5 stories to watch for during the MLB Winter Meetings
By Sean Sears
Where does the top trio of Free Agents sign?
The trio of Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, and Anthony Rendon are the top prizes of this year’s free-agent class – all three are in the midst of their prime, all three are coming off incredible seasons, and all three just played in the World Series. These guys are going to get paid, with reports already surfacing that Cole has received record-breaking offers.
Teams see these three stars as franchise-altering players but there’s also a dramatic drop in talent after these three. That means once these three are gone, the market should truly open up for some of the 2nd and 3rd tier free agents like Josh Donaldson or Dallas Keuchel.
That being said, we’ve already seen teams like the White Sox ( catcher Yasmani Grandal) and Phillies (starter Zach Wheeler) buck the market trends and go sign their guys. But with many of the same teams showing interest in Cole and Strasburg, free-agent starters in that next tier of talent will likely go soon after.
The same can be said for Rendon with other infielders like Josh Donaldson and Didi Gregorius available, the Winter Meetings could easily kick-start a chain of events once one of the top free agents’ signs. There was a report almost a month ago saying Cole wasn’t planning on signing until after the new year, but with Cole already meeting with his top suitors, there isn’t much of a reason to hold out until January.
If Cole signs, expect Strasburg to go quickly to whichever team out of Yankees, Angels, or Dodgers that didn’t sign Cole, and the starting pitching market will start to sort itself out. The hitters market is slightly murky with some of the best options being trade pieces and not free agents, so let’s take a look at the three big trade targets.