Topic: Official MLB Face Covering, MLB Masks Online Shop - Detroit Tigers

Instead of crowding into the lobby of the Omni Dallas Hotel and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, where the 2020 winter meetings were scheduled to be held this week, the gatherings will be held virtually. That leaves our collection of baseball reporters to recall winter meetings past, including their favorite blockbuster deals and rumors, moments they'll never forget, what they'll miss (and what they won't) with the meetings being held through computer screens and their favorite untold tales from the lobby.Colorado Rockies Face Coverings

The tear-down-and-rebuild strategy worked for newly hired GMs in Houston, in Chicago, in Atlanta, and to a lesser but still consequential extent in Milwaukee, and it appears to have worked in San Diego and the South Side of Chicago. All those teams made the playoffs on schedule, and most ended up with their best teams in decades. So what happened to the Phillies, and what does it tell us about rebuilding?

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball is cracking down on coronavirus safety protocols, mandating that players and staff wear face coverings at all times, including in the dugouts and bullpens, except for players on the field of play.New York Mets Face Coverings

Maybe the Phillies, as constituted, are built to collapse. But again, maybe there's a lot of chance involved here. If the Phillies' two good halves hadn't been the first halves of 2018 and 2019 but, say, the first and second half of one of those years, they're in the playoffs with 90-some wins. If COVID-19 had shortened either of the 2018 or 2019 seasons, instead of 2020, they'd have been in the playoffs. If COVID had shortened 2020 to 50 games instead of 60, they'd have been in the playoffs. If COVID had shortened it to 70 games instead of 60, they might well have been too.Detroit Tigers Face Coverings

Schoenfield: The four-team trade in 1977 involving the Rangers, Pirates, Mets and Braves, involving 11 players. Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven was the best player, going from the Rangers to the Pirates. The Rangers acquired outfielder Al Oliver, a three-time All-Star at the time, from the Pirates, and Jon Matlack, one of the best lefties in the game, from the Mets. The Braves acquired prospects from the Rangers and sent first baseman Willie Montanez, an All-Star in 1977, to the Mets. The big winner? Pittsburgh, as Blyleven would help the Pirates win the 1979 World Series. We definitely need more four-team trades! (Make it happen, Jerry Dipoto.)

Players and staff must wear face coverings at all times at team hotels and in public places while on the road. On team buses and airplanes, personnel must wear surgical masks or N95/KN95 respirators.

At hotels, teams have been instructed to provide a large private room -- a ballroom, for instance -- where staff and players can get food and other amenities with enough space to keep their distance. Players are discouraged from talking to each other or facing each other if their mask is pulled down while eating.

David Schoenfield: Instead of a trade, I'm going with two landmark free-agent signings: Dave Winfield's 10-year, $23 million contract with the New York Yankees at the 1980 meetings and Kevin Brown's seven-year, $105 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1998. Both deals rocked the sport and led to the inevitable cries that baseball was broken. Both were star players, but not necessarily the best in the game, and Brown was 34 years old. Just a year before Winfield's contract, Nolan Ryan had become the sport's first million dollar-a-year man, signing a four-year, $4.5 million contract with the Houston Astros. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner blew that away. Eighteen years later, Brown crossed baseball's version of the 4-minute mile with the first $100 million deal (skipping past $14 million in annual salary to reach $15 million). The deal enraged front offices around the game. "There is no appropriate comment," commissioner Bud Selig said. Brown lasted five seasons with the Dodgers -- and they never made the playoffs.Chicago White Sox Face Coverings