What we learned at the Winter Meetings: Day One

Are the Brewers going to make a deal with Corey Hart? Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

With the Winter Meetings beginning this morning, it looks like it may not be as exciting as some were hoping. A lot of huge moves were made last week, but some teams still might have more work to do.

Will the Milwaukee Brewers be a part of that, or will it be another quiet offseason?

Brewers

What we learned regarding the Brew Crew really hasn’t changed much except it seems the team and Corey Hart‘s agent have been talking. It’s surprising to think that Milwaukee is still trying to hold onto Hart as their interest in Miami Marlins’ first baseman Logan Morrison has not yet faded. The Brewers were also linked to the New York Mets again in discussing first basemen, either Ike Davis or Lucas Duda.

General manager Doug Melvin noted that first base was a “priority” for the Brewers this offseason. That aside, the Brewers do need some more bullpen help. The addition of Will Smith helps add more left-handed depth to the Brewers’ roster, but with him taking the current place of Mike Gonzalez in the bullpen, the team still needs to find a replacement for the loss of Burke Badenhop. It was speculated that the Brewers do have an interest in Carlos Marmol.

I’m not so sure we’ll see the Brewers make any other moves besides pursuing a first baseman (Hart, Morrison or someone else) and maybe sign one more reliever. Melvin did say that the team would still be open to trades as Norichika Aoki and Badenhop found new homes in Kansas City and Boston respectively.

Rest of the MLB

With most of the bigger signings out of the way, such as the Seattle Mariners nabbing second baseman Robinson Cano, it leaves a lot to be desired this week. The next thing baseball fans are hoping for is that the Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka will be posted. The Rakuten Golden Eagles’ president Yozo Tachibana remains opposed to posting the 25-year-old for the new $20MM maximum posting fee, but will do so if Tanaka wants to pitch in the United States, or Canada should the Toronto Blue Jays sign him.

Tampa Bay Rays’ starter David Price has garnered much attention around the league and specifically from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners. The New York Mets have their eye on starter Bartolo Colon who had a tremendous 2013 season with the Oakland Athletics. Starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo is also receiving interest from the Minnesota Twins.

Los Angeles Angels’ slugger Mark Trumbo reportedly has 12 teams interested in him as the Angels are trying to shop the outfielder. The Washington Nationals are also in the market with infielder Danny Espinosa, seeing what they could get for him.

Some other minor points of interest are the Chicago White Sox’s signing of right-handed pitcher Felipe Paulino for a one-year deal worth $1.75MM. The Cleveland Indians signed first baseman David Cooper to a major league contract.

At the beginning of the Winter Meetings, starting pitcher and long-time ace Roy Halladay announced his retirement from Major League Baseball. Halladay, 36, last pitched with the Philadelphia Phillies this past year. Halladay will be signing a one-day contract with the Blue Jays before retiring as they were the team he came up with.

That’s it for day one. Be sure to check us out again tomorrow to see what happened in day two of the Winter Meetings.