Levine: Why have we seen so many transactions?
From SABR member Zachary Levine at Baseball Prospectus on December 5, 2013:
Why now? Why so early? Why so many at once?
The questions were obvious after the Hot Stovepocalypse, as Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller titled their podcast running down the Tuesday transactions that had various levels of impact on 14 different teams. (I voted for Beane-anza.)
Mix in the stunning trade of Doug Fister to the Nationals the night before, and it was a seismic 24-30 hours for Major League Baseball. Where this date ranks in the annals of transactions is difficult to establish scientifically, and not all that important. For instance, the Jacoby Ellsbury-to-the-Yankees transaction will officially happen at some date in the future when all the paperwork is done, but it served as the nightcap to the wild day that we won’t argue with calling no. 1.
Baseball has always been a sport that’s taken its time, building over roughly a month toward the Winter Meetings. Nobody is suggesting that it’s headed toward the NFL’s signing day frenzy. But why has the pace picked up?
The questions were obvious, but the answers weren’t.
Read the full article here: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=22361
Originally published: December 5, 2013. Last Updated: December 5, 2013.