The Giants acquired McCutchen from the Pirates for right-hander Kyle Crick, minor league outfielder Bryan Reynolds and $500,000 in international signing bonus allocation. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
It’s been a few weeks since I last came to you with this column. At the time, the “hot stove” was anything but. It wasn’t until recently that the offseason moves started piling up, so let’s catchup on what we missed.
First of all, you would have to be living underneath a rock to not have seen the massive Giancarlo Stanton trade. The new Marlins management, ailing, incompetent, and struggling to rebuild, had to unload all-star, MVP, 2016 homerun derby champion Stanton after he publicly expressed that he did not want to be a part of the rebuild. Stanton was the biggest piece in a trade with the Yankees, who agreed to send Starlin Castro and two prospects to Miami. The trade was a desperate attempt to unload Stanton, who had a substantial no-trade clause in place and had vetoed several deals the Marlins ownership tried to arrange. This might beg the question, “who on Earth would allow an athlete to sign this expensive, absolutely massive contract?” But I digress.
This is all failing to mention the fact that the Marlins also traded away Marcell Ozuna and Dee Gordon. Now, a damaging relationship with Christian Yelich leaves Marlins fans likely to see another incredible player traded away for nowhere near what he’s worth as Yelich’s agents asked for a trade prior to Spring Training.
Twice in this offseason we have seen cornerstone players traded away from their long-term teams. First, we watched as the Rays gave Evan Longoria to the Giants for prospect Christian Arroyo, veteran Denard Span, and pitching prospects Matt Krook and Stephen Woods. Additionally, the Marlins sent cash in the trade. Longoria had been with the Rays since 2008.
Next up, we very recently watched Andrew McCutchen get traded, along with cash considerations, to the Giants for Kyle Crick, Bryan Reynolds and international bonus pool money. McCutchen was selected by the Pirates in the first round of the 2005 draft and has been the face of the franchise. Now in San Francisco, he will play right field as Hunter Pence has been asked to move to left.
The Pirates, also undergoing a rebuild, traded ace Gerrit Cole to the Astros earlier in the week for prospect Colin Moran, Joe Musgrove and Michael Feliz. Cole joins the World Series Champs as a member of a rotation featuring Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers.
Looking to our local teams, the Red Sox have had a pretty slow offseason. Currently, their target seems to be Diamondback’s player J.D. Martinez. The offseason moves by the Giants have removed them from the running, giving Boston a better chance at acquiring the outfielder.
Finally, because I’m a Mets fan, I need to talk about what’s been going on in Flushing. The Mets picked up Adrian Gonzalez who they intend to use as the starting first baseman. Unfortunately, this puts an end to the rumors of a reunion with Lucas Duda. Equally unfortunate, now more than ever it’s looking as though Dominic Smith will head back to Las Vegas after the prospect failed to impress after his debut last season.
Despite this, the Mets still agreed to a reunion. Jay Bruce has been brought back to New York on a three-year contract after being traded away to the Indians before the deadline last season. Bruce, who has gotten to know new-manager Mickey Callaway well after the time they both spent in Cleveland, is likely to bring morale up for fans who seem to no longer recognize the players on this team.
That’s it for my roundup. As we approach the beginning of Spring Training we’re likely to see some pretty big contract extensions for key players like Kris Bryant and George Springer. Until then, happy hot stove.
Rachel Schaefer is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at rachel.schaefer@uconn.edu.