With MLB's non-tender deadline having passed, the free-agent market is set -- and the expectation is that the largely dormant offseason might start to stir. The groundwork for trades and signings typically is established during baseball's winter meetings, which will be held this week.
But it being 2020, the meetings will be held virtually, meaning player agents, baseball ops staffers and other front-office personnel won't be hanging around in the same hotel for a few days to kick around offers with each other. How much this impacts the consummation or timing of offseason moves remains to be seen.
All that being said, discussions are taking place, the rumor mill is turning and the buzz is starting to grow. Here are five newsy nuggets ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan is hearing:
1. As much as Chicago White Sox fans are frothing for George Springer to round out their dynamic lineup, he is extraordinarily unlikely to sign with Chicago for a number of reasons, sources told ESPN. Springer's market isn't lacking -- not even with him valuing himself at center-field prices. The White Sox don't need a center fielder, though, with the dynamic Luis Robert holding down the position; and paying center-field prices for a corner outfielder isn't the White Sox's style. Actually, paying nine figures for anyone isn't how team owner Jerry Reinsdorf operates. And with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets among a large group interested in Springer, Chicago is likelier to seek a left-handed bat -- someone like Springer's old Astros teammate Michael Brantley.
2. The notion that DJ LeMahieu's return to the New York Yankees is a fait accompli ignores the strong market that has developed around him. It's not just the Yankees and Mets. Toronto is in. The reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers could slot LeMahieu at third base. There are others. All recognize that they're going to need to outbid the Yankees, who have made LeMahieu their clear No. 1 priority this winter. New York has plenty more to do -- figure out if Gleyber Torres really is the long-term solution at shortstop; get Gary Sanchez back to form; improve the rotation -- and is trying to do so while remaining under the luxury-tax threshold. It's an awfully difficult needle to thread for general manager Brian Cashman.
3. The lack of an agreement on the designated hitter rule for 2021 needs to be prioritized by MLB and the union for the sake of the players whose markets are currently in flux and the teams who don't know whether they need to bulk up their hitting. It's not just Nelson Cruz, the uber-DH who could help all 30 teams but currently is limited to 15 potential landing spots. Brantley is best suited as a DH. Then there's Carlos Santana -- who was better at first base in 2020 but still profiles as a DH candidate for teams with a solid first baseman -- and Howie Kendrick. One DH type who could move quickly: Mitch Moreland.
4. Now that the non-tender deadline has passed, one source who follows the market anticipates a number of free-agent signings in the next 10 days or so and then a freeze -- into the new year and perhaps well beyond. It's not just that teams understand the longer they wait, the more the middle class is squeezed and becomes likely to jump at a deal. Teams just don't know when the season is going to start or how many games they're going to play. As much as there is hope among players for a full, 162-game season, owners -- who spent all of 2020 complaining about how much money they were losing -- cringe at the idea of playing large swaths of games with crowds limited by local ordinances. A repeat of the 2020 labor strife is not far-fetched and necessitates preemptive action starting ... well, pretty much now.
5. The reaction from Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton to Buster Olney's report that the team was willing to listen to potential deals for starter Zack Wheeler was comical in a number of ways. Middleton's suggestion that he wouldn't trade Wheeler for Babe Ruth was the foremost example, but then there was his insinuation that people were lying to Olney about the discussions. Now either there is a giant conspiracy to manufacture a story that the Phillies were open to hearing Zack Wheeler proposals or it actually happened. And considering three high-ranking executives on other teams confirmed to me that Olney's reporting was accurate, perhaps instead of being angry, Middleton should see those discussions as a positive thing. Because successful, pragmatic, creative front offices always listen to proposals for good players. That doesn't mean they trade them. Thanks to Wheeler's salary, the likely return in any deal almost certainly wouldn't be worth it. Thus, if he were to be dealt, it would appear as a money dump -- something the Phillies, who are ostensibly in a window of contention, can't afford to be seen as doing by already disillusioned fans who just want them to re-sign J.T. Realmuto and not shed salary.