[Art Deco]

January 3: Rafael Devers has finally signed - with the 66-win Cincinnati Reds. He's getting 4/75, a far cry from the 9-year deal he was asking for when I inquired.

This is shaping up to be the quietest offseason in the history of this save as I consider the 26-man roster fairly set, shaping up like this:

C: K.Ruiz, Betts
1B: Bohm
2B: Brujan
SS: Wander
3B: Casas
IF: Hiura, G.Jones
OF: Meadows, Schnell, Marsh, Bishop
DH: Torkelson
SP: Glasnow, Manning, M.White, May, McClanahan
LR: Lacy, Lynch
MR: Keller, Gaston, Verburg
SU: Alvarado, Anderson
CL: De La Cruz

I liked what I saw from Greg Jones in September and he can play both middle infield positions and a passable CF. He brings speed and a little pop, making him an ideal utility player. Hunter Bishop deserves a spot after 2 years at Durham and he showed much better in his MLB run last year than Heston Kjerstad.

On the staff, McClanahan has the early nod as 5th start over Lacy and Lynch, the latter one guy I could see trading. I'd also like to get a power lefty for the middle innings. Lacy might fill that role, but I'd still like to see him ultimately as a starter. Luke Little would be a possibility to come up as he fits that bill but I might try to see if I can acquire someone more proven via trade or free agency. One other option of course is Aaron Ashby, who will be back from his surgery in mid-March. We have about $9M to spend either in free agency or to take on via trade, but at best we're in tinker mode now.

January 6: The Angels traded Marcus Semien to the Cardinals for Ryan Helsley.

January 13: The Angels signed OF Alex Verdugo to a 7/127 deal.

January 15: CC Sabathia (with 78.9%) was inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot, as wasa Carlos Beltran (77%) in his third year. Just missing were Ichiro in his first year (68.4%) and Manny Ramirez (64.9%) in his ninth, so he gets one more chance.

January 17: The Mets continue to be Rays north as they sign Ryan Yarbrough to a 2/3.6 contract where he joins Blake Snell, Yonny Chirinos, Kevin Kiermaier and Josh Lowe on the roster.

January 23: Madison Bumgarner, now 35, signed a 1-year, $1.3M deal with the Minnesota Twins.

January 28: More former Rays on the move: Andrew Kittredge, who's closed for Cincinnati the last few years, signed a 1/2.7 deal with Texas and in order to make room for him they waived Colin Poche. The White Sox signed Anthony Banda to a minor league deal. Also the Pirates signed Archie Bradley, who had a troubled tenure with the Yankees, to a 3/9.1 deal.

February 7: More former Rays sign: Will Smith (the pitcher) goes to the Cubs on a 1/1.2 deal and Diego Castillo will ply his trade in Coors Field at 1/1.8.

February 19: The Cubs were busy, bringing back Will Harris and more notably, Anthony Rizzo (on a 2/18.8 deal) after he spent 4 years with the Angels. And they traded Austin Riley to the Dodgers for CF Jeren Kendall and a minor league SS.

March 20: Spring training games have been underway (I only went with a 3-week spring training) with nothing of note to report. The Cardinals dealt Joel Brewer, a 75-defender CF who can't hit, and a prospect to Boston for Xander Bogaerts. Not sure how this makes sense since they already traded for Marcus Semien this winter, but we'll see. Guess this deal will allow Yoan Moncada and Abraham Toro to co-exist in Boston.

April 2: Spring training is over, the season begins tomorrow. No injuries during spring training (yay!), and the opening day 26-man roster is the one at the top of the post. BNN projects us at 101-61 with the best record in MLB, 18 better than Baltimore in the division. Play ball!