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A brief summary of things that happened on Day 2:
- The Cubs signed lefthander Drew Smyly, who’s currently recovering from Tommy John surgery. It’s a good, low-risk move for the future.
#Cubs Hoyer on Smyly: "Anything we get out of him next year will be sort of gravy. He may be able to help us late in the season out of the bullpen. This is a move that's focused on 2019"
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) December 13, 2017
- The Cubs made the Brandon Morrow signing official, via press release.
As for Morrow, #Cubs Hoyer says if season started now, he'd be the closer. But he added: "We'll see what the rest of the offseason brings."
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) December 13, 2017
- The Yankees cleared some salary by trading Chase Headley and Bryan Mitchell to the Padres for Jabari Blash.
- Turns out Shohei Ohtani might have some elbow issues. Apparently these were known by all seven “finalists” who met with Ohtani and the Angels are willing to deal with it.
#Cubs LHP Mike Montgomery would like chance to start or go to place where he can, sources close to the pitcher tell The Athletic. Has communicated desire to start to #Cubs, but not desire to go elsewhere if opportunity is not available, sources say. Role in ‘18 presently unclear.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 13, 2017
Over the past three seasons, Joe Maddon has been quite good at getting players to buy in to his vision of how players on the 25-man roster fit in and how they’re used. Mike Montgomery was far better as a reliever than as a starter in 2017; I’d anticipate he’ll be used in that “swing man” role again in 2018 — unless the Cubs do wind up trading him. He certainly has trade value. Response from management:
#Cubs Hoyer says this "caught me by surprise, to be honest. We view him as a starting pitcher. I know he views himself as a starting pitcher but he's a good teammate and has been willing to do both and I think he's done that very well" https://t.co/9EeiLCRwbG
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) December 13, 2017
Drew Smyly is a Mike Montgomery fan!
Monty getting the final out of game 7!!!! That's awesome, Congrats @MikeMontgum22
— Drew Smyly (@SmylyD) November 3, 2016
Speaking of potential Cubs trades:
The Cubs and Indians have had trade talk conversations.RHP Danny Salazar has been mentioned . The Indians looking for left handed hitting in return . Nothing close at this time .
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) December 13, 2017
Sure, Danny Salazar would look great in a Cubs uniform. The Cubs don’t really have lefthanded hitting available in a potential trade — except for Kyle Schwarber. I’m not suggesting a Schwarber-for-Salazar deal, only that I don’t really see the Cubs with other LH hitting that’s tradeable.
Ex-Cub news:
Tommy Hunter’s two-year deal with #Phillies expected to be in $18M range, sources tell The Athletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 13, 2017
Tommy Hunter had a pretty good year for the Rays in 2017. It’s possible he’ll wind up closing for the Phillies.
Other reliever news:
Hear #Rockies are moving to try and finalize a deal with Bryan Shaw
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 13, 2017
Shaw is a three-year deal with rockies, and about $9M per (unconfirmed on $)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 13, 2017
This leaves Addison Reed, who had been at one point Tuesday rumored to be going to the Phillies, still unsigned. I’d love to see the Cubs make an offer to Reed, who could either set up for Morrow or back him up at closer.
Here’s another, outside-the-box possibility for the Cubs in relief:
Kazuhisa Makita has officially been posted https://t.co/j42hpTlJfM
— Kazuto Yamazaki (@Kazuto_Yamazaki) December 12, 2017
I’ve posted this video before, but have a look at Makita striking out Evan Longoria during a MLB/Japan All-Star game in 2014:
That ball... moves!
Late note, breaking just before the time of this post:
Official: #MNTwins sign RHP Michael Pineda to two-year contract.
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) December 13, 2017
This will be your all-purpose Winter Meetings thread for Wednesday. As was the case for the last two days, if there’s any specific Cubs news or signings, I’ll break that out into separate articles. This is the last full day of the Meetings; they will end Thursday with the Rule 5 draft, which will happen at 8 a.m. CT. I’ll have a thread for that tomorrow morning.