The head of baseball operations stood outside the lobby of a California resort, his industry on the brink of a lengthy work stoppage, and to anyone within earshot shared publicly what he said privately to the team’s shortstop.
Another executive, standing a few feet away, labeled the offseason “the year of the shortstop” with a quintet of talented players at that position reaching free agency at the same time. The opportunity for teams was rich; the shortstops soon would be richer. There would be a lot of names swirling around, some bound to stick to his team, so the head of baseball ops reached out to his shortstop to affirm the plan to keep him at the position.