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Winter Meetings Journal, Day 2: Bring us all your trades

Mike Oz

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — It’s one of those days at the MLB Winter Meetings where you’re waiting for something big to happen. Day 1 provided us a few highlights, but they were mostly things we expected: The Giants signed Mark Melancon and the Dodgers re-signed Rich Hill, both of which were expected to happen.

On Day 2, bring us your trades! There was also one, as the Brewers and Red Sox worked out a four-player swap involving Travis Shaw and Tyler Thornburg. But we’re awaiting something bigger, something in the blockbuster category. So that bring us to:

FIVE HOT RUMORS OF THE DAY
1. The biggest thing floating around the baseball world is still whether the Nats and White Sox can pull off a Chris Sale trade. It was the talk of the industry on Monday night and would certainly qualify as a blockbuster. It’s the story to watch, as the two sides were said to have made progress on Monday night. But it’s not all the Nats. Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Red Sox are still in the mix too.

2. The Yankees remain focused on Aroldis Chapman, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. They aren’t willing to give him the six-year deal that he wants, but Heyman says five years is a possibility. Now that the closer market is picking up, you can expect to hear more Chapman chatter.

3. The Rays are an interesting team to watch the next few days, as our Jeff Passan reports many people are interested in their crop of pitchers, starting with Chris Archer, of course, but also the likes of Drew Smyly and Alex Cobb.

4. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports that Jose Bautista may need to consider going to a bottom-10 team because the draft-pick compensation attached to his free agency might deter a lot of teams. If Bautista signs with a team in the bottom 10, they don’t lost a first-round draft pick for bringing him on.

5. The Andrew McCutchen trade market seems to have died down a bit from last week, but it sounds like the Pirates are still shopping him. The Nats have slid their attention to Sale, it sounds like, but the Pirates still recognize trading McCutchen now might be best in the long-term.

YOUR WINTER MEETINGS HANGOUT OF THE DAY
The Winter Meetings is nothing if not a place where people gather in packs. The top pack hangout? The hotel lobby. And it’s no different here at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. This was the scene around midnight on Monday night. People were spilling out of the bar, resisting the urge to retreat to their room and maybe even waiting to hear a piece of news or a rumor or two.

The Winter Meetings lobby, always a good hangout. (Yahoo Sports)
The Winter Meetings lobby, always a good hangout. (Yahoo Sports)

THE ‘AWWW’ MOMENT OF THE WINTER MEETINGS
Rich Hill was here on Monday to make official his new contract with the Dodgers. And the best moment came after his press conference when Hill’s son Brice ran up to him and gave him a big hug. Heart, melted.

Rich Hill and his son Brice after Monday's press conference. (AP)
Rich Hill and his son Brice after Monday's press conference. (AP)

MLB GETS SWANKY
The party throw Monday night to celebrate the new partnership between Under Armour and MLB was baseball at its swankiest. And if you didn’t know: Baseball isn’t often swanky. But UA brought the cool: Booming music, baseball stars and an open bar, all in a hotel nightclub.

I think we can all agree that baseball will benefit from being more cool.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!