There are years where baseball's Winter Meetings are dull affairs with few transactions announced.
And then there are years like 2014, where sleep was lost by baseball executives, writers and fans who were all up in the middle of the night wondering what was coming next.
Here, direct from MLB, is a summary of all the transactions made at the Winter Meetings, in chronological order. You'll note that the Cubs' signings of Jon Lester and Jason Hammel are not included. MLB's press release noted that "only transactions announced by the club are included," and the Cubs have not officially announced the Lester and Hammel signings yet.
That's not important since you already know about them. It'll take some time to digest all these deals -- 19 of them, not including the Cubs' two signings -- and what impacts they'll have on their teams, their divisions and playoff contention for 2015.
It's exhilarating to have this much baseball activity and discussion in December, when many sports fans have turned their attention to the NFL, NBA and NHL. The dead-tree edition of the Tribune not only had six pages of baseball and a full front page in the sports section, but a refer at the top of the front page of the paper.
It's an exciting time to be a Cubs fan. After five losing seasons and a lot of angst spilled over the way the Cubs were being rebuilt, the brass has decided that they're going to begin to go for contention in 2015. I congratulate Theo & Co. for an excellent offseason so far; the moves made met team needs very well, and apart from the Lester deal, they didn't cost all that much. Paying Lester what the team did was needed to get him and even at that, the Cubs aren't going over payroll limits.
Opening Day is just 116 days away and the first spring-training game only 84 days from now. Personally, I can't wait.
Now, here are all the transactions confirmed by teams during the four days of the Winter Meetings.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8 Chicago White Sox – Claimed C Rob Brantly off waivers from the Miami Marlins. Cleveland Indians – Acquired OF Brandon Moss from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for 2B Joey Wendle. Los Angeles Angels – Claimed OF Marc Krauss off waivers from the Houston Astros. Pittsburgh Pirates – Claimed RHP Josh Lindblom off waivers from the Oakland Athletics. Texas Rangers – Claimed LHP Scott Barnes off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles. Toronto Blue Jays – Claimed 1B Chris Colabello off waivers from the Minnesota Twins. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9 Chicago Cubs – Acquired C Miguel Montero from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for RHP Zack Godley and RHP Jeferson Mejia. Chicago White Sox – Acquired RHP Jeff Samardzija and RHP Michael Ynoa from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for RHP Chris Bassitt, C Josh Phegley, 3B Rangel Ravelo and SS Marcus Semien. Los Angeles Angels – Acquired C Drew Butera from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10TH Chicago White Sox – Acquired LHP Dan Jennings from the Miami Marlins in exchange for RHP Andre Rienzo. Chicago White Sox – Signed free agent RHP David Robertson. Los Angeles Angels – Acquired SS Josh Rutledge from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for RHP Jairo Diaz. Los Angeles Dodgers – Acquired 2B Howie Kendrick from the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for LHP Andrew Heaney. Miami Marlins – Acquired RHP Dan Haren, 2B Dee Gordon and SS Miguel Rojas from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for C Austin Barnes, RHP David Hatcher, LHP Andrew Heaney and SS Enrique Hernandez. Pittsburgh Pirates – Acquired LHP Antonio Bastardo from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for LHP Joely Rodriguez. San Diego Padres – Signed free agent SS Clint Barmes. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11 Detroit Tigers – Acquired RHP Alfredo Simon from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for RHP Jonathon Crawford and INF Eugenio Suarez. Detroit Tigers – Acquired OF Yoenis Cespedes, RHP Alex Wilson and LHP Gabe Speier from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for RHP Rick Porcello. Miami Marlins – Acquired RHP Mat Latos from the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for RHP Anthony DeSclafani and C Chad Wallach.