Finally, the Hot Stove League is in full gear. The Yankees and Red Sox have made their opening salvos, and the Phillies have swapped Cliff Lee for Roy Halladay. For the unknowing, the "Hot Stove League" is code for MLB's offseason. Why the Hot Stove League you may ask? Evidently it means that fans of certain teams gather around hot stoves and discuss their teams moves during the offseason. Pretty sweet nickname eh? How it got to be the only sport with a nickname for its offseason is beyond me. Of course, this is only the case if you live in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, or other major markets.
Do you think Pirates fans are gathering together around the water cooler in the Winter months to discuss what utility players Pittsburgh will sign or what prospects will be traded next? Oh, yea, they're watching the Steelers.
Do you think that fans in San Diego are gathering on the beaches to discuss the thrilling blockbusters that the Padres will pull off next?
Do you think that the good people of Kansas City are captivated with the ins and outs of the Royals' offseason?
I didn't think so.
The Hot Stove League is a myth for 95% of baseball fans. Let's not kid ourselves... the only teams that have any meaningful offseason activity are the big market elites. Let's take a look at the 4 biggest moves of the offseason so far, see if you sense a theme...
1) Phillies swap Lee for Halladay
2) Yankees get Granderson
3) Red Sox sign Lackey
4) Angels get Matsui
Do you sense a theme here? Besides the Mariners accepting Cliff Lee from Philly (don't kid yourselves into thinking he's going to stay there for more than a year), what team outside of the big market elites do you see making a big move this offseason? Heck, at this point, I'd even get off the couch and cheer for Billy Beane to make a moneyball trade. Oh, sorry, I forgot the Brewers signing Randy Wolf and Craig Counsell are "big moves."
The Hot Stove League is nothing more than the big guns stocking up on more ammunition every offseason. The HSL only exits for 6 or 7 teams, while the rest of the baseball world waits impatiently to fool themselves into thinking that this is the year that they will compete and win with less money and talent.
This isn't a condemnation of the big market teams. Clubs like the Red Sox (ironically now just as much of an evil empire as the Yankees), Angels, Phillies, Yankees, Cubs, Mets, Dodgers, and others are doing what they have to do to win while working within the system. Baseball needs to do something about this perpetuation of distribution of talent from the poor to the rich every year. (I would make a political joke here, but I'll leave that up to you depending on if you fall along a side of the aisle) Sure, there will be teams like Florida, Tampa Bay, and Minnesota that can buck the trend or have relative success, but nothing that lasts. And they are a mere flicker in the Hot Stove League.
Hopefully Toronto fans have fun convincing themselves that this crop of projects will more than make up for the loss of Roy Halladay. Hopefully White Sox fans talk themselves into Juan Pierre as the missing piece. Hopefully Natinals fans talk themselves into thinking that keeping Scott Olsen and signing 50 year old Pudge Rodriguez is a sign that the franchise is moving in the right direction. Hopefully baseball fans in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh have something else to do to occupy the hibernation time that is their team's offseasons.
Hopefully there will come a day when these small-market fanbases can actually have real hope in the national pastime.
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