HOT IN WINTER
10 names to watch at this week's meetings
EARS will burn.
You want to talk baseball nonstop for four days? It’ll be that way in National Harbor, Md., this coming week for the winter meetings, with many industry folks arriving Sunday. Trades will be executed, free-agent deals completed and maybe we’ll get lucky and a manager or two — bet heavily on Terry Collins and heavily against Joe Girardi — will create some headlines.
Whose names will dominate the chatter? Here is a primer on the top 10 players whose ears will burn the most.
1. Andrew McCutchen. He isn’t the only former Most Valuable Player who stands as a strong trade candidate this winter. You need not move even outside the National League Central to find such another such phenomenon in 2011 NL MVP Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun. What stands out for the 2013 NL MVP McCutchen, however, is how amazingly quickly he has transformed from face of a playoff franchise to excess baggage — just one year, really. The Pirates appear anxious to move the center fielder following a careerworst 2016 season. The Nationals, with general manager Mike Rizzo always ready for a big move, reportedly lead the chase, and clubs such as the Rangers, Giants and Cardinals are open to acquiring a center fielder.
2. Chris Sale. The White Sox own four consecutive seasons with losing records, the worst such run in the American League, and they finally seem to have bought into the notion of tearing down rather than reloading their highly imperfect roster. The Nationals, Red Sox and Braves are among the clubs with the trade chips and the desire to acquire the lefty stud Sale, who is under control for three more years. 3. Edwin Encarnacion. The top remaining hitter on the market now that the Mets have re-signed Yoenis Cespedes, Encarnacion has been in regular contact with the Yankees and his own Blue Jays. And gosh, doesn’t he still make so much sense to replace the retired David Ortiz in Boston? 4. Aroldis Chapman. He won’t cost a draft pick, he owns a World Series ring and his fastball averaged over 100 mph last year. He is going to cost so much it is not apparent whether anyone besides the Yankees and Dodgers is seriously interested. Which means he should be deciding his future employer shortly.
5. Rich Hill. The late-blooming lefty is the best of the worst crop of starting pitchers in the history of free agency. Who will commit three years to the guy entering his age-37 season? The Dodgers? The Rangers? The
Yankees? 6. Jay Bruce. Have you heard the Mets have a surplus of outfielders? Bruce, with one year and $13 million left on his deal, represents a low-risk option for teams in need of a bat. The Blue Jays and Orioles are among the potentially good fits.
7. Dexter Fowler. A qualifying-offer victim last offseason, when he chose to re-sign with the Cubs, he now is poised to cash in after a stellar 2016 with the champion Cubs — who appear ready to move on after signing Jon Jay. The same teams in on McCutchen make sense for Fowler. 8. Kenley Jansen. He probably will wait for Chapman to sign so he can be king of the closer hill. He very well could wind up returning to the Dodgers if they can’t get Chapman, and don’t count out the Yankees if Chapman goes to the Dodgers instead. The Marlins, whose manager, Don Mattingly, used to manage Jansen in Los Angeles, have been reported as another suitor. 9. Mark Melancon. The former Yankees draft pick won’t necessarily wait for Chapman and Jansen to come off the board, as he intrigues many clubs that aren’t willing to shop in the higher-end closer aisle. The Nationals want him back and the Giants already met with him, and why wouldn’t the Marlins go after him, too, if they can’t get Jansen?
10. Mike Trout. Nah, he isn’t getting traded. But at the winter meetings, lousy rumors fly fast and furious. Don’t be surprised if one or more of these faulty trial balloons reach the public domain via an incompetent media member. It feels inevitable when you have the game’s best player working for one of the worst teams.