Winter Meetings Live Thread Day 2 – and the Atlanta Braves Human Trade Rumor

Sep 21, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; Atlanta Braves catcher

(15) talks with starting pitcher

(17) on the mound during the first inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Does Anybody Know What’s Going on With Shelby Miller?

CATCHING UP TO 11am EST – Braves news/angles in blue; update/refresh often!

• At dawn, we thought the Braves and Cubs might be very close to a deal for Miller.
• A couple hours later, Ken Rosenthal not only shot that down, but said the Diamondbacks were also ‘out’. But the Dodgers might be getting ‘in’.
• Meanwhile, Jedd Gyorko is coming to St. Louis (with a big check in hand).  John Jay is going to San Diego.
• Chad Qualls gets two years from the Rockies and $6 million.
• Jason Motte will get two years in Denver as well – and $10 million.
• Lots of teams talking with Cliff Lee, which is going to boost his price.  He’s said to be looking for a winner.
• Think the Braves were bold in asking for A.J. Pollock from the DBacks?  The Indians did likewise when AZ inquired about starter Danny Salazar.
• Cubs are said to be going for either Jason Heyward (first choice) or Alex Gordon. I still think they need to clear some salary space for that to happen.
• ICYMI:  A domestic-violence charge, plus a possibly injured pitching hand have combined to derail the reported trade of Aroldis Chapman to the Dodgers yesterday.  It is completely unclear right now about how his status stands as a player – never mind the trade.  But as a minimum, the deal is off for probably the rest of the year… Buster Olney tweets that Dodgers are ‘undecided’ on what to do.
• The White Sox are shopping 1B/DH Adam LaRoche, whose contract pretty much looked bad from the moment he wielded a bat last year.  Uncharacteristically ugly.

11:30am EST

• Jayson Stark says “mystery team” pushing hard with a very strong bid to obtain Jose Fernandez from the Marlins.  Rumor is that it’s Houston, but neither they nor Miami will confirm.
• Stark also says “It’s no longer unlikely” that Jose Fernandez is traded.
• Mets said to be optimistic on getting Ben Zobrist.
• Rosenthal just said on MLB Network that he still believes the Braves will trade Shelby Miller and it could happen quickly.  The Cubs sounds like they are out.
• Rosenthal: Rival exec on #Marlins/Fernandez: “They haven’t proposed anything reasonable enough to make people think they want to deal.“
• Chad Qualls signs a two-year, $6M deal with the Rockies: $1M signing bonus, $1.75M salary in 2016, $3.25 in 2017.
• The #Padres officially pay the #Stlcards $7.5 million and take on Jon Jay‘s $6.2 million contract, saving them $18.3 million overall
• #Dbacks officially announce 6-year contract agreement with Zack Greinke. Greinke will be introduced Friday at Chase Field news conference.
• Evan Drellich (Astros beat writer) – Source shoots down idea Astros in on Jose Fernandez. My take: its an easy organization for ppl to peg as a “mystery team.” (Headley, but no)
• Yankees interested in Tyler Flowers now

1:30pm EST

• Ben Zobrist is reported to have an offer in hand for TWENTY million per year for 4 years, according to Bob Nightengale.  Ken Rosenthal then responds with a source that says “no way”.  For one thing, if Zo has that offer, he’d obviously take it… even if he had to play in Japan.
• The Rangers are kicking tires on interest for Prince Fielder.  Through 2020, they owe him $90 million… the Tigers are sending $30 million on top of that.
• Orioles have inquired on Shelby Miller, but there really isn’t a fit there since bats are needed… and they have only about 2-½ (Adam Jones, Manny Machado, and Wieters).
• Why isn’t there a lot of deal-making going on?  MLB Network Radio’s Casey Stern reports that agents he’s spoken with say that Ben Zobrist is “holding everything up.”  I expect Heyward might be next.
• Joel Sherman:  Braves still taking calls on Miller; nothing close.
• Jack Magruder (AZ DBacks beat reporter) is hearing that the Red Sox might be in play for Shelby Miller (also Dodgers and Cubs, per Ken Rosenthal).

3:30pm EST

• It’s quiet out there.  Crazy quiet.  Only thing resembling a rumor lately is that Zobrist and his wife are chatting and could have a decision tonight.
• In not-really-directly-related news, Wilmer Flores broke an ankle during Winter ball.  But it’s more-or-less okay, and he’ll be good to go for Spring (Anthony DiComo).
• Almost shocking news: “The BBWAA has voted to allow mlb.com members to apply for BBWAA membership. They were never permitted to before” (Evan Drellich).  Jeff Passan notes that the vote seems “overwhelmingly” in favor.  However, they rejected increasing the Hall of Fame ballot votes-per-year to 12 from 10.
• Buster Olney says San Diego is getting “major interest” in James Shields… a pitcher who actually cleared waivers in August.  Teams looking for frontline pitching may be trying to pry him for a lower player cost than, say, Shelby Miller.
• Jon Morosi reports that Justin Upton‘s reps are “having ongoing conversations” with the Angels.
• …and just as soon as we see that:  Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register says his information (by someone who would know) that nothing is going on between the Angels and Justin Upton.  So there’s that.
• Jon Morosi thinks Angels are thinking about inking Heyward.  FanSided’s Kyle Franzoni says they are doing more than thinking… more like “focused.”

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