5 front office execs on the hot seat if 2023 MLB Winter Meetings go wrong
By Mark Powell
We're nearly a month into MLB free agency, and the main even has yet to take place. The Winter Meetings are where many of the key negotiations between general managers, agents and players take place. This year, Nashville will play host to what's sure to be an electric week in the MLB offseason.
The best free agents in baseball -- minus Aaron Nola, of course -- remain available. Shohei Ohtani's market should heat up either before or during the early December sweepstakes, along with so many others.
Contenders such as the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers will look to add to their rosters, while other, less successful big-market organizations hope to add perhaps the final piece to a World Series equation.
The winter meetings can make or break a front office executive's career. Just ask Chaim Bloom, who last offseason let Xander Bogaerts leave for the San Diego Padres, and this winter is jobless. As fun as the winter meetings are for fans, they can be nerve-wracking for those in the thick of it.
The Milwaukee Brewers need to get the MLB Winter Meetings right
After losing Craig Counsell this offseason to the rival Chicago Cubs, Brewers front office executive Matt Arnold cannot afford a poor winter meetings showing. Milwaukee is in an intriguing spot -- they can stand pat and compete for another NL Central crown, or start over with new manager Pat Murphy by trading away some key assets.
The likes of Freddy Peralta, Corbin Burnes and Willy Adames have already been floated in trade talks. Burnes and Peralta would likely net the strongest returns, with the former seemingly on the way out since last spring, when the Brewers arbitration process went sour. FanSided's Robert Murray detailed the Brewers mistake at the time, and what it likely meant:
"It happened again with Corbin Burnes on Tuesday. The Brewers filed at $10.01 million while Burnes requested $10.75 million. The Brewers won the hearing, but a day after the ruling, Burnes met with reporters and sounded off about the process...Going to an arbitration hearing, and ripping the best young pitcher in baseball to his face, over less than $750,000 is not worth it. Sure, it saved the Brewers money now. It saved them money in the future, too," Murray wrote.
For Arnold to save face, he'll have to trade at least Burnes to a contender for a package loaded with prospects or young MLB talent. Adames is also a target, though a down 2023 may force the Brewers to keep him around.