When most of us think of the life of a big-league GM, we imagine exotic travel. Dodging journalists at the winter meetings, then doing backdoor deals in private suites. Cruising down onto the field before the game starts, chatting up the latest star they signed, then working the phones from their luxury boxes during the big game.
Sometimes it’s not all that, though. GMs may be constantly on the move, but they’re trying to have lives, too. Sometimes the demands of the jobs take precedence, and that was definitely the case for San Diego Padres' GM A.J. Preller back in 2021 when he set the stage for the acquisitions of Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Blake Snell.
Preller was home for the holidays at the time. He grew up in New York, but not NYC, and the cell reception at his family home was spotty, which meant he had to set up those deals from the parking lot of a 7-11 about three blocks from the family home, according to a piece in The Athletic written by Zack Meisel.
Meisel’s piece is a great read, and it’s full of nuggets like that. At this time of year discussions tend to be ongoing, but there’s a rule of thumb that most GMs live by.
“Nothing ever happens in your office,” said Nick Krall, the Cincinnati Reds’ president of baseball operations. Not surprisingly, his wife affectionately refers to Krall’s phone as his “appendage.”
The calls even come on Christmas Day, and sometimes they can get pretty icy—thats' icy, not dicey. Minnesota Twins GM Derek Falvey said he took a phone call from Scott Boras when he was on a ski lift in 2023 and the Twins were negotiating to sign Carlos Correa.
“It was certainly the coldest negotiation I can remember,” Falvey said.
Sometimes ballpark food is part of the program, too, but not always in ways you’d expect. Depending on the park, we're not talking about a dog and an adult beverage.
“I was eating a fish taco at a Padres game,” recalled Jim Bowden, a longtime GM for the Reds and Nationals who now works for The Athletic. No word on what condiments were involved, but Bowden also remembers taking a call from then A's GM Billy Beane called him one day in May 2007 to suggest a swap, which Bowden accepted on the spot, without a counter.
Preller hasn’t been working the phones quite as hard lately—we think—at least in part because the Padres are up for sale. He made a couple of minor moves last week at the winter GM meetings, but Padres fans are still hoping for a big one or two, even if he has to revisit that 7-11 parking lot over Christmas to get it done.