Teams historically run low on spending money at this stage of the offseason. But it’s interesting that a couple of the richest teams (Mets and Red Sox) and a few of the smaller-revenue teams (Marlins, Pirates and Brewers) saved money for January deals.
After signing Tommy Pham to be their fourth outfielder for $6 million, the Mets are looking for a lefty reliever and there’s interest in Zack Britton. So far the Mets aren’t sure if they can work out a deal for Britton, who threw for teams last week.
Andrew Chafin, whose market is heating up, is another Mets possibility.
The Red Sox are working late. After agreeing to terms with Adam Duvall for $7M and with Jorge Alfaro and Raimel Tapia on minor league deals, they are considering Elvis Andrus, Josh Harrison and perhaps Jurickson Profar.
The Red Sox seem to believe Kiké Hernandez can handle shortstop and like Harrison as someone who can play all over (including occasionally at short).
Yuli Gurriel, a South Florida resident, is a possible fit for the Marlins, who just added Johnny Cueto for $8.5M.
Aroldis Chapman, another South Florida resident, seemed to want to be a Marlin, but agreed to a $3.75M deal with the Royals.
One person said he thought Marlins GM Kim Ng would be reluctant to sign a player with a domestic violence ban in his past. Miami surely considered that issue with Chapman, but it isn’t known whether that was the deciding factor.
The Marlins seem to sign a lot of Miami area residents (Avi Garcia and Jorge Soler are too). The Braves had interest in bringing 2022 World Series MVP Soler back at the deadline last year after Duvall went down, but wanted Miami to pay the deal down. They wound up dealing for Robbie Grossman.
The Pirates did well to sign Andrew McCutchen and Rich Hill, and the Brewers to ink Wade Miley and Brian Anderson (the former Marlins third baseman; Milwaukee’s TV announcer is also named Brian Anderson).
The Cardinals, Twins and Rockies are among the teams linked to Miami’s Pablo Lopez, who seems to be the most likely to go in a trade.
The Marlins would like Luis Arraez back for Lopez, but the Twins would want two pitchers for the AL batting champ.
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