The MLB Offseason Is Heating Up
Things are starting to heat up in the MLB offseason. In the the past few days we’ve had multiple big name moves. This weekend we had the NY Mets pulling off a “blockbuster” deal for Cano and Diaz, on Monday we had the Philadelphia Phillies trading for Jean Segura and then yesterday we had the Washington Nationals sign Patrick Corbin to a 6 yr deal worth $140 million.
To break those moves down a little more the Mets traded major leaguers Jay Bruce and RHP Anthony Swarzek, along with prospects Jarred Kelenic, Gerson Bautista and Justin Dunn for RHP Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano. This trade here is an obvious move that the Mariners are beginning to tear down and rebuild and the Mets are surprisingly going for it? Now i don’t believe that these 2 players will improve the Mets all that much but trying to improve their squad isn’t what most people expected headed into this offseason. Most of the talk heading into this offseason for the Mets is will they deal Syndergaard or deGrom? Let’s see if the Mets add any more pieces in the coming weeks.
The next move by the Mariners was to unload yet another all-star in SS Jean Segura. The Mariners traded Segura RHP Juan Nicasio and LHP James Pazos for Carlos Santana and JP Crawford. The plan for the Mariners is to obviously get worse and tank, and in doing so picking up some nice prospects and hopefully some good draft picks in the coming years.
The last big move that was made yesterday was the Washington Nationals landing Patrick Corbin. The moment that Clayton Kershaw restructured his deal with the Dodgers, Patrick Corbin immediately became the top pitching free agent on the market. Corbing was heavily linked to the Yankees but kind of made a shocking move and signed with the Nationals. I guess I expected the Nats to rebuild after last year’s disappointing season, their aging squad and Bryce Harper leaving, but this move here suggests the Nationals still think they can put together a contender. The front end of their pitching staff is definitely strong with Scherzer, Strasburg and now Corbin, but the everyday lineup in where the most concerns have to be for this team. Everybody expected this NL East division to be competitive among the Braves and the Phillies but it appears that the Mets and the Nationals are trying their best to make it interesting as well.
We are still a couple days away from the start of the Winter Meetings which is when the hot stove really starts cooking. The MLB Winter Meetings week tends to be the best offseason week from any of the 4 major sports. Can’t wait to see what other moves will be made in the next few weeks and where Harper and Machado decide to sign.