A Busy Weekend Before a Busy Week: So Many Rumors, So Much Ramp Up

bn baseball featureThe Winter Meetings kick off today in San Diego (the meat is already underway with a rumor that the Cubs are close to a deal with Jason Hammel, and steam picking up between the A’s and White Sox on Jeff Samardzija), which I only just now realize means the nights will be late for we folks in the Eastern Time Zone. Get yourself ready for that by catching up on anything you might have missed this weekend. It was another busy one …

Friday, December 5

  • There was another turn in the Yoan Moncada story, as he’s now in the United States.
  • The Yankees, Tigers, and Diamondbacks got together on a minor, but interesting, three-team trade.
  • The Cubs have some valuable trade pieces, but you already knew that.
  • Ryan Dempster officially came back to the Cubs as a special assistant.
  • I wrote about Sammy Sosa’s Hall of Fame candidacy, and why he doesn’t get in for me, even without the PED allegations.
  • The first big arm went off the board, and it was a reliever – Andrew Miller to the Yankees for four years and $36 million.
  • There were a bunch of anonymous evaluations of the market by various executives and agents.
  • Saturday, December 6

  • There was a report that the Cubs’ offer out to Jon Lester is actually higher than the six years and $138 million previously reported. That made me wonder when “high enough” might finally be “too high.”
  • Also, Red Sox owner John Henry took a special trip to visit with Lester personally.
  • Wrigley Field is – surprise! – very popular.
  • Theo Epstein addressed a variety of topics, which is always interesting.
  • There was a Lukewarm Stove with a huge number of rumors, including bits on the catching situation and Luis Valbuena.
  • Sunday, December 7

  • It’s only an offseason league, but I just wanted to point it out: Junior Lake’s walk rate is blowing up.
  • The reaction in the Boston media after the report on the owner visit was interesting.
  • The Cubs reportedly will not make Starlin Castro available in trade this offseason.
  • I offered a preview of what to expect this week with the Winter Meetings, and then capped off the day with a rumor round-up.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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