Major League Baseball’s annual winter meetings are underway and will be unlike any winter meetings in history. The Covid-19 epidemic has forced the MLB to break plans to hold face-to-face winter meetings in Dallas. Instead, the event is taking place virtually. Here’s what you need to know about the 2020 Winter Meetings.
Winter meetings are usually the busiest week of the year. Officers (and agents) from 30 clubs are in one place at four, allowing for face-to-face meetings that help facilitate trade and free agent signatures. With the Winter Meetings virtual walk, it has become personally dynamic, though I hope this will be an exciting and eventful week.
“When you do, the line of winter meetings is about the people I present,” Agent Scott Borsan told Bill Shakin. Los Angeles Times. “When you’re their lawyer, you have static conversations with principals that really provide the barometer of a baseball hot stove, which is journalists. Teams don’t make any sense. Conversations with journalists, and having that forum, creates a level of excitement. Which, of course, made the video an overnight sensation. “
Now that the Virtual Winter Meetings have arrived, let’s introduce some virtual bold predictions for the virtual week. Here are five bold predictions that will undoubtedly come true during this year’s winter meetings.
1. There will be a big free agent sign
Big name free agent signatures are a tradition of winter meetings. There are always a few every year – signed by Stephen Strasberg, Garrett Cole and Anthony Randon on consecutive days at the last Winter Meetings – but no other potential this year, and the free agent market has been running very slow. To this day Only seven of our top 60 free agents have signed up.
The slow-moving off-fee ason probably won’t continue this week as clubs aren’t keen to send dollars for the 2021 payroll without knowing what the 2021 season (number of games, attendance fans, etc.) will look like, but I think we’ve got our first major free agent at Winter Meetings. Will see the sign in. In fact, I would boldly predict it. We will be signing a big name free agent this week.
Player: DJ Lamheu. Team: New York Yankees. Agreement: 80 million years seems reasonable enough in four years. We here at CBS Sports agree that Limhu will be the first big free agent to sign, Beating Trevor Bauer, George Springer and Jetty Realmuto, and I see no reason to shift gears. Both parties are interested in an alliance and that is natural. It works.
Also this is: Lamheu is just one of four big free agents who were previously free agents, and when he was a free agent two years ago, he had to wait until January 14 to sign. I don’t think he wants to wait that long again. Non-agency fees can be stressful for agency players. The Yankees want Le Mahiu, Le Mahiu wants the Yankees. They will do his job this week.
For more MLB hot stove discussions, check out Fantasy BaseB Today Today, where crews break down the best places for top free agents.
2. Cleveland will trade a big name player
But that wouldn’t be Francisco Linder. We know that Cleveland is looking to cut costs on this se fee ason) a) every team is looking to cut costs all the time, but especially during an epidemic, and b) they are looking to Brad Hand in hopes of avoiding a વિક 1 million buyout of his club option Put on apology. A few weeks ago it was as clear a sign as any that the team wanted to limit their spending.
I think Linder will be traded before the opening day but I don’t think it will happen during the winter meetings. The put bets were not traded until February 10 and I expect the same deadline for Linder’s trade. Instead, the big-name player I boldly predict that Cleveland will trade this week is Carlos Carresco. P highest Wright is one of his highest paid players and he bets on the trade.
There are many reasons to expect Kerasco to trade other than money (by 2021-22 it has at least 27 million left). For one, Cleveland pitching has a very deep pit – it’s the game’s best pitching development organization – and the moving Caresco clears the space for small arms. Their current rotation depth depth chart looks something like this:
- RHP Shane Bieber
- RHP Carlos Carresco
- RHP ZH PLACEK
- RHP Aaron Sivalle
- RHP Tristan Mackenzie
- RHP Cal Cal Contral
- LHP Scott Moss
- LHP Logan Allen
ZPS In 2021 about 6 war or better six out of eight clocks projected, which is a very deep depth in the eyes of the projection system. Many teams have the depth to trade Trevor Bauer And Corey Kluber And Mike Clevinger And Carlos Carresco in 18 months, but Cleveland does. They deal with the strength to overcome weakness (ES).
Two, the free agent pitching market has an early lack of front-end from Bauer, especially Charlie Morton and Marcus Strowman are now off the board. Now the other best free agent pitchers are, oh, Jack Adorizi and Masahiro Tanaka? Put Caresco on the market and Cleveland can get a great maze that can burn multiple big league pieces and set them up better to fight in 2021.
And third, Caresco will reach a 10-year service period next April, giving him 10 years in the league and 10 and 5 full non-trade protections as a player who has spent the last five years with the same team. This is Cleveland’s last chance to trade without his consent. That is an important consideration. Cashing Caresco as a trade chip could be now or ever.
Where will Caresco end? I would say that the Blue Jazz introduces Mark Shapiro, the team president with Carasco, at the end of his time at Cleveland’s front office. My terrible trade idea: Toronto trades the Teoscar Hernandez for Kerosco, then signs Michael Brantley or Jock Pederson or George Springer to replace Hernandez in the outfield. Ah? Ah?
3. The catcher market will start to move forward
Pitching has thus dominated free agent action and will not last forever. The position player market will start to heat up this week, especially the catcher market. JT Realmuto is the best catcher in the sport and has a special case as a free agent in which its market affects everyone. Teams will want to clear their options with them before looking elsewhere.
Not all teams, however, and I boldly predict that the rush of catcher transactions will begin during the winter meetings this week when Realmuto will sign the Mets Pivot and instead James McCain. Both sides are talking, you know. Here’s how I envisioned a game of catcher musical chairs in the next few days:
He knocks two suitors (Mets and Phyllis) out of the Realmutto race, streamlining his market with a few obvious fits (Astros? Blue Jazz? Citizens?) And a few other possibilities (Angels? Mariners? Rangers?) Mystery team-don’t forget. The Tigers signed Evan Rodriguez after 43-119 in 2003, right? Maybe they’ll sign Realmuto so he can help wrap up their little pots.
To get back to the original point, the prediction here is that there will be significant movement on the charming market this week, once the Mets take the plunge and sign McCain. Filling the catcher is such a difficult position that McCain will sign and put many other teams into action before the winter meetings are over. Expect a busy week for the backstop.
4. Ha-Seong Kim will sign
Kim was officially posted on Monday, According to John Morosi of MLB.com. The Kiwon Heroes star shortstop in Korea is now available for MLB teams, and while it will have 30 days to negotiate and sign a post-contract, I don’t think it will wait any longer. With this bold prediction Kim vows to agree to a new deal during the Winter Meetings.
Here’s what you need to know about Kim. Long story short, the 25-year-old is seen as an influential player with the talent to pop 15-plus homers and steal 20 straight bags while having assets in the field. He may have experienced some adjustment periods before, especially against the MLB momentum, but Kim is very talented and very promising.
As for the destination, I would say that Kim will land on a year 4 million a year deal with Athletics, which allows him to become a free agent after four years (instead of the usual six years required to qualify for free agency). A needs a shortstop now that Marcus Semian is a free agent and he has been aggressive internationally in the past (see: Eoinis Cespedes).
Once Kim signals – which will happen this week, as we are boldly predicting – the rest of the shorts will hit the market. Phillies and Reds in clubs, who now need shortstops The Angels have Jose Iglesias. Semian, Didi Gregorius, and Rel Ndraton Simmons are the top free agents available and, of course, the Francisco Linder trade candidate.
5. It will be the busiest Rule 5 draft in years
I know that Rule 5 is not the most exciting date in the draft se ason calendar, But it is a se fee calendar is the date on the calendar and it’s a tool to add talent. The Rule 5 draft is a way to franchise players in the big leagues and prevent clubs from relegating undefeated prospects indefinitely. A short version of how it works:
Brad Keller, Mark Kenha, and Tommy Cahnle have been among the Rule 5 draft picks to pay in recent years, and John Santana, Joachim Soria, and Dan Uggala are the most notable stories in the Rule 5 draft. Since 2010-19, teams have averaged 14.6 Rule 5 draft picks per year, with lows of nine (2013) and 19 (2010). I boldly predict that this year we will see a 20-plus.
I say this because parolees are coming down amid epidemics and teams will prefer even cheaper talent than usual. It’s not uncommon for teams to build multiple Rule 5 draft picks to build teams – the Padres carry Three The Rule 5 draft elections in 2017 (tan lan cordordoba, Miguel Diaz, Louis Torrance) are among the most aggressive actions of tanking we will ever see – and I hope these efforts will be put on overdrive this year. Multiple teams will create multiple Rule 5 draft picks.
The Rule 5 draft takes place on Thursday, the last day of the winter meetings, and all of those choices mean it’s technically one of the most active days of the Fiscon. Only a handful of Rule 5 draft picks really work, so it probably gets more attention than de character, but I think the conditions are right for a blatant violation of Rule 5 draft. Reconstruction teams in particular will be busy.
