A wild day for the Hot Stove league

A wild day for the Hot Stove league


The baseball off-season is never really boring. It does have its ups and downs. There are times that are much more exciting then others. The time is usually coming as the MLB winter meetings begin on Monday. This year though something crazy happened, we had a winter meetings like day a week early. I have never seen anything like it, it was a wild day for the hot stove as there were signings, trades etc. This all happened on a Tuesday, the week before the winter meetings. To be honest I don’t even think a single day during the winter meetings could top this.

I will try to keep up with it all but I am sure I may be missing something. It was so crazy I don’t even know if I could keep up with it. I am a HUGE baseball fan and it was still hard for me to comprehend all that went on. The New York Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven-year 153 million contract. The Oakland Athletics were wheeling and dealing as they traded for Jim Johnson technically the night before. They also traded Seth Smith to the San Diego Padres for Luke Gregorson. The Robinson Cano saga took an interesting turn as it looks like the Seattle Mariners are appearing as major players for him.

The Boston Red Sox signed A.J. Piersynski for one year. The Florida Marlins signed their catcher from last season Jarrod Saltalamacchia to a three year 21 million dollar deal. The Detroit Tigers finally got their closer in Joe Nathan for a two-year deal. The Tampa Bay Rays took part in a three-way deal. They traded for Ryan Hanigan who is a catcher from the Cincinnati Reds and Heath Bell from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Reds received David Holmberg from the D-backs and Arizona received right handed pitcher Justin Choate and a player to be named later or cash considerations from Tampa. The Diamondbacks also sent around 500,000 to the Rays.

The Kansas City Royals were moving closer to signing Carlos Beltran who started his career with them. The Oakland Athletics also completed a rare in the division trade. They got Craig Gentry from the Texas Rangers and right-hander Josh Lindblom and they are exploring trading their pitcher Brett Anderson. The Rangers got from Oakland Michael Choice. The Houston Astros, yeah the Astros got involved. They traded for Colorado centerfielder Dexter Fowler. Colorado reportedly agreed to terms with Justin Morneau. Do you have that all and I hope I didn’t miss anything.

It was the wildest day I can remember without there even being a game. I don’t even remember a day during the winter meetings being like this. The winter meetings won’t be as interesting this year but there are still some things that could happen.

Shin Soo Choo is still out there as well as Robinson Cano. The starting pitching market hasn’t really taken shape and a trade for the Rays David Price could happen during the meetings. If nothing else I am sure you will hear plenty of rumors about it. The intrigue for Tanaka will go up with a new posting system about to be put in place. It looks like it will be a max bid and then basically an all out free for all like free agency for him. There will be plenty to talk about and then it will be holiday time which will lead you into the new year and about a month away from spring training.