MLB Bullets is going through a drought

At the beginning of the hot stove, if you would have told me that in the first week of January, the Cubs would have signed the third-biggest free agent contract of the winter, I would not have been surprised. If you would have told me it was Tyler Chatwood, I’d ask what kind of dirt Chatwood had on the Ricketts family.

• Bob Nightengale has a look at how the new bottom-line focused front offices have turned the hot stove league into a meat locker. (My words, not his.)
• Buried in that article are reports that free agent first baseman Eric Hosmer has a seven-year offer from the Padres and outfielder J.D. Martinez has a five-year offer from the Red Sox.
• The Cardinals are also mulling making a move for Hosmer according to Jon Paul Morosi. They are also interested in trading for Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson, but there are questions if Toronto is willing to deal him.
• Tommy Stokke picks the perfect landing spot for each remaining free agent. He’s a regular eharmony for ballplayers and teams.
• More information is coming out of Miami on what’s going on with the Marlins. In a document passed out to investors back in August, Marlins president Derek Jeter promised big profits and a huge increase in paid attendance over the next three years. You wonder if he believes that or whether he’s just telling the suckers what they want to hear. (Actually, the profits part is probably true, if not as large as Jeter predicts.)
• Jerry Crasnick does the research for a future beer commercial as he lists the 18 most interesting men in baseball for 2018. One guess who’s number one. I have no idea what brand of beer he prefers though.
• Chris Cwik has five storylines for the 2018 season.
• Cliff Corcoran has ten things in the upcoming 2018 season to get excited about. Or at least, he’s excited about them. I think the March 29 Opening Day is nice.
• Jonathan Bernhardt doesn’t put a number on it, but he says what he’s looking forward to in the 2018 season.
• The Buffalo Bills made the NFL playoffs. Why is this a baseball story? Because it means that the Seattle Mariners now hold the longest playoff drought among the top four North American sports leagues. Yeah, but both Liverpool and Manchester United have never made the English Premier League playoffs and they’re supposed to be the most storied clubs in the game.
• Anthony Castrovince looks at the changing nature of the manager in the game. Today, they are younger and more analytical. It’s a long way from the days of Joe Schultz telling his team to “go pound some Budweiser.”
• Carson Cistulli has a look at just how good are the players who get claimed off waivers. You have to be bad enough for one team to put you there but good enough that another team sees a point in claiming you.
• Mike Petriello examines five starting pitchers who should never face batters a third time in a game. He also explains why they shouldn’t.
• Frank Jackson has an essay on the history and nature of baseball on the radio.
• Ann Killion looks at Darren Baker, Dusty’s son, his baseball career at Cal and his close relationship to Cal assistant coach Noah Jackson, who is the son of a former Athletics broadcaster.
• The Perth Heat of the Australian Baseball League beat the Canberra Cavalry 32-10. The one player on the Heat that you may be familiar with is former Twins player Luke Hughes.
• R.J. Anderson looks at the dadaist baseball Twitter account, ee gammons.
• American League MVP Jose Altuve went home to Venezuela and played stickball with the locals and he struck out.
• In case you missed it, here’s Citi Field hosting the NHL Winter Classic.
• And finally, Hall-of-Famer Rod Carew rode a float in the Rose Parade to pay tribute to the donor of his transplanted heart and kidney.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Oh, and in case you didn’t know, the English Premier League doesn’t have playoffs.