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The 2019 Winter Meetings have been much more exciting than last year’s. Late Tuesday, the Yankees signed Gerrit Cole to a nine-year, $324 million contract. Josh has all the coverage of that signing in today’s edition of MLB Bullets.
The Cubs... crickets. And those crickets might keep chirping:
Hoyer said he'd "probably lean no" for the Cubs making a major move before end of Winter Meetings. Things can change and develop quickly, but nothing is close at the moment.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) December 11, 2019
As always, we await the developments Jordan Bastian refers to in his tweet.
Meanwhile, there were three other moves involving major-league players Wednesday:
- The White Sox acquired Nomar Mazara from the Rangers for minor league outfielder Steele Walker. “Steele Walker.” If and when he makes Texas’ big-league roster, someone’s bound to call him “Walker: Texas Ranger.”
- The Phillies signed free agent Didi Gregorius to a one-year, $14 million contract. Gregorius’ full given name is “Mariekson Julius Gregorius.”
- The Angels traded Zack Cozart to the Giants. The Giants also got the Angels’ 2019 No. 1 draft pick, Will Wilson. The Angels received the ever-popular “cash considerations” or a PTBNL. The Giants picked up the entire $12.7 million remaining on Cozart’s contract. Seems odd, as the Giants already have a good shortstop. Talk was that the Angels were trying to clear some salary so they could go after Gerrit Cole. In which case, whoops.
Speaking of clearing salary and Cole, Grant Brisbee looks at the whole thing with some humor:
Source: The Yankees are considering a Gerrit Cole trade to gain financial flexibility.
— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) December 11, 2019
The comment from Jed Hoyer above means we probably won’t have any big Cubs news today, but this is your one-stop shop for other Winter Meetings news on the last full day of the Meetings. If the Cubs do make a move, big or small, there will of course be front-page coverage. The Meetings end Thursday morning with the Rule 5 draft. Josh will have a preview of the Rule 5 draft coming up at 12 noon Central time today.