MLB Bullets Has A Clearance Sale

Good morning. I’m sure there will be some breaking news minutes after this article posts. Is Jorge Soler still a Cub? (NO!)

• The White Sox and Red Sox made the biggest splash of the Winter Meetings as Chris Sale is going to Boston for four players, including baseball’s top prospect Yoan Moncada.
• The Red Sox also picked up reliever Tyler Thornburg from the Brewers for Travis Shaw and two more prospects.
• Boston also signed free agent Mitch Moreland to a one-year deal.
• Jayson Stark says the Sale deal demonstrates that Red Sox boss Dave Dombrowski is fearless by not being afraid to part with top prospects. The Tigers have never regretted what they gave up for Miguel Cabrera, for example.
• Ken Rosenthal writes that the “future is now” for Boston and that Dombrowski has never cared about the cost of a player he has wanted.
• Grant Brisbee thinks the Red Sox have become a “juggernaut” with a ridiculously-good starting rotation. He adds that while this is good news for Boston, it not a guarantee of anything.
• Scott Lauber says the Red Sox big day makes them the favorites in the American League in 2017.
• Dave Cameron agrees: The BoSox are the team to beat.
• Ben Lindbergh goes a step further and calls them the “prohibitive” favorites in the AL.
• Ben Reiter says the Sale sale was risky for Boston with a potentially huge payoff.
• Jesse Yomtov writes that by dealing Travis Shaw, the Red Sox are committing to Pablo Sandoval at third base in 2017.
• It’s a good thing then, that the Kung Fu Panda has apparently lost a lot of weight over the past year.
• For the White Sox, Tommy Stokke praises the team for finally committing to a rebuilding plan.
• Bradford Doolittle thinks the Cubs success finally forced the White Sox to admit they couldn’t continue down the same path that they had been travelling.
• Eric Longenhagen breaks down the players going to the Pale Hose and declares that they got a “monster” return for Sale.
• Baseball Prospectus also breaks down the prospects going over to the South Side.
• Grant Brisbee thinks that the White Sox dare not stop with just selling Sale. Everything Must Go!
• Jon Tayler agrees: The White Sox must undergo a Cubs/Astros-style teardown and rebuild. Dear White Sox fans: the 100-loss season that is coming will be no fun, but take your medicine. Or don’t. That would be better for the Cubs.
• Jon Heyman reports that “nobody’s sacred” on the White Sox roster.
• David Schoenfield looks at the unpredictability of prospects and gives some pros and cons to the players the White Sox got, as well as a few other prospects on other teams who might be dealt.
• Turning to the team that lost out on the Sale sale, the Nationals have suggested that outfielder Bryce Harper is looking for a ten-year, $400 million contract and that the Nationals are prepared to let him walk as a free agent. Scott Boras, Harper’s agent, says that he has had no talks at all about a long-term deal for Harper with the Nats and that number hasn’t come from him.
• Whether the number is true or not, Jeff Passan can’t understand why the Nationals would chose to pick a fight with Harper.
• Will Leitch thinks Harper would be a bargain at 10 and $400 million.
• The Dodgers re-signed Rich Hill for three years and $48 million. Mark Townsend thinks that is a risky move that the Dodgers could afford to make.
• The Rangers have re-signed Carlos Gomez on a one-year deal. There was some reports that the Rangers were asking the Cubs about Soler and Matt Szczur. I don’t know how the Gomez deal changes any of that, if at all. Maybe they’ll have to talk to the Royals instead.
• The Rays signed free agent catcher Wilson Ramos to a two-year deal.
• The Diamondbacks are close to a deal with former Cubs reliever Fernando Rodney.
• Lindsey Foltin thinks the Indians can and should sign Edwin Encarnacion.
• Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has given his OK to spend the money to sign a top closer.
• The Orioles told the agent for Jose Bautista that the team wouldn’t sign him because “our fans don’t like him.” That’s code for “We’re too cheap to spend the money but we want the fans to think we did it for them.” Although to be fair to the O’s, there are some good baseball reasons to pass on Bautista, but “our fans don’t like him” isn’t one of them. They’d change their minds after the first home run.
• MLB says there is no “Shohei Otani” exception to the international free agent rules. So we’re going to have to wait three more years for Otani. Unless they change their minds.
• Will Leitch lists one player on each team who is “untouchable” in trades.
• Margaret Whitton, the actress who played owner Rachel Phelps in the first two Major League movies, has died of cancer at age 67.
• Todd Coffey wants to pitch in the majors again and he found a way to get noticed at the Winter Meetings: a very loud shirt.
• And finally, Craig Calcaterra is out with his fourth annual rankings of the most handsome managers in MLB. As he said, winning brings handsomeness, so Joe Maddon moved up in the rankings this year. Also, he wants to assure you the article is safe-for-work and that there are no pictures of Mike Scioscia involving nudity.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.