ESPN BOSTON's Gordon Edes wrote it "remains to be seen whether the model adopted" by the Red Sox last winter -- "eschewing the biggest prizes on the market for lesser, complementary pieces -- will be embraced by other clubs seeking to emulate the extraordinary strides made by the Sox in one dizzying worst-to-first leap." Of more interest to Red Sox fans is whether GM Ben Cherington "will remain faithful this winter to the philosophy of modest moves" (ESPNBOSTON.com, 11/10).
READY TO SPEND? The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jared Diamond writes Mets GM Sandy Alderson goes to this week's GM and owners meetings in Orlando "with mounting pressure to make significant improvements" to the team's roster. There is "still reason to wonder" whether the Mets "will open their wallets at all, despite ownership's assertion to the contrary." The team's payroll has been reduced by about $50M since '11, and "questions will remain about the team's finances until it begins to spend again." The team has "upward of" $50M in expiring contracts "coming off the books, giving Alderson a greater degree of financial flexibility" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/11).
WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR: In Chicago, Gordon Wittenmyer reported the Cubs' business operations and baseball operations on Friday "came together ... in a slick sales pitch to season-ticket holders." It was "as close as those two sides of the operation figure to be for years with their respective plans." That became "clear to anyone who didn’t already know it before this first-time event for a price-gouged, loss-weary customer base" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 11/9). ESPN.com's Jesse Rogers wrote Cubs execs "have been selling their plan for the future so much over the last couple of years, they are getting pretty good at it," and they "may have been at their best" at Friday's event (ESPN.com, 11/10).
ROOM TO MANEUVER: In Chicago, Daryl Van Schouwen writes White Sox GM Rick Hahn, Chair Jerry Reinsdorf and other team execs have "never been more humiliated by what happened on the field" in '13. But with about $56M committed to contracts for '14 in addition to the arbitration cases of 2B Gordon Beckham, CF Alejandro De Aza and LF Dayan Viciedo, it is "not like the Sox are strapped for cash." Their '13 payroll "started at about" $112M (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 11/11).
