Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings kicked off this morning in Nashville, Tennessee. For those not familiar, the Winter Meetings are where representatives from each (major and minor league) team’s front office gather every year to sip coffee, make small talk and trade multi-million dollar contracts. We’ve already seen our first big trade happen, as the Cincinnati Reds sent All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman to the LA Dodgers. The Indians have been relatively quiet this winter in terms of actual transactions, but they’ve been the topic of many whispers regarding their young starting pitchers. When Jeff Samardzija fetches $90 million over 5 years after giving up the most hits and runs out of all qualified starters in baseball, Chris Antonetti will have endless bottles of champagne being sent to his room in hopes of prying a Salazar or Carrasco from his rotation (“Hey Chris, are you from around here? Cause you’re the only ten I see.” – The Dodgers, probably.) Here are some of the latest names being mentioned in the same breath as the Tribe:
- Oakland A’s 2B/3B Brett Lawrie
- Free Agent 1B/DH Mike Napoli
- A Colorado Rockies outfielder (Carlos Gonzales, Charlie Blackmon)
Could Cleveland Indians be Rockies trade partner for pitching?
- Free Agent outfielder Shane Victorino
- Although still strictly rumors, the Dodgers losing Zack Greinke to the Diamondbacks may cause them to add a top-tier SP via the trade. Yasiel Puig’s latest off-the-field incident may have lowered his value a bit. They’re also rumored to be talking to Miami about Jose Fernandez, whose value is so astronomical that it might make sense to bring a third team into discussions. I’m not saying, I’m just saying.
- The Diamondbacks apparently aren’t finished adding pitchers even after signing the best one available. An outfielder like Ender Inciarte could possibly be shopped for an Anderson-Tomlin type.
- First it was the Indians, then the Mariners, but for now it looks like Marcell Ozuna could stay put in Miami.
- Recent free agent 1B/DHes Pedro Alvarez, Chris Carter
In other news…
- Michael Brantley was originally reported to miss around the first month of the 2016 season after he underwent shoulder surgery in early November. Then Peter Gammons dropped this bomb last night:
The team has since come out and stood pat on their original timeline:
That’s great and everything, but it makes you wonder where Peter got his info from.
- New scoreboard!!!!!! What a day to be a season ticket holder in the bleachers. What a day indeed.
KEEP THE CHIEF
Bottlegate 