In our daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.
Red Sox set Sale for World Series run
The Winter Meetings have been relatively calm for the first couple of days. That changed yesterday when the Boston Red Sox made the first real blockbuster trade. They acquired Chris Sale from the Chicago White Sox for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz. A hefty price that says the Red Sox are all in for right now.
The Washington Nationals were the team everyone was talking about early in the meetings. Washington was linked to every major free agent or trade piece. So far they are 0-2 as they missed on Mark Melancon and now Chris Sale. The Red Sox trade of Sale could reignite the potential McCutchen-to-Nationals talk. However, the Nationals could be less willing to part with their major prospects for McCutchen as they seemed more set on Chris Sale than the former 2013 NL MVP.
A New Cubs’ Closer
According to several sources, most notably Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Cubs have a new closer as they are close to a deal with the Royals for Wade Davis. The Cubs would be paying a lofty price as they would send over Jorge Soler in exchange. The Cubs do have an embarrassment of riches, they could part with Soler and not miss him too much.
This deal would most likely take the Cubs out of the Aroldis Chapman sweepstakes as I doubt they’d trade for Davis and potentially spend nearly $100 million on Chapman. The Cubs do have basically unlimited money but even they have their limits. I think they’d prefer to save some cash this offseason and go nuts in 2018 when the free agency class is much better.
Chapman will get a lot of money but it seems insane to me that a team would spend $100 million on a guy that averages 67 innings pitched per season. I am fully aware how great Chapman is but it’s hard for me to think he’s near $40 million better than Mark Melancon, who just signed a $62 million deal with the San Francisco Giants. You are worth what the market says you are worth, however. So I am sure some team will spend whatever it takes to make Chapman the closer in 2017 and beyond.
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