In advance of Monday’s Winter Meetings kickoff, let’s take a moment for a few anticipatory notes…
- The Rays, as Juan Toribio of MLB.com rightly notes, will head into San Diego’s Manchester Hyatt hotel with a laundry list of roster items in need of attention. GM Erik Neander may be looking for a backup catcher, while the offense was already in need of a boost before the departure of Tommy Pham. But Toribio notes that trading from the club’s ample middle infield depth might be the most obvious course of action for the trade-happy Rays. The reporter (smartly) doesn’t mention the likely untouchable Wander Franco in his piece but suggests that Vidal Brujan and Lucius Fox would be “attractive” to other teams. Brujan, this observer notes, is ranked as the 15th-overall prospect in the game by Fangraphs but may be hard-pressed to find an MLB role in a system featuring Brandon Lowe, Willy Adames, Michael Brosseau, Daniel Robertson, Franco, and (now) Xavier Edwards. Still, a Brujan trade can hardly be called a likely outcome–while this winter has provided us with a refreshing amount of activity on the trade and free agent fronts, Edwards’ trade to the Rays marked the first time a “consensus” top-100 prospect has changed hands this offseason.
- Speaking of increased activity, front offices had committed $449MM in new contracts and extensions heading into the Winter Meetings at this time last year; as of Sunday morning, $609MM in new-money guarantees have been made so far this offseason, as notes Rob Bradford of WEEI.com (link). As a site that specializes in transactional news, we’d like to thank MLB front offices for their willingness to get Christmas shopping done early. Secondly, it’s worth noting that there are still a number of top players who could make headlines with new deals this week, as notes Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. Stephen Strasburg, Madison Bumgarner, Anthony Rendon, and Josh Donaldson are all still in need of homes, while Gerrit Cole reportedly has the Yankees frothing at the mouth. With increased early movement and a deep market of available players, this could be a red-letter week in San Diego.