MLB Winter Meetings Daily: McCutchen moves and Thor buzz
The Baseball Tonight crew discusses Bryce Harper’s inconsistencies and how teams perceive them during free agency. (2:02)
The winter meetings are going strong, and speculation is heating up across baseball. Here is what you need to know:
More from Vegas: Bryce Harper Watch | Winter meetings guide | Winter meetings moves for every team (ESPN+)
Hot stove coverage: Top 50 free agents (ESPN+) | Free agent tracker | Complete coverage
The White Sox are pushing to take a step forward in 2019, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. Tuesday’s trade for Ivan Nova improves the rotation, and they’re looking at Yasmani Grandal as a possible catching upgrade.
The Phillies make the first big splash of the winter meetings, agreeing with Andrew McCutchen on a three-year, $50 million deal. McCutchen obviously isn’t the MVP candidate he was from 2012 to 2015, but he still has power — he’s hit 32 home runs on the road the past two seasons — and drew 95 walks. His defense in a corner outfield is fine and the Phillies get him from ages 32 to 34. Looks like a good signing at the price and allows them to remain in the Bryce Harper/Manny Machado sweepstakes as well.
We have a trade! No, not that one. The White Sox have acquired Ivan Nova from the Pirates to bolster a rotation that will be without prized prospect Michael Kopech in 2019. Nova is … well, consistent, with ERAs of 4.17, 4.14 and 4.19 the past three seasons. He’s homer-prone, so a move to Guaranteed Rate Field could be problematic. The Pirates, meanwhile, clear a spot for Nick Kingham or, later in the season, top prospect Mitch Keller.
There is a lot of stuff slinging around Vegas in regards to the rumored Mets/Marlins/Yankees deal. With so many moving parts, it seems unlikely to move from rumor to reality, but you never know. It’s been awhile since baseball had a great blockbuster three-teamer. The big clog in the machine: Would the Yankees really want to part with Miguel Andujar and a package of meaningful prospects for three years of Noah Syndergaard, who has started just 32 games over the last two years? Also, it still seems like any win-right-now scenario for the Mets would involve Thor, but Andujar and JT Realmuto would be an amazing return. Should be an interesting day in Vegas.
According to ESPN’s Buster Olney: The sense among some other teams is that the Marlins have begun to push to make a J.T. Realmuto trade, which is a major change in their past approach. For a year, they set a very high price and challenged anyone to meet it, and waited. Now they seem to be looking to finish a deal.
Buster Olney: The Dodgers have talked to other teams about moving two outfielders among the group of Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson and Cody Bellinger. As they look to reshape payroll, they also are prepared to move starting pitchers Rich Hill and Alex Wood.
Brian Cashman said today the Yankees have been in varying levels of talks with 11 teams concerning a trade for Sonny Gray. Some potential deals have been prospect-driven, some have been bigger MLB-player-for-MLB-player deals. “He’s still here because we haven’t found that sweet spot yet.”
Angels GM Billy Eppler, looking for lots of pitching and a starting catcher, said he was a little bit more active on the trade market than the free-agent market today. The Angels reportedly fell short on Patrick Corbin and Nathan Eovaldi, which at least shows they have been active. Eppler said he has deals in place that he could make. “We could kick a field goal if we wanted to, but let’s go for a touchdown.”
Raise your hand if you had the Tigers as the first team to add a pitcher at the winter meetings. Anyone? Detroit is making a mild bet on Tyson Ross picking up where he left off after a strong finish to 2018 with St. Louis.
Nathan Eovaldi, on hand in Vegas to talk about his $68 million contract with the Red Sox, said “there were a lot of teams that reached out that wanted me to be a closer. A lot of teams wanted me to come out of the bullpen and others wanted me to do part time to save my arm.” Eovaldi wanted to remain a starter.
The Mariners announced Kaleb Cowart as an infielder and a pitcher. Looks like they’re going to try him as a two-way player. Cowart was a pitcher as well as an infielder as a Georgia high school player before being drafted by the Angels.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly, on Miami’s place is a rapidly improving NL East, “You’re realistic about the division and where we are right now. (However) we can’t just say this will be another year like last year. We have to get to get guys into their next phase. Anything can happen.”
The Reds let go Billy Hamilton go this offseason (he just signed with the Royals), so new manager David Bell doesn’t have an obvious starting center fielder at the moment. “We have options,” he said and one of those could be Nick Senzel, the team’s top prospect who has played third and second in the minors but will get some reps in center as the Reds bank on his athleticism to potentially play multiple positions.
According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, Billy Hamilton is joining the Kansas City Royals on a one-year, $5.25 million deal with $1 million in incentives after being non-tendered by the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the offseason.
Looking for a surprising team to watch at the winter meetings? Try the Cincinnati Reds, who keep coming up in conversations about team who could make an unexpected splash in Las Vegas.
Rays manager Kevin Cash confirms the team will stick with the “opener” strategy in 2019 and says the internal discussions right now are whether they’ll do it two times through the rotation or three times.