One month from today the Winter Meetings begin on December 9th in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Resort. This is a televised event, and this should be the most dramatic Winter Meetings ever because Las Vegas’ own Bryce Harper should be the talk of the town this year. On top of that, Las Vegas resident Kris Bryant was rumored today to have been made available via trade by his Chicago Cubs team.
From signing Bryce Harper to now possibly trading Kris Bryant? Man you hate to see that
— TheMoncadaArmada (@HashTagReggie) November 9, 2018
You just never know which way a team goes this off-season and then into the regular season. Will the Cubs be in sell mode? Why are the Diamondbacks willing to sell? Will the Phillies spend hundreds of millions of dollars?
This is high stakes poker game. There is plenty of bluffing and G.M.’s and agents pushing their chips into the middle along with enough BS to fill a bag of manure. Too often teams are bidding against themselves, and some teams are smart enough to know it.
Last year, the market started off hot with the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes followed by the Giancarlo Stanton trade. Then there was silence. Very few deals got done, and the market went soft as teams found numerous bargains. Top free agents like J.D. Martinez and Jake Arrieta did not get close to the dollars that were projected. Martinez signed 3-days before March 1st for $110 million after the demands were for more than double that. You just never know in the end.
