sign a historic six-year, $43 million contract with the Giants. In 2011, the last time the Winter Meetings were held in Dallas, a guy fell into a body of water in the hall. Also in Dallas: Alex Rodriguez signed his huge contract with the Texas Rangers in 2000.
This edition could be spicy, depending on when Juan Soto, the biggest fish this wintersigns which will surely be a record contract. Nothing is imminent, but the consensus around the game is that the meetings won’t end with Soto still on the open market.
In fact, all signs point to Dallas seeing a relatively high number of trades. Baseball offseasons are notorious for moving forward, with top free agents holding out until early spring. We do not think that this will be the case for this go-around, which could give rise to particularly pleasant and eventful winter meetings. Fingers crossed.
