Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on headed into the weekend:
1. Winter Meetings to begin:
The Winter Meetings are set to begin next week, which means on Sunday players, agents, and executives alike from around the game will begin flocking to Orlando. There’s been plenty of trade and free agent activity already. Impact free agents like Devin Williams and Dylan Cease have already signed, and the trade market has been buzzing all winter long with deals like the Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien swap, Boston’s acquisition of Sonny Gray, and last night’s five-player deal between the Pirates and Red Sox. The activity should only ratchet up from here leading up to and throughout the meetings, with plenty of exciting moves to come in the next few days. Be sure to stay tuned in to MLBTR for all the latest rumors and deals!
2. Red Sox loading up on pitching:
Yesterday’s aforementioned trade saw Boston ship top outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia (along with pitching prospect Jesus Travieso) to Pittsburgh for a package consisting of right-hander Johan Oviedo, minor league lefty Tyler Samaniego, and catching prospect Adonys Guzman. The deal added another viable starter to a Red Sox club that was already deep in rotation candidates. Oviedo likely slots in towards the back of the club’s rotation alongside Patrick Sandoval, with Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, and Brayan Bello in the first three slots and younger pieces like Connelly Early, Kyle Harrison, and Payton Tolle serving as depth. Even that doesn’t factor in Kutter Crawford, who missed the 2025 season due to injury but was a valuable rotation piece as recently as 2024. The Red Sox figure to remain quite active in the offseason markets headed into next week’s Winter Meetings.
3. Eras Committee voting results to be revealed:
One of the first pieces of the Winter Meetings schedule is also one of its most important, as a committee of former players, executives, and media members will convene to vote on the Hall of Fame candidacies of this year’s slate of Eras Committee nominees. This year’s nominees are Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield, and Fernando Valenzuela. At least 12 votes from the committee’s 16 members are needed to be inducted into Cooperstown, and the results of that vote will be revealed at 6:30pm CT this coming Sunday on MLB Network.
Go Murphy!
HOF is a joke
Sheffield
FWIW, Crawford led the Sox in IP in 2024. I think he has more value to the club than most think or know. How that affects his trade value, IDK, but I’d be fine w giving him every chance to earn a spot in the rotay.
Only Murphy deserves it. Maybe Kent. Bonds and Clemens no for PED reasons. Sheffield was never a winner and there were PED concerns about him as well. I loved Mattingly as a player but his back derailed him, like David Wright, too soon to be viable as HOF.
I don’t like any of the players on the ballot. Most of them are Hall of Decent but not Hall of Famers. And we should be removing existing cheaters from the HOF. Far too many currently in the HOF.
Red Sox seem to be doing their holiday shopping early. It’s an interesting strategy–
Breslow paying a premium to get the specific guys he wants as opposed to waiting until January and digging through the clearance bin.
Could work out quite well–especially if they can fill needs with trades instead of huge long-term contracts (unless necessary).
I like your logic. Big Name Long-Term FAs dont usually work in Boston. Their track record the last 25 years is pretty bad:
JD Drew Daisuke Matsuzaka John Lackey Hanley Ramirez David Price Panda Sandoval Masataka Yoshida Trevor Story
Not an impressive group.
If you keep out Bonds and Clemens for cheating, then you need to give Murphy bonus points for good character.
The Red Sox picking up Oviedo makes me believe that adding pitching is probably done now. Though I hope not. Resigning Bregman is a must as is right-handed slugger. Maybe Bello can establish himself as a legit #2 or Gray can once again be that guy. IMO they have a #1 , Crochet,and a bunch of #3+,4,5s,as well as promising rookies. . Still have a logjam in the
outfield/DH spots. I thought Garcia would be a valuable piece to include for a #2 rotation piece.
Picking pitching slots in December is overrated. For now they have a bunch of arms to cycle through the rotation during the season and keep everyone rested. Pitching slots are only important in October. By then someone will step up.
My prediction:
Red Sox sign either Bregman, Murakami or Alonso and fill in the other infield position via trade of Duran. (Maybe bring in a catcher to pair with Narvaez). Team will be set then.
After I slept on the trade, in *some* ways I get it, BUT its a tricky one, kind of like buying/building on spec and hoping what you’ve got is desirable.
You weren’t gong to trade an abreu/duran and a Garcia in the same trade to another team.
Other disposable pieces like casas or yoshida are *not* desirable enough to be the headliner of the trade for high impact players – nor, for that matter, was Garcia.
And a volume over quality deal doesnt net you mich above the lower end of average at best – sort of like ovideo.
So while I initially hoped to see Garcia as the 2nd or 3rd piece to a blockbuster, teams dont typically need both a established starter like duran/abreu and a guy ready for mlb starts like Garcia in the same trade.
7 of the 16 voters are HOF players who all played before the steroid era.
I do not see Bonds, Clemens, Sheffield, Kent, or Delgado getting in because of this.
They would not be eligible to be on the ballot again until 2030.
I think Murphy is a lock.
I could see Mattingly and/or Valenzuela get in based on factors such as: very very close career numbers, cultural impact, popularity with the people in the game, and who is voting.
HOF system seems really Rube Goldberg these days. So many entry points, stretched out over so many years.
Aren’t there only two ways for a player to get in? BBWAA and Eras Committee.
Murphy, Fernando, and a bunch or steroid users.
I don’t envy the committee having to choose among these guys.
I think I would go with Dale Murphy, Fernando Valenzuela and Don Mattingly if I had to pick 3.
People forget it is the Hall of FAME, not Hall of numbers. I personally think character is a big part of it and guys who did steroids…sorry, I can’t see it. That stuff was all over the minors in my day and most of us said no.