SAN DIEGO – The Manchester Grand Hyatt has been abuzz for the past three days as the entirety of the baseball world has descended upon San Diego for the annual Winter Meetings.
Yasiel Puig, recently charged with being involved in an illegal gambling operation, came by in hopes of repairing his soiled reputation. Nelson Cruz, general manager of the Dominican Republic for the World Baseball Classic, still wants another season at age 42.
CC Sabathia, Howie Kendrick, Jonny Gomes and José Bautista walked through the lobby and pressed palms with wide smiles for old friends.
Upstairs in hotel rooms and suites, front office executives strategized on acquiring players for 2023 while agents slinked back and forth working deals for their clients.
SS Trea Turner to Philadelphia for 11-years, $300 million; RHP Taijuan Walker to Philadelphia for four-years, $72 million; RHP Jameson Taillon to the Cubs for four-years, $68 million; OF Mitch Haniger to San Francisco for three-years, $43.5 million; 1B Josh Bell to Cleveland for two-years, $33 million; and Cody Bellinger to the Cubs one-year, $17.5 million.
On Monday, GM Bill Schmidt said his club was targeting Bellinger over Brandon Nimmo for center field based on the shorter commitment. Now, they’re back to square one with only Kevin Kiermaier as a player that checks off both key boxes for the Rockies: left-handed hitter and center field defense.
Addition and Subtraction for COL
Colorado did acquire a player on Tuesday, dealing RHP Chad Smith for RHP Jeff Criswell of the Oakland Athletics.
Criswell was a second-round selection by the A’s in 2020 out of the University of Michigan. He missed much of 2021, but used success in the Arizona Fall League that year to spur him onto a solid 2022: 4.03 ERA in 118.1 innings over 21 starts.
Schmidt has been familiar with Criswell since the 2019 season when the right-hander pitched behind Karl Kauffman, Colorado’s second-round pick that year. His son, Matthew Schmidt, played for the Wolverines from 2018-20.
“The Run to Omaha, he played a major key pitching out of the bullpen. I think he’s a real mentally tough kid,” Schmidt said of Criswell. “I think he helps our depth and we think there’s upside.”
Criswell immediately slides into Colorado’s top 20 prospects, ranking 19th according to MLB Pipeline.
While Smith was a player on the 40-man, Criswell is not. With 38 players on the 40-man roster, the Rockies may aim to add some depth in Wednesday’s Rule 5 Draft set to go down at 3pm MT.
You Feeling Lucky, Punk?
In that more notable draft that impacts the future of the game, Major League Baseball held the first draft lottery in the sport’s history.
A total of 18 teams had an opportunity to win the first overall selection next season.
The three teams with the three worst records received a 16.5% chance at winning the lottery: Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Though the Nats and A’s lost the most games, it was the Pirates who walked away with the top pick next year. Conversely, Oakland dropped down to the sixth overall pick. Minnesota also felt great about the new format as their 13th-worst record was rewarding with the fifth overall selection.
Colorado came away with the ninth overall selection despite the eighth-worst record last season. This will be their fourth consecutive season selecting in the top 10.
Turn of Events
Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweeted that the Phillies offer to Turner was not the largest he’d been offered.
The San Diego Padres, the club that had originally taken Trea Turner in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft, had pushed across the table a check for $342 million for the same 11 years. The deal would have made Turner the highest paid shortstop in the game by total contract value.
Not only was it a disappointment for Padres’ GM A.J. Preller to learn they deal was rebuffed, the news that Philadelphia’s had been accepted only poured salt on the wound.
“I think we were probably hoping (Turner) went to the American League,” he said on Monday. “We’ve had to see him up close the last couple of years. He’s obviously a tremendous player and going to the National League, going to a team that represented the National League in the World Series, probably hoping that he was heading elsewhere.
To Have & Have Not
Old friend Trevor Story could play a pivotal role in the Boston Red Sox negotiations with Xander Bogaerts.
Bogaerts has spent the entirety of his career with Boston and following his opt-out, he remains an enticing option for many teams. He’s been linked to the Chicago Cubs and, somewhat surprisingly, the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Do the Red Sox need him? Fans of the club would answer yes as the loss of the best player on a team that finished last in the American League East only furthers them from the top of the division.
Perhaps that’s just posturing. But Boston has back up in the form of Story, who played great defense at second base last season after six years at shortstop with Colorado.
Story has six defensive runs saved and 10 outs above average, according to metrics by the Fielding Bible and Statcast, respectively. Those marks put him inside the top 10 amongst all second basemen.
Questions about Story’s arm strength began to concern some around the game following 2021. The strong defensive numbers that support his ability to play the field appear promising until viewing his Baseball Savant page to learn that his arm strength was in the 8th percentile last year.
If Boston decides to part ways with Bogaerts, it likely won’t because Story will move back to shortstop.
