Written by Joe Lucia at The Comeback
The 2015 edition of MLB’s Winter Meetings are in the books, and the thousands of people from within the baseball industry have fled the Opryland Resort in Nashville to head back home. This year’s Winter Meetings were tame compared to previous years – marquee free agents Zack Greinke and David Price signed before the meetings began, and no other top ten free agent came off the market. Also, blockbuster trades weren’t exactly pouring out of Tennessee – aside from the Shelby Miller deal, not many big name players changed locations.
But that doesn’t mean that the Winter Meetings still weren’t eventful. Plenty of players were signed, a few were traded, and even more are still in purgatory. Who were the winners and losers of this year’s Winter Meetings? Let’s take a look.
WINNERS
Atlanta Braves. The Braves cleaned up during the Winter Meetings. Atlanta sold high on Shelby Miller, acquiring Ender Inciarte, Aaron Blair, and 2015 #1 overall pick Dansby Swanson from the Diamondbacks in the deal. They also got rid of underwhelming former catcher of the future Christian Bethancourt during the Winter Meetings, dealing him to the Padres for Casey Kelly (the centerpiece of the Adrian Gonzalez trade five years ago, who has battled injuries since) and a lottery ticket catching prospect in Ricardo Rodriguez.
Just for the hell of it, the Braves added some depth to their bench in both Emilio Bonifacio and Tyler Flowers, a week after signing Gordon Beckham. In November, the Braves bolstered their bullpen with Jim Johnson and Bud Norris, brought back AJ Pierzynski to handle the catching duties, and unloaded both Cameron Maybin and Andrelton Simmons for prospects. We’re two weeks away from Christmas, and it’s looking like the Braves’ winter is just about over. All that’s really left is trying to unload the contracts of Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher, while maybe also flipping Inciarte and Erick Aybar for even more prospects.
Chicago Cubs. The Cubs left the Winter Meetings without Jason Heyward in their pocket, but on Friday, agreed to sign the multi-talented right fielder, turning their offseason from a solid series of moves into an unquestioned success. Their two other major moves came on Tuesday when they signed Ben Zobrist to a four-year, $56 million deal and traded Starlin Castro to the Yankees for Brendan Ryan and Adam Warren.
Chicago is in a better position going forward with the older, more productive, more versatile Zobrist on their roster over Castro, and Warren (along with Trevor Cahill, brought back on a one-year, $4.25 million deal) will help improve a bullpen that was leaky at points during the 2015 season. Throw in last Friday’s signing of John Lackey to give the Cubs a solid third starter behind Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester, and you’re looking at a team that set itself up for plenty more success in 2016.
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