{"id":1403,"date":"2008-11-29T11:18:48","date_gmt":"2008-11-29T11:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=1403"},"modified":"2010-04-02T15:34:20","modified_gmt":"2010-04-02T14:34:20","slug":"the-hot-stove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=1403","title":{"rendered":"The Hot Stove"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the baseball terms British newcomers quickly learn during the off-season is ‘the hot stove’.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the collective term used for all of the trade\/free agent signing rumours that fill the winter months.\u00c2\u00a0 I always thought this was simply a reference to potential deals that might be bubbling along on the ‘stove’.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, Paul Dickson explains in his seminal baseball dictionary (the third edition<\/a> of which is due\u00c2\u00a0to be published\u00c2\u00a0next year) that the term was coined for a more literal reason.\u00c2\u00a0 Baseball fans would come in from the cold and gather in places such as “saloons, poolrooms, general stores, barbershops, and drugstores where there was a coal- or wood-burning, potbellied stove at the centre of the conservational group”.<\/p>\n

That makes for a great image of baseball fans huddled together merrily (and sometimes not so merrily) swapping rumours and sharing opinions. If my original interpretation was followed though, it could be said that the hot stove is gently simmering at the moment.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

By this time last year, several free agent signings had already been finalized (Torii Hunter to the Angels, Scott Linebrink to the White Sox, Francisco Cordero to the Reds, Jorge Posada re-signing with the Yankees).\u00c2\u00a0 It’s difficult to say quite how much of this year’s inactivity is down to the current global economic situation, but no doubt it is making teams a bit more cautious when it comes to weighing up the market and assessing what the going rate for certain players might be.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

What we do know is that the lack of deals so far only means that we will get a relative flood over the next month or so.\u00c2\u00a0 The annual Winter Meetings take place in Las Vegas between the 8th and 11th of December and the gathering of GMs and agents may well help to kickstart proceedings.<\/p>\n

Keeping up with all of the rumours and signings is a lot easier today than it was back when a ‘hot stove’ was a glowing beacon that attracted baseball fans to a meeting place.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m sure logging on and whizzing through your feed reader is a far less rewarding experience, but it has its advantages as well, particularly for Brits who are not as likely to be able to find a group of fellow baseball fans to while a few hours away with in any case.\u00c2\u00a0 There are hundreds (thousands?) of sites that provide such news.\u00c2\u00a0 Here are the ones I tend to visit the most:<\/p>\n