With the Winter Meetings now behind us, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. Eovaldi presser:
The Rangers officially re-signed right-hander Nathan Eovaldi yesterday on a three-year deal worth $75MM. Today, both Eovaldi and Texas president of baseball operations Chris Young will be available to the media at a press conference that’s scheduled for 11am CT. Even after landing Eovaldi (and trading for infielder Jake Burger), Young has his work cut out for him this winter as he tries to facilitate a rebound from an 84-loss 2024 campaign while also ducking under the first luxury tax threshold of $241MM. At the very least, a bullpen that lost Jose Leclerc, David Robertson, and Kirby Yates to free agency last month will need to be addressed. Besides that, there’s been some indications the club could look to add a left-handed slugger like Joc Pederson.
2. Cubs in the thick of trade talks?
The Cubs find themselves in an interesting position on the trade market, operating as both buyers and sellers. That’s hardly an unusual reality in an offseason where few teams are explicitly rebuilding, but what makes Chicago’s situation notable is that both sides of those trade talks seemingly revolve around one position: right field. Ian Happ is entrenched as the club’s everyday left fielder, while dynamic rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong has staked his claim as the club’s center fielder of the future. That leaves Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki vying for playing time in right. Down the stretch last year, Chicago utilized Bellinger’s superior glove and put Suzuki at DH, but the club has spent the winter aggressively shopping Bellinger and his $27.5MM salary.
Dealing Bellinger has long made sense for the Cubs if they can manage it. Suzuki has expressed a preference for playing the outfield as opposed to serving as a full-time DH, and the Cubs have a number of up-and-coming prospects like Matt Shaw, Owen Caissie, and Kevin Alcantara for whom a trade of Bellinger could open up playing time. All those reasons for entertaining a Bellinger trade have only served to make recent reports that Chicago is among the more aggressive suitors for Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker more surprising. Tucker would immediately become the most talented hitter in the Cubs lineup but comes with only one year of team control. The situation becomes even trickier to navigate for the Cubs when one considers that the Yankees are simultaneously the team most connected to Bellinger and a candidate to land Tucker themselves. Could the weekend bring movement on either front?
3. Will the hot SP market spur trades?
It’s no secret that the market for starting pitching has been extremely robust. Every one of the nine pitchers featured on MLBTR’s annual Top 50 MLB Free Agents list has signed for more money than predicted, although some such as Blake Snell and Yusei Kikuchi did so only nominally. In any case, that strong demand for pitching led a great many clubs to become involved in the bidding for now-former White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet, who was dealt to the Red Sox as the Winter Meetings came to a close.
Could that hot market for pitching change the plans of teams with starters they could dangle? The Mariners have long indicated that they have no interest in dealing from their rotation this winter but have received an increasing volume of calls about veteran righty Luis Castillo. Meanwhile, the Padres are at least entertaining the possibility of trading Dylan Cease. Even the Pirates have seemingly expressed willingness to consider offers on their talented young arsenal of pitchers (though Paul Skenes is obviously off limits). Will any of those teams deal from their rotation? Will other teams join them in considering deals from their own rotations?
If the Reds aren’t calling about a Castillo return, they aren’t trying.
This – The Reds should be calling Boston about Stephenson for Crawford, it’s a win-win for both teams.
Stephenson is the only catcher on the roster, so I don’t see that happening. But he’ll be traded in two years as the breakup starts.
I think the Red Sox should include Crawford in a trade for a better starter on a contender, for example SD for Dylan Cease or Houston for Framber. Obviously it would take more than Crawford but he would help replace those ace types
I don’t think many consider Crawford anything more than filler. I like what he has done as nothing was expected. I worry though that what we’ve seen is his ceiling. Hopefully we all laugh at this next year at this time.
Snark – Yes now that Crawford has been stretched out this year, his stamina and durability should translate to even better numbers going forward. Plus 4 more years of team control is huge.
I’d also be willing to trade Bello instead of Crawford.
dewey – He had a 3.00 ERA on July 20th.
Clearly he tired out late in the season because he pitched 54 more innings than his prior career high.
You know he led the majors in Games Started, right?
Seriously ? Crawford isn’t a filler nor an ace . He is a #3-5 depending on his development and , to an extent , his stamina.
The “most logical “ solution is either go for Cease or get one of the remaining FA SPs as the haul for Crochet = Ace .
Suzuki for Yoshida would work.
Yeah you’re obviously a Red Sox fan
john – What does that have to do with Nick being Top 5 in MLB for several strikeout related rankings?
And it’s very doubtful he returns to the Red Sox.
What about Crawford for Murphy+ and sign one of the other available arms (Buehler, Flaherty, Manaea)? Or go for it and sign Burnes? Burnes worries me more than Bregman, however. Both risky for different reasons.
stel – Crawford for Murphy? Not a chance Boston would make that trade.
Murphy coming off a dreadful .636 OPS season and still owed $60M.
Crawford under team control for 4 more years and dominating until he tired pitching 183 innings.
Just because his name is Murphy doesn’t mean he’s wanted in Boston. LOL!.
@Fever: The Braves only have an unproven Baldwin or quad A Tromp as other options at catcher. They didn’t let d’Arnaud walk w/a plan to deal Murphy. That trade idea is based on a BoSox fan’s need because Teel was dealt. Makes no sense whatsoever for the Braves.
Jeff – Thanks, I wasn’t aware of the origin of that rumor and I heard from Rosenthal the Braves wanted to reduce payroll to get below the LT threshold and therefore avoid the dreaded 3rd-consecutive-year penalty.
@Fever: There may be a bit of truth to the rumor that the Braves might try to stay under the Luxury Tax this year. I just can’t see Murphy being dealt as part of that possible strategy. They’re @$216M right now, so they’re about $24M under at present. If any player off the ML roster was dealt in an attempt to avoid the luxury tax and still leave room to be able to fill holes, I suspect it would be Iglesias (1 year @$16M left on his deal.)
Because we have that money just lying around dont we
Payroll is at 101 million. You just hired Tito and gave him a story about winning now. If you can’t or won’t manage to put up or shut up, and spend that 130-140 million you have before, you don’t deserve to own a baseball team.
The fans came last year to support you. Return the favor.
Just because what you’re saying makes sense doesn’t mean it will happen. I don’t agree about Castillo though, the rotation is probably the strength of the team already.
Jerry dipoto did take backs on Haniger.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he did the same for Noelvi Marte (Or maybe geno suarez)
So many teams are waiting to see where Pivetta ends up, after he signs that should open up the pitcher trade market and cause movement on the C-level pitchers like Buehler, Flaherty and Manaea.
Pivetta is worse than all three of those guys.
The – Check out Nick’s numbers the past 3 seasons. If some team (Braves?) can fix his homerun issue, he’s a 1 or 2 on most teams.
And if I were Brad Pitt I’d have a trophy wife.
coop – No you wouldn’t, because the real Brad Pitt isn’t even married.
This. Put Pivetta in a bigger ballpark like Comerica or Oracle or even Target Field and those Home Run numbers come down and he is a solid top of the rotation addition
Rsox – Exactly!
Either that, or hook him up with a solid pitching coach.
I wouldn’t mind Pivetta back coupled with signing Flaherty…..Crochet, Houck, Flaherty, Pivetta, Crawford is not a bad rotation. I haven’t heard anything about Giolito….
At least two. Manaea is interesting and time will tell if his Sale like arm angle continues to master hitters.
You never know what you will get from Pivetta, up and down so much and hangs stuff way too much. On the plus side he does seem to eat innings and stays off the IL
He actually isn’t . He has issues (long ball) but has assets to – K, durability (which nowadays is worth more than gold) and a decent repertoire. Most “analysts “ and here said he was mad to turn down the QO – his agent read the market right and might actually get a 2-4 year deal above that AAV. Heck, the Red Sox may even sign him over those 3 !
Manaea is going to get more money than Pivetta. Manaea is coming off a great year. Pivetta has never had a Season with an ERA under 4. I’d sign all three of those SP’s before Pivetta. All 3 have higher ceilings than Pivetta. All are also coming off a year of Post Season success.
Ken – Nick has a very high ceiling, he just needs to reduce the gopherballs.
Over the past two seasons here’s where he ranks in MLB (min 250 IP)
K/9 ratio = 4th
Appearances = 8th
Strikeouts = 18th
K% = 5th
K/BB% = 5th
Good SP I just don’t think he has a high as ceiling as the others and recent performance. That’s a huge if with controlling the gopher balls. Some pitchers are ground ball pitchers, he isn’t. Unless you stick him in a park where it’s hard to hit HR’s (Citi, Chase, Rogers Centre) what you see is what you get.
@Kenny: Pretty tough to hit homers in SF. For the money and contract length, the Giants might be better off w/Pivetta than Burnes.
Trading “top prospects “ for a 1 yr rental of Tucker is counterproductive for a rebuild but it’s the Cubs. Carry on.
theyre trying to win, not rebuild. theyve said this multiple times
10 yr rebuild is not trying to win. Lol
You are way off. They’ve hovered around .500 for too many seasons with a lineup of ‘complimentary pieces’. Tucker is an absolute stud you have to pay substantially for. Paredes is never gonna be that guy. And Smith? He may end up being a star or a dud. Who knows? But we do know that short of signing Soto, acquiring Tucker is a game changer for that team.
8 years ago they won the world series. what are you smoking – just say you dont follow baseball and you hate the cubs, that makes things easier.
Yeah, as a Cubs fan I love the thought of acquiring a player like Tucker, but it seems shortsighted. They aren’t likely to win a WS in ‘25 even w Tucker, so why trade long-term assets for 1yr of a stud RF when Seiya is already griping about being a full-time DH..? Seiya has a NTC as well so including him in the deal isn’t a given. Also, trading Belli and Seiya (and maybe Paredes) to ultimately acquire Tucker and play rookies does not necessarily improve the offense. Likely makes it worse.
Really don’t see the Cubs ponying up $500M or whatever it will take to retain him beyond one season.
Only way it makes sense is if you can sign him long-term, but we know that’s not going to happen because 1) Ricketts and 2) Tucker being thisclose.
The reported ask is for Paredes and Cam Smith. That what it seems like it would take to get it done. Tucker slots into DH, Shaw into 3B – their offense was not good last year and their bullpen was worse, this would be a clear upgrade unless you think paredes is some perennial all star. They have a log jam in the OF and need to clear it up so Belli to the yanks would most likely net an RP and salary relief. Cubs havent found the playoffs in the last 5 years and they expected to go last year and missed out by 10 games in the division. You cannot march the same team out there and expect different results.
If they don’t trade Bellinger he could play 1B with Busch sliding over to 3B so no reason to rush Shaw
They also can’t play all the prospects and current starters. They have a glut of OF’s including very talented prospects near ready for the show. Parades is a bad fit for the ballpark and Shaw is closer to ready to take over. If they can deal Belli and then Parades and a prospect for Tucker that’s improving the team significantly.
Robert-5: Saw an SNL skit from 1985 recently. It was The Pitch, Catch and Throw Like A Girl competition (which you could probably never get away with today). Hilarious! As a modern day equivalent, I think there should be a Play RF Like Soto and Suzuki. Should be just as much fun.
The hot stove was fun this week, hope we see more deals in short order instead of the glacial pace of last year.
Nathan Eovaldi’s Signing: Is this deal a sound investment in the context of his age and recent performance, or a potential overpay given his durability concerns?
Cubs Trade Scenarios: Would a prospect-laden deal for Tucker make sense for a team that is not clearly a championship contender in 2025?
Starting Pitcher Market: Should teams capitalize on high demand, or does trading valuable starters undermine their competitiveness?
Cubs would be a step closer. Tucker alone puts the Cubs at the top of the NLC. Jed has a year left and to keep his job he has to win the NLC and win a series. So this is not like the last few years that Jed half assed a team together
CFS: With Adames gone, it seems more likely that the division is wide open. But the Brewers are like the Rays used to be: a very good team on a low budget. imo, I think the Reds will be the team to challenge Milwaukee simply because Francona is their manager, though the FO better get him the players he needs.
Old York,
As far as the Cubs go, they have prospects that are knocking on the door, and the past two seasons have been very mid. Hoyer needs to shake it up and Tucker would immediately catapult to the best hitter on the team, he’s young, and he can play CF at a quality level. This probably means Bellinger is getting traded, so be it if they get Tucker. If they don’t get Tucker, then Bellinger is needed since he’s still a decent bat with a versatile glove.
Cody should be traded regardless. Latest is the Cubs are kicking the tires on Alonso. I feel this is geared to get Houston more motivated to trade.
I see traction on Cody to NYY. Cubs will have to add a prospect to get NY to soak more contract. Alàcantara going back to them makes sense as it gives NY a solid OF prospect that has MLB innings already.
The Bellinger contract is not that bad that you would need to add a top 100 prospect to take it. Cubs are idiots if they do that. Just better off keeping Bellinger at that point
CFS77: Cohen is interested in bringing Alonso back. And we all know no one outbids Cohen. But Bellinger to the nyy seems like it’s going to happen. If he can play CF like he used to, Judge can move back to RF. Verdugo played LF last season. Who do you think will take over there?
York – People have been writing off Nate because of his age for years.
I suppose someday they will finally be right, but not yet.
The last 4 seasons he’s averaged 152 innings with a 3.76 ERA and has been a postseason hero twice. How many other pitchers can say the same?
Sounds like Houston wants Paredes plus one of Shaw or Cam Smith plus Wicks. I am good with Smith. Shaw slots into 3B for the Cubs on opening day while Smith is in AA. Makes little sense for the Cubs to vacate 3B for a 1 year rental
Cubs turned down trade of Bellinger for Montgomery