MLB Bullets is starting to thaw

Good morning, Friday. Or as we like to call it around here, Fog-day. Of course, that’s every day this time of year.

• We have some deals!. The Rays sent former All-Star closer Brad Boxberger to the Diamondbacks for minor leaguer Curtis Taylor.
• Jeff Sullivan analyzes the deal and thinks that Boxberger could be a real force in the Diamondbacks bullpen. That’s not to say that the Rays didn’t do well, also.
• While that may be underwhelming, we do have news about potential big news at least. There is a report that the Marlins would accept a packager of Joe Panik along with top Giants prospects Tyler Beede and Chris Shaw for Giancarlo Stanton, as long as the Giants were willing to eat the vast majority of Stanton’s contract.
• Grant Brisbee tells Giants fans that while Panik might be a fan favorite, this is a deal that the Giants and their fans should get behind.
• The deal is serious enough that the Giants sat down and talked with Stanton and his representatives yesterday, writes Jon Paul Morosi.
• There’s one big problem. Stanton has full no-trade protection and he’s noticed that the Giants were even worse than the Marlins last season. Stanton would still like to be dealt to the Dodgers, although he has not made any “LA or bust” statements, according to reports. Stanton does reportedly admire Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner, however.
• The first free agent fell off the board as the Athletics signed reliever Yusmeiro Petit to a two-year, $10 million deal.
• Jeff Sullivan analyzes to the two big moves of the Athletics offseason, so far, and he thinks that Petit and Emilio Pagan share a similarity that could explain the A’s thinking.
• The Angels replaced (?) Petit by trading for Braves closer Jim Johnson along with some of the Braves international pool money.
• Why would the Angels want more international pool money? Because they are making a play for Shohei Ohtani, of course. Angels general manager Billy Eppler confirmed that. Ohtani to Anaheim makes a certain amount of sense, as well.
• Anthony Castrovince ranks every team’s chances to sign Ohtani, although frankly, any list that doesn’t have the Yankees at #1 is suspect in my eyes. But perhaps you’ll find something to think about in there.
• Andrew Marchand makes the case for Ohtani to sign with the Yankees. Or at least the case he thinks the Yankees will make to Ohtani.
• Tim Brown looks at Ohtani’s chances to succeed as a two-way player.
• Today is the non-tender deadline. Craig Calcaterra explains what the non-tender deadline is.
• Mark Feinsand has ten players who could be non-tendered today, and Hector Rondon is on the list.
• So is Astros reliever Mike Fiers, and the Astros are frantically trying to trade Fiers rather than non-tender him.
• Feinsand also looks at some non-tender deadlines of years past and notes some famous mistakes. (None bigger than the Twins non-tendering David Ortiz, although the Mets and Justin Turner comes close.)
• Jon Heyman explains why the “Hot Stove” has been so cold lately and it’s not just Ohtani and Stanton.
• Cliff Corcoran has the biggest offseason need of each team that made the playoffs last year.
• Richard Justice says that a big reason the winter has been so quiet is that teams are waiting to get bargains. Justice points out that last year the teams that waited got the best deals in free agency.
• Jerry Crasnick thinks that because everyone and their little brother are hitting home runs in MLB these days, there could be some bargains among power-hitting free agents this offseason.
• Grant Brisbee tries to figure out which team will sign Yu Darvish.
• The Red Sox are rumored to be interested in trading for White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu. Dave Cameron thinks that’s a good idea as long as Jackie Bradley Jr. is not included in the deal.
• Following up on some stories from Bullets past, Jon Heyman writes that Joe Morgan is entitled to his opinion on the Hall of Fame but that writers should ignore it. This is a great piece for Morgan-haters out there as Heyman says if you think you hate Joe Morgan, you should meet him first. You can’t really know what it’s like to hate Joe Morgan until you experience what a jerk he is in person, writes Heyman. (Not in those words, but pretty close.)
• Rany Jazayerli wades into the Bill James/WAR debate and says the real problem is that we have never decided what WAR is supposed to measure. This is a really good essay on the evolution of these stats, how they differ and the strengths and weaknesses of the different systems to measure player value.
• The Mariners’ Nelson Cruz was named the winner of the Edgar Martinez DH of the Year Award. Seems fitting.
• The Tigers Miguel Cabrera had a “down” 2017 season, but Mike Petriello points out that StatCast data show that Cabrera hit into very poor luck last season.
• Former Mariners star Bret Boone apologized after making some bizarre “jokes” mocking victims of sexual assault.
• And Sportsnet fired former major leaguer Gregg Zaun for “Inappropriate behavior and comments” towards female co-workers.
• Actress/singer Jennifer Lopez has endorsed her boyfriend Alex Rodriguez to be the next Yankees manager. I think ARod might make a terrific manager, but we all know it’s never, ever going to happen.
• Here’s a slightly-silly piece that I loved: When a player gets intentionally walked, do they deserve a fist-bump from the first base coach? Sam Miller looks at how it went in 2017 and who took the IBBFB (Intentional-walk-fist-bump) and who didn’t. Preview: Schwarber took one. Bryant didn’t.
• And finally, this Astros fan decided to celebrate the holidays and the World Series at the same time with this impressive Astros-themed holiday light display.

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