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MLB Winter Meetings report, Day 2: News, notes and rumors
Relief pitcher Kenley Jansen could be on the move today at the Winter Meetings as the pressure to land a closer heats up for the Yankees, Marlins, Dodgers and Nationals. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

MLB Winter Meetings report, Day 2: News, notes and rumors

Business began to pick up in a major way at baseball’s Winter Meetings on Tuesday, as the headline trade of winter took place and many more teams began to show their hand about their true intentions for the winter.

As the third day of ultimate MLB convention prepares to take off, Wednesday is setting up to be the biggest day of all. So while action is underway yet again on the shores of Maryland, here’s how the action shaped on Tuesday, as well as what is cooking up for today.

News & Notes

The day started off with a somewhat surprising announcement that starting in 2018, all Baseball Hall of Fame ballots will be released publicly. This could create a sizable change in the outcome of who reaches the Hall and doesn’t, as the removal of the anonymity of the voter’s decisions could create more true to form outcomes. Of course, it could create a more defiant voter base than ever before, as they are forced to defend their positions more directly than ever. But it reasons to think that with pressure for the public sphere – as well as the players they may skip over – could make more for a fairer vote going ahead.

The New York Yankees made an obvious, but still noteworthy announcement that they will retire Derek Jeter’s number next summer. Jeter’s jersey retirement will signal the final single digit number the Yankees had available will now be taken out of circulation officially.

Signings & Deals

Obviously, the biggest move of the day was the Boston Red Sox acquisition of Chris Sale from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for the game’s top prospect, Yoan Moncada, as well as highly touted pitcher Michael Kopech and two more prospects. It was an aggressive move by the Sox where they simply hip checked the Washington Nationals out of the way by offering up an unmatchable prospect pairing AND agreeing to cover the remaining balance of Moncada’s existing deal, which is north of $30 million.

As was the case with David Price last year, who was on the verge of taking a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, Dave Dombrowski and company targeted their guy and spared no expense in doing what they needed to do land him. And now the Red Sox boast the most dangerous pairing of pitchers in the game in Sale and Price, as well as the reigning American League Cy Young winner in Rick Porcello. That’s a guaranteed tough time in any series, regular or postseason.

Shortly before finishing the deal to bring Sale aboard, Boston also completed a deal to address their biggest need as well: bullpen help. They came to terms on a trade that sent third baseman Travis Shaw and a pair of prospects to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for reliever Tyler Thornburg. This is a deal that will fly under the radar of headline impact, but stands to be a massive grab for a Boston team that was flat terrible at preserving games for their rotation and delivering opportunities to closer Craig Kimbrel. Thornburg, who finished the season as the Brewers’ closer, averaged 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings and is under team control thru 2019.

The busy day in Boston also had a third move, which saw the club sign first baseman/outfielder Mitch Moreland to a one-year deal. He will fit into sharing the first base role with Hanley Ramirez and can also spend some time at designated hitter and in left field if needed.

The Tampa Bay Rays got involved in the mix, signing All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos to a two-year deal worth just over $18 million. Ramos, who is currently rehabbing from a torn ACL and meniscus, will not be available on opening day, but is set to return late in the first half of the season. He is a reasonable priced talent grab that saw the Rays move in a slightly uncharacteristic, but understandably aggressive, nature. He hit .307 with 22 home runs in 2016, and was on the short list for top catcher available this winter along with Matt Wieters.

Late in the day, Carlos Gomez agreed to a one-year deal to return to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers had been very focused on shoring up their center field vacancy quickly, and coming to terms with Gomez checks off that need in a decisive way. Gomez takes a predictably short-term deal, as he is betting on himself to continue the late-season resurgence that he had in Arlington after being released from the Houston Astros in August.

What’s on the stove today?

Business came to close on Tuesday with the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals close to completing a trade that would send All-Star reliever Wade Davis to Chicago for outfielder Jorge Soler. The deal was nearly completed on Tuesday afternoon, before talks stalled briefly, due to a rumored push by the Washington Nationals for Davis’ services. Ultimately however, it appears that swap could be announced early on Wednesday.

Once the Davis’ trade is completed, it could accelerate the arms race for Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen into overdrive. The Yankees, Marlins, Dodgers and Nationals are all hungry to land one or the other of the two elite closers, and the Davis deal along with Mark Melancon’s $62 million pact he inked on Monday have done nothing but drive the demand up for the pair. Rumors placed that starting price for each was at $80 million, and that Chapman had received a $92 million offer already.

The White Sox could be the most watched team of the day, as the expected trade of Sale now has teams checking on every other part of their current  roster. Jose Abreu, Todd Frazier, Jose Quintana and Adam Eaton have all had their names bounced around increasingly yesterday, and if GM Rick Hahn moves another of these players today, expected the full out fire sale to kick into action shortly afterwards.

The Washington Nationals are officially in dire straights to salvage their offseason ambitions. For the second straight year, they have come up short on the majority of their targets, with Sale, Melancon and now potentially Wade Davis all ending up outside of their reach. There is still the opportunity to rekindle talks with the Pirates on Andrew McCutchen and they could decide to break the bank for Chapman as well. But otherwise, it could be a December to (not) remember for the Nats.
Jose Bautista has had a lukewarm run early on in free agency, and it has caused the Blue Jays to come back around and check in with the former face of their franchise. There is still room for him to return to right field for the time being, it just will depend on if he is willing to take a lesser deal than he likely expected a few months ago. He could very well be this winter’s Alex Gordon, in making a delayed (and slightly forced) decision to stay home.

Mark Trumbo remains one of the most wanted men in all of the business, and thus he is taking his time to consider all of his suitors. The Mariners, Indians, Rockies and Rangers have all been connected to him in the last day, while the Orioles have seemingly turned their sights away from retaining him (for now), as there is too far of a gap between player and team commitment terms.

The St. Louis Cardinals remain deeply connected to the outfield market, and were said to have made an offer to Dexter Fowler already (along with the Blue Jays) and have eyes for Ian Desmond as well. In addition, there is some reasonable connection for the club to get involved in the potential White Sox sale, as Eaton could fill in nicely in center or left field. However, it would likely come at the cost of their touted young catching prospect Carson Kelly, as the White Sox are looking to emerge from the offseason with an upgrade behind the plate. This could cause the Cardinals to balk, as he has long been tagged as the successor to Yadier Molina, who is entering the last guaranteed year on his contract.

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