Elliott: Memories of the Anatole and past winter meetings in Big D _ Dallas

December 13, 2024

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

DALLAS _ Walking around the Anatole hotel lobby this week at the winter meetings I noticed a difference:

_ In 1987, 1994, 2000, 2005 and 2011 the meetings were staged at the Loews Anatole. This week we noticed a name change. It’s now a Hilton Anatole.

Yet, there was little change between this second week of December and early December of 1987 ... except the lobbies, hallways and atrium were crowded with more agents and more job seekers. Baseball people were few and far between save for a manager walking as quickly as possible to get through the throng, the crowd was a lot younger than 2011 -- or maybe I’m a lot older.

There are 1,606 rooms in the Anatole which sits on 45 acres in south Dallas.

I saw a young job seeker dressed in a new suit sitting on a ledge with a pizza box on his lap. He was about half-way through his pizza when I walked past. I retreated and whispered into his ear so his buddy beside him could not hear

“Hey kiddo ... why not move to a table, am guessing that pizza grease will go through the bottom of the box and stain both your pant legs.”

He thanked me and lifted up the box slowly. I didn’t wait around to see if there was any damage.

Randal Hendricks set the record straight in 1987: either George Bell was getting a multi-year deal or he would not re-sign with the Jays after the 1988 season.

_ Talking with Randal Hendricks near the atrium set of elevators ... 1987.

I saw the exact spot near the elevators where I ran into player agent Hendricks after I had filed for first edition. Hendricks and I exchanged pleasantries. I had filed for 11 o’clock (Toronto time) and figured I was done for the night.

The Jays made known their plans for 1988: they would re-up Bell for one year. Hendricks said “either George gets a multi-year deal or he plays next year with the Jays and goes elsewhere as a free agent. That’s a promise.”

I don’t remember if I made the midnight deadline or the 2 a.m. paper but the story made the morning bugle. The next day Bell was presented the Sporting News Player of the Year award in a conference room. It usually went to the best player in the game, whereas the American and National League each selected MVP winners.

Before the presentation began Tom Cheek, covering the meetings for TSN asked Hendricks, “We understand you were quoted in a Toronto paper threatening George Bell would leave -- if we can believe the report.”

Standing in the background I was nervous. In Ottawa, the NHL’s Colorado Rockies were looking to re-locate and Ottawa was a possible destination. Alan Eagleson told me Ottawa was “not a big-league city.” I awoke the next day to hear his denials on CFRA “I never said that -- Ottawa is a wonderful city.” So, I feared the worst. As Hall of Famer Michael Farber used to say at Olympic Stadium: “roughly 75% of writers have been used by agents, the other 25% just don’t know it.”

After what seemed like five minutes when it was probably two or three seconds, Hendricks answered: “I have not read the paper, but I believe it to be 100% accurate, it was not a threat, a notification.”

That was me giving a deep breath.

The Jays gave Bell a multi-year deal two months later avoiding arbitration in New York.

Almost-A-Blue-Jay RHP Bob Welch of the Los Angles Dodgers

_ The tiny alcove which led to the washrooms, hearing Bobby Valentine scream at Tommy Lasorda, 1987.

I’d written two days in a row how the Blue Jays were trying to make a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers with the key pieces being Jays RF Jesse Barfield and Dodgers RHP Bob Welch.

Teams usually don’t confirm trade talks, so even though you think you are 100% right, you always worry. Late one night I emerged from the washroom and I could hear Texas Rangers manager Valentine yelling at his former manager Lasorda. Valentine had played for the Dodgers. They had a father-son relationship.

“You guys are DEAD WRONG!” Valentine yelled. “You have pitching, you don’t have anyone like Barfield.”

So, although the deal never happened I knew that the two teams were talking and we had it right.

On April 30, 1989, Barfield was dealt to the Yanks for Al Leiter, ending Pat Gillick’s 628-day inactive session of moving players on the 40-man roster. In 396 games, Barfield hit 62 home runs for the Yankees, while Welch was dealt to the A’s a few days later, where he won 84 games and a Cy Young award over the next five years.

Leiter went 155-124 and won three World Series rings.

Full-time reliever/part-time groundskeeper Dan Plesac

_ Reliever Dan Plesac had a bone of contention in his contract discussions with the Jays, 2000.

“The only time the negotiations with GM Gord Ash got real tough was when I asked for $1,000 to buy new brooms for the grounds crew,” said Plesac, who agreed to a two-year, $4.5 million contract. “He wouldn’t budge so I guess I’m going to have to go with the 1997 brooms.”

On a few occasions in his first stint with the Jays, Plesac would don the grounds crew’s apparel and join them when they changed the bases and raked the dirt portion of the infield in the middle of the fifth inning.

Former Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi

_ J.P. Riccardi complained about the “albatross” contracts former GM Gord Ash had signed (most notably the Carlos Delgado contract), 2005.

It was one of the Jays busiest winter meetings. Ricciardi signed free agent A.J. Burnett (five-years, $55-million) and acquired first baseman Lyle Overbay, giving up former No. 1 picks Zack Jackson and Gabe Gross plus second-round pick David Bush. The week before he had signed free-agent closer B.J. Ryan (five years, $47 million).

Former Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos, who ended the club’s post-season drought at 22 years.

_ Seeing GM Alex Anthoupoulos zip into an elevator, 2011.

The Blue Jays had bid on free agent RHP Yu Darvish, who had posted in Japan. Sealed bids were made. The Jays had bid. About 25 writers and TV people from Japan were approaching. There was Anthopoulos lugging his own bag -- gone.

Free-agent SS Alex Rodriguez signs with the Texas Rangers with a 10-year $252 million deal.

_ We walked into the room Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of Major League Baseball, held court saying he was “stupefied,” complaining about the high cost of contracts, 2011.

Alderson said that free-agent contract numbers were “beyond alarming,” and the industry was “in crisis.” The Colorado Rockies had signed LHP Mike Hampton to an eight-year $121-million US deal. Two days later, the Texas Rangers gave Alex Rodriguez a 10-year, $252-million deal.

“In two days, we’ve doubled the highest salary,” Alderson told reporters. “It’s a straight upward trend and doesn’t augur well, at all. Every club will be affected.”

The Rangers decided not to hold the A-Rod press conference. Owner Tom Hicks wanted it at the ballpark in Arlington, just as the area was hit by a freak ice storm. Cabs wanted triple the fare to get back to Dallas. My pal the late Gerry Fraley drove north past DFW where we wrote from the car in the parking lot of Esparza’s Restaurante Mexicano.

Alderson was in the same hotel Sunday night when the New York Mets gave free-agent Juan Soto a 15-year $765 million contract with zero deferred money, a $75 million signing bonus and an opt out clause -- which if he does not take would bump it to $805 million.

The legendary baseball executive Roland Hemond

_ Seated in the lobby next to then Baltimore Orioles GM Roland Hemon in 1994.

Hemond told us what the week of the winter meetings meant to him as a youngster counting the days until “pitcher and catchers report.”

“It’s great to be a ball fan this week,” Hemond said. “I can remember running home from school to read the paper about what my team was trying do, then reading different proposed trades in the other paper and then going outdoors to argue with my friends which would be the best move to make.

“It’s like a million dollars worth of free publicity for the game.”

Reliever Sergio Santos, left, is congratulated by C J. P. Arencibia after a Blue Jays victory.

_ Jays acquire Sergio Santos and mentioned maybe a dozen times that they had him “under control for the next six seasons” in 2011.

Only problem with the former Chicago White Sox reliever was that Santos has little control. Santos had signed a club-friendly, three-year $8.25-million contract with three option years with the White Sox meaning he was under the Jays control until 2017.

In 61 games with the Jays, he had a 5.23 ERA and eight saves in 16 chances. He walked 26 and threw six wild pitches in 51 2/3 innings, allowing seven home runs. He was under control for three seasons before being granted free agency after the 2014 seasons.