MLB hot stove news and notes

The Baltimore Orioles lost Nelson Cruz to the Seattle Mariners just the other day.  They have now lost long time right fielder Nick Markakis.  He signed with the Atlanta Braves for four years and around 45 million dollars.  Nelson Cruz signed with the Mariners for four years and 58 million.  The trade front has been pretty active and will be more active next week during the Winter meetings in San Diego, California.   The Toronto Blue Jays who have been very busy this off-season continue to be.  They traded pitcher J.A. Happ to the Seattle Mariners for Michael Saunders.  Saunders is a 28 year old outfielder who played in only 78 games last season.  He batted 273 with a 791 OPS and eight homeruns.  He has battled injuries over the past three seasons.  Happ is 32 years old and went 11-11 last season with a 4.22 ERA in 28 starts. 

The Jon Lester sweepstakes have really heated up and appear close to coming to an end.  The Los Angeles Dodgers have become a very late entrant and may be pushing hard for him.  The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox are believed to be the two other front runners although there are other teams in the mix as well.  There were reports that this should get done this week but now today they are saying not until the winter meetings next week most likely.  There hasn't been much talk about the other top pitcher Max Scherzer, there were some rumors about the Yankees the other day but nothing has come out of that. 

The other big pitcher that has been getting the spotlight the last couple of days is lefty reliever Andrew Miller.  It looks like it is down to just a couple of teams with the New York Yankees and Houston Astros appearing to be the favorites.  There have been conflicting reports about the Astros and Red Sox being out of it though.  I am guessing the Yankees do end up signing him.  He may get four years and around 40 million though and most believe the Yankees don't want to go to four years but maybe three and an option year.  I also wonder if this would put them out with David Robertson or if they are trying to sign both and have a super bullpen.  Can you imagine if they have Robertson, Miller, Betances and then have the next  tier like Justin Wilson, Shawn Kelley and Adam Warren.  That would be a pretty sick bullpen and shorten games to six innings and take stress off of their injury plagued starters. 

How about the Atlanta Braves and Justin Upton??  He appears likely to be traded and maybe the Seattle Mariners are a team that would match up.  They are looking for another bat to put with Robinson Cano and Cruz.  There were reports today that the Detroit Tigers are shopping David Price and Rick Porcello so stay tuned for that next week also.  The Yankees may be talking to teams about trading for a shortstop so also look for that.  Chase Headley reportedly has a four year and 65 million dollar deal in hand from a mystery team.  If that is true he will be gone from the Yankees and they will have Martin Prado as their third baseman and two rookies battling for second in Rob Refsnyder and Jose Pirela. 

I would expect a flurry of trades next week during the winter meetings.  I also forgot about a big trade that happened during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  Josh Donaldson was traded to the Blue Jays for Brett Lawrie and three prospects.  The Jays have some lineup now with Russell Martin, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Donaldson and now Michael Saunders also.  There was a report that Donaldson and GM Billy Beane were at war by the end of the year and that may be a big reason he traded him.