Winter Meetings: Yuma Perspective

[Arroyos]

By Aron Rocke, Yuma Times

1/8/2009: Yuma, AZ – "We've won the pennant!" declared the somewhat woozy, red-eyed and oddly off-balance GM Jared Dobney of the Yuma Bulldozers. It seems that three straight days of hard-core negotiations do indeed take their toll on the mental toughness of these gritty GM's. That and their sobriety.

Dobney and other GMs of the famous PEBA – and some hometown (such as myself) and national reporters (such as this [loser]-face) – met at the Winter Meetings early this week. Also tagging along were some celebrity girlfriends, groupies and the occasional Pepsi Sponsor.

Yuma got in on the action sometime before happy hour, while this reporter was still paying attention. It came across the wire: Yuma gets rid of Reliever Akiyama and 4th Rd Draft Pick to Duluth for Starting Pitcher Wright, Reliever Edwards and a 6th Rd Draft Pick. Said Jared Dobney of this transaction, "We needed Wright to come in and buck up the pitching for the next few years, while Edwards we can hold on to for a longer term. We are still hoping for some young talent in the draft, so the pick we got should help us out. As for Akiyama... well, he was getting a little expensive and we didn't feel right about strapping him to a dead horse of a team.” The less talented J. Dobney GM involved in this trade said a lot about it, but none of it was meaningful enough for me to write it down.

After this, the Yuma GM seemed to lose a little focus. At one point in his bargaining he was overheard to blurt out, "Sexy" for no apparent reason. Soon, however, he was back in the saddle wheeling and dealing with the Crystal Lake Sandgnats. Although somewhat gloomy not to be getting rid of D. Groves, Dobney seemed to have an almost zombie-like reanimation when he settled into talks with the CL Sandgnats. After admittedly having, "…a foo tew mannie," Dobney and Yuma made a deal with Crystal Lake. Reliever Markus Shepherd and (minor league) starting pitcher Santiago Carmona were sent to Yuma for catcher Andy Hood and LF Brad Howell (both minor leaguers). Said Dobney, "This was a good trade for us as it gave another chance to improve our pitching and get a prospect. Does anyone want Groves? Anyway, it was a good chance to improve our pitching and pick up a prospect.” Dobney was in the midst of last-minute trade frenzies at this point, and was unavailable for further comment.

Throughout the rest of the meetings, Dobney was seen whispering to other GMs and getting news out there, but did not make any other big deals. Try as they might, Yuma could not get rid of Groves cleanly during the meetings. Said Dobney several days after the meetings on this, "We will keep trying to get the word out there about him, but who knows what will happen. He's not happy here, we're not happy with him being here, so we will work something out.” Dobney also said, "With what I can remember of them, the Winter Meetings seemed to be a success. Heck, the fact I can't remember some of it makes me think it was a success. For the first time at these meetings, I slept well.” Words to live by right there.

[Bill]

If you get lucky, Groves might retire. Offer John some CPs to make it happen.

[Jason]

If you offer my about $2 million I can make Groves "retire". Would you prefer a piano dropped on his head or his skydiving parachute to be replaced with an umbrella?