In theory, the Winter Meetings “end” when the Rule 5 Draft ends, but in practice, there are always folks who stick around for a bit, trickling out as their schedules demand. I tentatively expect there still to be activity and rumors for most of this evening. There certainly has been already, with the Red Sox signing Masataka Yoshida, the Mets trading for Brooks Raley, and rumors about Xander Bogaerts persisting.
Starting there with the shortstop market, nothing has HAPPENED today, but the situation has certainly seemed to evolve. For one thing, it seemed like a lock earlier today that Bogaerts was about to re-sign with the Red Sox, and then that just didn’t happen. I’m sure the talks are still ongoing, but Jon Heyman reported that other teams – including the Cubs – are involved. Is that just leverage, or did things change today after Aaron Judge re-signed with the Yankees, spurring the Giants and Padres to pivot quickly, which maybe threw a number of markets for a loop?
For example, Gordon Wittenmyer, who has been talking about the Cubs’ seriousness on Carlos Correa for a while now, said tonight that when Judge didn’t sign with the Giants, that DID cause them to turn back to Correa, which may have disrupted the shortstop market a bit:
Note that Wittenmyer is not saying the Cubs are out or anything like that, but only that things may have slowed down on that front as the Giants got back into it.
This Athletic write-up out of Minnesota talks about how the Giants and Padres have muddied the waters for the Twins in their efforts to retain Correa, but there is no mention of the Cubs at all. Outside of Ken Rosenthal’s bare bones mention of Correa and the Cubs earlier today, you can pretty much say the entire reporting crew of The Athletic is not seeing signs of the Cubs being involved on Correa. Well, other than the fact that they went to meet him on Monday. (That report also indicates that the Twins have now met with Swanson, but it’s framed as a back-up plan.)
Meanwhile, here’s how an Atlanta beat is framing the Dansby Swanson market (I presume this is in addition to the Braves):
Let’s call that, in order: sincere interest, possibly just pushing the Cubs, possibly just pushing Correa, and possibly just pushing Bogaerts. That’s not to say those other three teams aren’t interested at SOME level, but it has felt for a while like the two teams most seriously committed to make a good offer on Swanson are the Cubs and Braves.
Speaking of which, on his Marquee hit tonight, Jon Morosi again said that the most likely fit for the Cubs in the shortstop market is Swanson. He also said Correa and the Giants are gaining steam (which is scary, because he’s the one who broke Judge to the Yankees, so he’s been quite plugged in this week).
At least Morosi spoke positively of the Cubs’ chances at trading for a catcher, if they want to go that route:
Interestingly, in his write up about the Willson Contreras signing, Keith Law brought up the Cubs and Sean Murphy:
“I’d be expecting a return similar to what the A’s got for Matt Olson last offseason, although in this case, there’s a bit more urgency with catching prospect Shea Langeliers as ready for the majors as he’s going to get. I don’t mean to cheer on the teardown in Oakland, but in for a penny, in for a pound — if you’re going to dump Chapman and Olson and Montas and Bassitt and others for prospects, there’s no sense keeping Murphy around. And, just to throw it out there, the Cubs have some serious prospect depth from which to try to trade for him.”
The Twins are also in on Christian Vazquez, who is likely the Cubs’ top catching free agent target:
The Mets tried to sign Jameson Taillon before the Cubs did, and are still trying to sign another starter – Kodai Senga and Ross Stripling are mentioned by Joel Sherman. If they get one of them, then the Mets might try to trade Carlos Carrasco.
Been a busy, busy Winter Meetings: