The Futility Infielder

If you're a baseball fan attuned to the Hot Stove League, you've probably wondered what happens at the annual Winter Meetings. This year, at the encouragement of Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll and Bronx Banter's Alex Belth, I came down to New Orleans to get a firsthand look.

The trades and signings you can read about elsewhere, and I can't really do justice to my end the story right now. It's noon, there's a hole where my stomach used to be, and Alex, living in another time zone in the same hotel room, has beaten me to the punch with a very good summary of the way things work here. But suffice it to say I'm having a great time. Through Will, I've met a handful of the Prospectus folks -- Joe Sheehan, Nate Silver, Ryan Wilkins, Dayn Perry (who's here in his capacity as a Padres consultant), Chaim Bloom, and Susan Graham -- and this bunch has done their best to include me in their roving pack of statheads. These people are as friendly and witty as they are smart, and it's a nice little boost to my ego to know that they like my work.

Sheehan's column on the meeting's first day included this little note towards the bottom:

It should be noted that for about an hour last night, Jay Jaffe owned Baseball Prospectus. I promise to never again be suckered by someone who pretends to need a reminder of how poker is played, or play with someone who comes equipped with a built-in nickname. Well, except "Baldy" Carroll.

Alas, "Futility Infielder Presents Baseball Prospectus" never had a chance to go live, as I frittered away my empire just as slowly as I'd built it. Joe's a real shark when it comes to cards -- the guy plays poker tournaments, and could probably be the frontman for Poker Prospectus -- but it was Nate who took everybody's cash on Friday night. Never mess with a guy who builds player projection databases as a hobby.

Last night, Will's warning about the perils of drinking a second Hurricane were soon followed by Joe buying everybody that second round. Bastard. From there, the official record of the evening ends. I'll fill in the in-between soon enough, but I do have one scoop to present, which can be summarized in the following headline:

"Saddam Hussein Captured; Steinbrenner Mulls Contract"

More later...