Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the baseball offseason is fast asleep right now. There is absolutely nothing going on, and this has been the case virtually the entire offseason outside of a few blips of action here and there. We always knew this would be a relatively quiet offseason, particularly compared to the winter we all anticipate next year. This, though, is not what we expected. A week into the New Year, only two of MLB Trade Rumor’s top ten free agents have new homes, and one of those was Masahiro Tanaka who opted into his contract at the very start of the offseason. Things have been particularly quiet of late, but the one saving grace has surprisingly been the Padres.
The Padres are keeping the stove warm for us
Sunday morning’s Say Hey, Baseball includes a modest thanks to the Padres, some Hall of Fame talk and more Manny Machado rumors
Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images
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Granted, San Diego has not been out here making giant splashes in the offseason market, but with how incredibly quiet things have been over the last few weeks we’ll take what we can get at this point. What we can get is the Padres making three moves in the last few days to (hopefully) kickstart what should be a fun month of January, assuming baseball teams want to play baseball this season. This week, San Diego signed Craig Stammen to a two-year deal, traded Yangervis Solarte to the Blue Jays and signed Japanese reliever and submarine artist Kazuhisa Makita to a two-year deal. You can feel the excitement, I’m sure.
The Padres aren’t exactly the hub of the baseball universe, but they’ve saved us from an excruciatingly boring stretch of the offseason. Things could be getting exciting real soon in San Diego, too. For one thing, they’ve been heavily linked to Eric Hosmer all winter and reportedly offered him a seven-year deal. It would surely be the most high-profile acquisition from the franchise in quite some time. With or without Hosmer, this is surely a team on the rise whose rebuild is in full-swing and could provide a wildly talented roster in short order. We’ll have to wait a little while longer to enjoy the Padres on the field, but for now we can thank them for at least putting a little heat on the stove.
- We are all waiting for the Baseball Hall of Fame’s first unanimous vote, but there’s a good reason for not worrying about that particular feat.
- The Orioles keep saying that they aren’t looking to trade Manny Machado anymore, but that isn’t stopping the Yankees from calling.
- Scott Boras has a lot of clients still on the free agent market, and the Nationals have a history of coming to late deals with his players. Is it going to happen again this year?
- That Rafael Palmeiro comeback attempt is a real thing, huh?
- After selling off all of the salary they could, Derek Jeter stands to put some cash in his pocket if the Marlins turn a profit. Funny how that works.
- The Red Sox are in search of a big bat, but if they miss on J.D. Martinez would it make sense to look at pitching instead?
- Billy Hamilton has been involved in trade rumors this winter, but it’s worth noting that the Reds ownership would like him to be in Cincinnati for life.
- Though he’ll likely be overshadowed in New York’s new, terrifying outfield, this is a massive season coming up for Aaron Hicks.
- Some may say that Scott Rolen does not deserve a spot in the Hall of Fame, but to that I say nah.
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