Looking at New Season With Inquiring Mind

On an early-December evening, three Chicago White Sox executives sat at a small table in the lobby of a Dallas hotel.

Two -- Dennis Gilbert and Eddie Einhorn -- were smiling, and waving over friends, the afterglow of their World Series championship filling a massive atrium, the hub of baseball’s winter meetings.

The other, his chair pushed into the shadows of some overhanging fronds, slumped glumly, as though this was any other winter, any other meeting, any other blind stab at piecing together a World Series team.

“Do you realize how lucky we were?” Jerry Reinsdorf asked, not really hoping for an answer. The man was inconsolable.

It being almost Christmas, someone offered, “Yeah, well, somebody had to hit a home run after Graffanino’s error, somebody had to double after the Josh Paul thing, and, geez, you swept the Astros.”

The owner of the White Sox nodded dismissively, slid another inch in his chair and said, “Do you know how hard it’s going to be to repeat?”

Octobers are fleeting. One day you’re squeezing Moet out of your eyes, the next you’re contemplating Paul Konerko’s free agency, and the next you’re standing in front of a locker in the Arizona desert while Ozzie Guillen pals around with Hugo Chavez.

And so we arrive at spring training 2006, and the commissioner would remind you that the era is still, yes, golden. The people of South Florida will be happy to hear it, as will the folks in Kansas City. Thankfully, it’ll be May before anyone in Pittsburgh even thinks about baseball.

A few things to ponder as we await word on the whereabouts of Jeff Weaver:

* Just Barry. Barry Bonds and what remains of his right knee set out on perhaps their final season, six home runs from Babe Ruth, 47 from Hank Aaron. At 41, he is the paradoxical superstar. He has outlasted the two men -- Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa -- who some suspect helped reawaken his interest in the long ball eight summers ago, leaving this stage to him. Meantime, his chemist and trainer are in ankle bracelets. Oh, the contradictions. He’ll be at Dodger Stadium for three games starting April 14.

* World Baseball ... Classic? Looks like Bud Selig and I are going to hang together on this one. Sure, a couple blown elbows could burn it all down. By March, Alex Rodriguez will have found a distant cousin by marriage from Taiwan, casting him again to the edge of conscience and despair. And, seriously, the Netherlands? But the Classic is a good idea whose global intentions are bigger than whether a few American pitchers can get off their couches a few weeks earlier than usual.

* Miggy being Manny. Two years into Baltimore, it was leaked to Miguel Tejada that the Orioles were a mediocre franchise in the richest division in baseball. Imagine the shock. Wait until he finds out Corey Patterson is his center fielder.

* Stoney’s winter. Get the feeling spring training kind of sneaked up on Bill Stoneman? Offense, Bill. Offense.

* Clemens’ turn. May 1, Houston at Milwaukee. Clemens (0-0, 0.00) vs. Sheets (3-1, 3.21).

* 50 scent. The new steroid policy, beaten out of Don Fehr, brings a 50-game suspension for a first offense, 100 games for a second offense, and a one-time appearance on “The Surreal Life” for a third offense. Amphetamines are out too. For the resolute, there’s always human growth hormone, for which a urine test will be developed any decade now.

* School’s out. The Florida Marlins were only a little better than average to begin with, then this: Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Luis Castillo, Carlos Delgado, Juan Encarnacion, Alex Gonzalez, Todd Jones, Paul Lo Duca, Mike Lowell, Guillermo Mota, Juan Pierre -- all gone. Think of it this way: In one off-season, they sold 684 1/3 innings, 28 wins, 43 saves, 87 home runs, 495 runs batted in, 539 runs and 68 years of Marlin service time.

* Johnny, seriously. Johnny Damon gives the New York Yankees their first true leadoff hitter since Chuck Knoblauch, and their first go-get-it center fielder since a younger Bernie Williams. If Damon thought he knew idiots, wait until he gets a load of the boys in the bleachers.

* 4 Yawkey Way, Boston, MA 02215. That was quite an episodic winter for the Red Sox front office, the end result being -- left to right in the infield -- Lowell, Gonzalez, Mark Loretta and Kevin Youkilis. Maybe they can and maybe they can’t stay with the Yankees and the reworked Toronto Blue Jays, but Red Sox fans better hope there’s more in the gorilla suit than a gorilla.

* Woe for Pedro. New York is bubbling again. The Yankees get Damon and the Red Sox get weaker, the Mets pick over the Marlin carcass, sign Billy Wagner away from a division foe and find themselves closer to the Atlanta Braves. Now there’s the matter of the sore big toe on Pedro Martinez’s right foot, the special shoe that’s supposed to protect it, and the season-long saga only New York can make it.

* D.C. untied. No owner, iffy ballpark, lame-duck management. Any day now, they’ll get this sorted out and the Nationals can move along to Las Vegas.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Back to the diamond

Key spring dates for the Angels and Dodgers:

ANGELS

* Pitchers and catchers report: Wednesday.

* Position players report: Monday.

* First full-squad workout: Feb. 21.

* Cactus League opener: March 3 versus San Diego at Tempe, Ariz.

* Season opener: April 3 at Seattle.

*

DODGERS

* Pitchers and catchers report: Wednesday.

* Position players report: Monday.

* First full-squad workout: Feb. 21.

* Grapefruit League opener: March 2 versus Atlanta at Vero Beach, Fla.

* Season opener: April 3 versus Atlanta.