December 1: First big free-agent signing of the winter with the Red Sox inking Gleyber Torres to a 2/38 deal. Torres is 36 now but still productive although he missed about 2/3 of the last season with a torn labrum. He had 17 HR in 210 AB and hit 40+ HR in 3 straight seasons from 2030-2032.
December 2: The Rockies are trying to re-assemble the early-mid 20s Dodgers as they signed both Gavin Lux (2/56.8) and Cody Bellinger (3/75.4) today. Lux has remained healthy and productive although he's 36 and Bellinger is 38 and has been very injury-prone the last few years although productive when infrequently healthy.
December 4: The Tigers signed OF Heliot Ramos to a 4/98.4 pact today, he's a consistent .290-25 HR guy who will help their offense. Also the Phillies traded longtime Ray Jose Alvarado to the Royals for a couple of minor leaguers.
December 8: Houston signs a couple of former Rays: Bobby Witt Jr gets a 2/38.6 deal and Alexis Carmona signs for 1/13.3. Carmona had TJS after getting hurt with us in 2032 and has seen his stuff diminish from 60 to 45. Witt of course is "wrecked" so we'll see what they get out of him over these two seasons.
December 9: The Dodgers sent 3 minor leaguers to the Blue Jays for SP John Rizzo, a rare starter with 70 stuff. The catch, though, is he has 35 control so while he struck out 198 last season he walked 120.
December 10: More former Rays on the move as the Winter Meetings begin. Aaron Ashby has come full circle, going back to the team which drafted him 15 years earlier, Milwaukee on a 1/3 deal while Alexander Beltre goes to Minnesota on a 3/14.2 agreement.
December 17: Former Rays starter from the mid-20s Daniel Lynch continues to his bid to be the Edwin Jackson of the 2030s by signing a minor league deal with the Astros, which would be his 9th team.
December 21: Added OFs Michael Valdez and Zach Mathias and 3B Jim Gebers to the 40-man roster, waived P Mike Champagne, who cleared waivers and was assigned to AAA Durham.
Getting ready for the Rule 5 Draft again, I've given up on predicting who might get taken since I rarely ever get it right. Here are our top prospects as rated by BNN:
Stevenson at #9 is unprotected as is #13 Roush (who I think is most likely to go).
December 22: The Rule 5 draft was a dud, only three players were taken, two by the Mets, and none of our players were lost.
December 24: A couple of our former relievers got paid today, with Luke Little (our 2nd round pick all the way back in 2020) getting a whopping $15M on a 1-year deal with Houston, which apparently has cash to burn. Little's decent, but he's bounced around a lot lately and seems more worth $1.5M than $15M to me. Meanwhile, Mike Bayles, whom we acquired from the White Sox in the Connor Kirkley-for-Nate Schultz deal, refused my offer of a minor league extension and that decision paid off for him when the Yankees gave him a 2/8.8 deal. He's decent, but not spectacular; he had kind of a mixed season at Durham last year.
Bar fight? Christmas tree fall on him? We'll never know I guess.
December 27: It was "Sign a Jimenez" day in MLB as Eloy, who was a mixed-bag rental with us in 2031, got a 2/38.8 deal with Cubs as he returns to the city where he started his career with the White Sox, and the Astros signed 38-year-old Joe to a 2/16.4 deal where he takes his 385 career saves, the most among active players.
December 28: The Cubs signed top free agent closer Jackson Baumeister today, he's notched 149 saves over the past 5 seasons and he takes his talents to Chicago for 2 years for a total of $23.2 million.