If I properly understood the premise, Jean-Paul Sartre suggested that nothingness was not simply the absence of something, but a something unto itself. When you are aware of loss, it is more tangible than simply the acknowledgement that something or someone is no longer in your presence. The hole ripped in your being by their leaving is, in and of itself, something.
It has now been nearly 24 hours since T.R. Sullivan upended the relative peace at the Swan and Dolphin by tweeting that the Rangers and Diamondbacks were involved in trade talks and Zack Greinke’s name was being bandied about. Everyone, including myself, covertly called or texted their people who might know, and we covered our screens in case we got a scoop that no one else had. Then we all hung out in the hotel lobby and talked in increasingly loud tones, confident that all the scoops were probably scooped and there was really no danger of loose lips sinking ships. News broke that Shohei Ohtani’s UCL was iffy, and we all gaped at our phones and covered our mouths, and went back to our saying and our hearing and our shaking of hands.
Today, we waited. And the nothingness settled back in, unless you were covering the Marlins or the Cardinals or a few other teams that made a few other moves. The Rangers media faction felt around in the nothingness for a something, or more accurately, a something else.
We heard about the Rangers signing another Bahamian teenager, and we had the Manager’s Luncheon where all thirty teams (sans the Royals, who are hoping Ned Yost recovers from his tree-fall in time for Spring Training) dragged their managers out and forced them to share a meal with the local media. No rumors were confirmed or denied, and we talked about concerts we had been to, or would like to go to (I chose Arcade Fire, Willie Nelson, and Kendrick Lamar as three that I would pay money to see in person).
It’s day four of the Winter Meetings, and I’m talking about Kendrick Lamar. That’s a great topic, but #Sources confirm, in context of the Winter Meetings, concert talk is another Something filling the silence of the Nothingness.
Jon Daniels conceded that perhaps the Winter Meetings aren’t what they used to be.
“You know, I found the GM meetings to be a lot better, just because it’s a lot more conducive for work,” Daniels answered today about the slow pace of what has become a yearly circus of media, agents, and television coverage. “It’s smaller, and a little more conducive for face-to-face, things of that nature. Obviously, things get done via text all the time now, but there’s definitely value in sitting down face-to-face and being able to talk through things.”
Daniels wasn’t complaining, but he did have a point. “It’s just that, at the GM meetings, it’s just generally smaller, so people are at the same bar, the same restaurants, the hotel is smaller, they’re in the lobby, there’s no job-seekers, there’s no MLB Network setup, there’s less media, there’s fewer agents, and (so) there’s more club-to-club dialogue. And all of that is– I get it: the Winter Meetings are a big industry now, in and of themselves(…) If the goal is to generate interest, then this format may be great for the (sport). There’s more written, talked about, hits, TV time, the whole deal. So if that’s the goal from an industry standpoint… I’m not thinking along those lines, (but)…”
Daniels also brought up something I hadn’t considered. At a time when teams are making billions of dollars worth of decisions, they’re being put into an atmosphere that may not be one that makes them feel confident that they are making the right decisions.
“It’s just a weird setup, where some of the biggest decisions—not just for the Rangers, but industry-wide—are made when people aren’t going outside, they aren’t eating well, they’re not sleeping well, they’re stressed. It’s just not a good way to do business in general. You wouldn’t do anything else (that way).”
The topic in the room shifted to the NFL and NBA having a dead period, and in doing so, the sports create something of a sense of urgency.
“The fans obviously like it,” Daniels concluded.
“The fans love it.” one reporter agreed.
I channeled Sartre and embraced the nothingness of my own silence.
“It’s debilitating,” another voice chimed in.
And we shuffled out of the room, having asked the same Somethings as we had the three days before, and having heard mostly the same Nothingness we had heard the three days before, and we went to our computers to write our stories before we went back to the lobby to speak in increasingly loud tones, hoping that some ships get sunk before we all pack our bags and fly back home.
NOTES:
BIG NEWS, and this is a quote: “Nothing has changed.” in the Rangers priorities since yesterday. They’re still pursuing pitching, both starting and relief.
Daniels did say that the Rangers aren’t “motivated” to move Choo. “No, he had a really good year for us,” Daniels said, discussing how oftentimes players are judged not just on their performance, but on how they were acquired. “Everybody loves the he scrappy wide receiver who was taken in the sixth round, but the scrappy wideout that got big dollars in free agency, or the scrappy wideout that was a first-round pick, it’s like ‘why isn’t he better?’.”
Michael Luna says
Why did the fire department shut down the Sartre-themed restaurant?
…because it had no exit.