Winter Meetings Wednesday Evening: Other Moves, Gomes, Clippard, Kemp, More

Dec 10, 2014

So, the folks who said this year’s Winter Meetings were going to be nuts? Yup. They were right. It was already huge for the Cubs coming into today, with Jon Lester, Miguel Montero, and Jason Hammel on the way. But it didn’t stop with the Cubs, and the high profile rumors/moves just carried on in into the evening (including a rumor that Justin Upton would waive his no-trade clause to come to the Cubs). Already we’ve discussed Wade Miley on the move and the relationship to a possible Travis Wood deal (about which the Rangers have apparently thought), the Phillies are sending Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers, who also picked up a haul from the Marlins. And there was that crazy Nats “blow the roof off” rumor. Plus now the Dodgers might be getting Brandon McCarthy. Mercy.

Among the other things …

As for the Cubs, specifically, Theo Epstein met with the media tonight, reiterating his previous stance that the Cubs are not going to be signing two nine-figure pitchers this offseason (per Patrick Mooney – so if you stumbled across any strange and surprising James Shields rumors this evening, you can probably discard them). He also said that, if the Cubs do make another deal before the meetings let up tomorrow, it’ll probably be a small one (per Jesse Rogers). And the money quote:

Theo: "People ask if we’re all in for 2015. The best response is we’re all in for the future. The future starts in ’15."
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) December 11, 2014

Speaking of a possible small deal for the Cubs, Marc Topkin says there is “chatter” that Jonny Gomes could be the next to join the Cubs, and Buster Olney says the Cubs would like to sign him. The Cubs have been known to have interest in the veteran bat for a while now, and he’d be fine, depending on the composition of the rest of the roster. He likely can still hit lefties quite well. Mostly, the interest must be for his clubhouse presence, because his addition will probably push Justin Ruggiano out (and he’s a little more versatile and possibly cheaper). The front office and Joe Maddon know Gomes well, though, so I won’t argue – at least not about a bench guy.

Jordan Zimmermann’s name isn’t leaving the rumor mill any time soon, with Jon Morosi noting how frequently he’s popping up in trade talks. The Nats are also talking to teams about reliever Tyler Clippard (another name that keeps coming up) and lefty Ross Detwiler, per Ken Rosenthal. Jayson Stark says there’s a surprising amount of buzz about Zimmermann and Clippard. Again, I point to that crazy, but non-specific Nationals rumor. Zimmermann and Clippard, alone, wouldn’t be enough to blow off the roof at the Winter Meetings. But they could be in there somewhere.

(On Clippard, by the way, James Wagner writes that the Nats wouldn’t be just looking to unload his projected $9 million salary for a lower-tier prospect. I always expected that Clippard would cost a good prospect, just not a great one.)

Speaking of big trade rumors, the Matt Kemp/Yasmani Grandal/plus trade “has legs”, according to Jon Heyman. And speaking of which, Patrick Mooney says the Cubs aren’t interested in any of the Dodgers’ high-priced outfielders.

The Rockies are getting a lot of interest on outfielder Corey Dickerson says Ken Rosenthal, but they’d have to be “overwhelmed” to move him.

Are the Dodgers going to take a run at James Shields? And the Twins may be going after Ervin Santana.

The Pirates added to their bullpen today, picking up lefty Antonio Bastardo from the Phillies.

written by

Brett Taylor

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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