Outside The Confines: Winter is here

Good morning. The best week of the winter is upon us. At least, we hope every year that the Winter Meetings are the best week of the winter.

• Hall-of-Fame right-hander Gaylord Perry died yesterday of natural causes at the age of 84. Perry played 22 years in the big leagues, won 314 games and was the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both league. Oh, and he also illegally doctored the ball throughout his career.
• Tim Kurkjian reminisces about Perry, one of the great characters in baseball history.
• The Giants, one of the many teams Perry played for, issued a statement about the death of Perry.
• Chris Haft has the top ten moments from Perry’s career.
• Perry’s first manager, Alvin Dark, famously said that a man would walk on the moon before Perry hit a home run. Dark was right as Perry hit his first home run just minutes after Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.
• On to the Hot Stove. The Rays have agreed with free agent right-hander Zach Eflin to a team-record three-year, $40 million contract. Believe it or not, the previous record for the Rays signing a free agent was a five-year, $35 million contract signed by left-handed pitcher Wilson Alvarez in 1997, the off-season before the Rays played their first game.
• Keith Law explains what the Rays are getting in Eflin and how he fits into their rotation. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• The Tigers have signed left-hander Matthew Boyd to a one-year, $10 million deal with incentives. Boyd pitched for the Tigers from 2015 to 2021 before pitching for the Mariners last season.
• The Mariners signed right-handed reliever Trevor Gott to a one-year deal.
• The Dodgers signed right-hander Shelby Miller to a one-year, major-league deal earlier this week. Esteban Rivera examines why the Dodgers would take a chance on the rarely-healthy Miller.
• Ben Clemens examines the gamble the Nationals made in signing third baseman Jeimer Candelario. They’re obviously hoping he returns to his 2020-21 form.
• Jeff Passan previews the Winter Meetings and writes that the dam on transactions is starting to break. (ESPN+ sub. req.) The Winter Meetings could be wild if they do.
• Jon Heyman predicts where the top free agents will sign. This one caused a bit of a stir in the Cubs-o-verse because Heyman predicts the Cubs will sign Dansby Swanson.
• Gabe Lacques writes that the market this winter will be determined by four teams: the Dodgers, Astros, Red Sox and Yankees.
• Bryan Hock examines how close the Yankees are to re-signing outfielder Aaron Judge.
• Zach Crizer says that if history tells us anything, if Aaron Judge signs with the Giants, it won’t be because he’s from Northern California and grew up a Giants fan. Giants fans think it’s cute that growing up a Giants fan in the Barry Bonds/Jeff Kent era, Judge’s favorite player as a kid was Rich Aurilia. Not that Rich Aurilia was a bad player, but he’s not the first person you think of on those early-aughts Giants teams.
• Mike Axisa has some suggestions about what the Yankees might do if Judge signs elsewhere.
• Kiley McDaniel traces how free agent Trea Turner transformed himself into someone looking at a $300 million payday this winter. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Juan Toribio has some possibilities for the Dodgers at shortstop if they don’t re-sign Trea Turner. And other Dodgers questions.
• A round table discussion on where Jacob deGrom will play next year and for how much.
• Jack Baer is puzzled by Astros advisor Jeff Bagwell complaining that the team is too focused on analytics. Did Bagwell watch the same World Series the rest of us did? Apparently not, since the Astros fired general manager James Click and are letting Bagwell unofficially run the team instead.
• Despite reports to the contrary, the Red Sox still believe they have a chance to re-sign shortstop Xander Bogaerts, (The Athletic sub. req.), writes Chad Jennings.
• The Hanshin Tigers of NPB have posted right-handed pitcher Shintaro Fujinami.
• Anthony Castrovince has 13 players who could use a change of scenery.
• Free agent DH Nelson Cruz will turn 43 next year and is not ready to retire. Despite a poor 2022 campaign, Michael Baumann thinks Cruz is still worth a gamble for some team.
• Bob Nightengale reports that the Players Association is keeping an eye on team spending this winter, especially in light of the $900 million that MLB got from the sale of the final parts of BAMTech.
• Matt Snyder has five “fringe” contenders who should go for it this winter. Yes, the Cubs are on his list.
• Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo look back at blockbuster trades involving prospects from past Winter Meetings and judge who ended up the winners on the deals.
• On non-Winter Meetings topics, the Rays will not be able to hold Spring Training in Port Charlotte because of damage from Hurricane Ian. The Rays don’t know right now where they will hold Spring Training. Maybe Tropicana Field, but that’s not ideal because of the lack of back fields.
• Former major leaguer Yasiel Puig has changed his plea from guilty to not guilty in connection to a charge of lying to federal agents.
• Davy Andrews looks at how luck may have affected some of the defensive metrics on outfielders over the past season.
• Bob Nightengale talks with former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley about his career, his use of PEDs, his battles with addiction and his suicide attempt after his career ended. Grimsley has an autobiography coming out.
• And finally, if you want an uplifting story, Zach Buchanan has the story of Charlie Duffy, a 15-year-old girl from Arizona who is chasing her softball dreams despite battling cerebral palsy her whole life. (The Athletic sub. req.) She calls her CP a “gift” that has made her who she is today. Her goal is to play college softball.

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