What we learned from the MLB Winter Meetings: Shohei Ohtani casts shadow, Yankees go all-in

By Chad Jennings, Andy McCullough and Stephen J. Nesbitt

No one leaves the Winter Meetings thinking: That was a perfectly healthy and normal way to spend three and a half days.

In one corner, a reporter talks quietly to an agent, while 40 feet away a live television broadcast is underway. In some unknown suite, two teams hash out a game-changing trade that might never happen, while out in the hallway a coffee-fueled scout tries desperately to find a turkey sandwich between meetings. All of it’s happening in real-time — mostly in rumor and speculation – on social media. It’s madness. Even when nothing is happening.

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And these certainly were the Winter Meetings of chaotic gridlock.

For 48 hours, there seemed to be nothing of note, which somehow made everything even more frantic, and even when the dam burst with a legitimate blockbuster, it happened in the shadow of the still undetermined fate of baseball’s greatest player.

As the sport returns home for the holidays, with plenty of unfinished business still to do, here are some of The Athletic’s lasting impressions from Nashville.

It’s Shohei’s game

How can a sport elevate the status of its greatest superstar? Make him a free agent. The availability of Shohei Ohtani inevitably was going to be the biggest story of the offseason, but it’s still jarring to experience just how much his free agency has loomed over everything this winter. Even teams not in the bidding seem riveted by the pursuit, while teams seemed to be taking seriously the idea that Ohtani didn’t want details of his process to be made public, Dave Roberts’ moment of candor aside. He dominates the mound, the batter’s box, and the offseason.

Ohtani or bust

How can the sport elevate its greatest superstar even more? Take his only real offensive facsimile off the market. With Juan Soto traded to the New York Yankees, there is no Plan B for teams trying to acquire a superstar bat. Sure, Cody Bellinger is great, but no one’s comparing him to Babe Ruth or Ted Williams like they are with Ohtani and Soto. The Toronto Blue Jays seem to especially fall into this all-or-nothing category because no one fits them quite like Ohtani. To some extent, the San Francisco Giants are in a similar boat — they need star power in the worst way — and that’s to say nothing of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the presumptive favorites heading into the offseason. What’s the alternative?

Pitching demand is even greater than we realized

Despite a relative abundance of available pitchers, we knew the demand for pitching outstripped the supply. But that’s especially true now that a couple of dark horse teams, the Detroit Tigers (Kenta Maeda) and Arizona Diamondbacks (Eduardo Rodriguez) have pulled notable starters off the market. Of the teams that clearly need impact starters, only the St. Louis Cardinals (Sonny Gray and others) and Philadelphia Phillies (re-signing Aaron Nola) have checked that box. The Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Yankees and Giants are among the teams still needing an arm or two, which is surely good news for the Tampa Bay Rays (Tyler Glasnow), Chicago White Sox (Dylan Cease) and Cleveland Guardians (Shane Bieber) who have pitching to trade.

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The Yankees are back

By giving up four young pitchers for one year of Soto, the Yankees sacrificed a lot of future value for a ton of short-term impact. Maybe they can sign Soto to an extension. Maybe they can’t. Either way, the Soto blockbuster feels like the Yankees of old. Is it a smart move in the long run? Who cares? Every roster is sustainable if ownership spends enough money. Just hours after trading with the rival Red Sox for another corner outfielder in Alex Verdugo, the Yankees went out and got the biggest trade chip on the market. And they might not be finished, because the Yankees are still believed to be meaningful players in a pitching market that has yet to fully burst open. Brian Cashman is doing his best Frank Sinatra impression: I want to wake up in a city that doesn’t sleep and find I’m king of the hill, top of the heap.

Lying in wait

The Braves began the offseason clearing their roster, presumably setting up for something big. The Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants and Blue Jays seem also motivated to make a splash, while the Seattle Mariners, Mets, San Diego Padres, Cubs and Texas Rangers are positioned as wild cards for something bold. But those teams have yet to add in a big way. Some are surely waiting for Ohtani. Others are probably waiting for Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The stalled market has left not only big-ticket free agents still on the market, but also some big-spending teams waiting to pounce. Only the Yankees, Phillies and Cardinals seem to have made their big moves, and even then, the Yankees still appear ready to spend while the Cardinals still have trade chips to dangle. Big-market teams still have work to do.

The NL champs have a rotation

On the first day of the Winter Meetings, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said: “You can’t ask your starting pitcher to go (only) four or five innings every single day or you’re going to wear out your bullpen.” Perhaps it’s little coincidence that on the last day of the Winter Meetings, the Diamondbacks signed Rodriguez, a veteran starter who strengthens the durability and reliability of Lovullo’s staff. The Diamondbacks now have a pretty strong top-four group of starters with Rodriguez, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt. They’ve also added Eugenio Suárez to solidify third base. The Diamondbacks seemed to sneak up on everyone in the postseason, now they’re quietly building an interesting team this winter.

Counsell didn’t change the game after all

Remember when the offseason started and Craig Counsell revolutionized the idea of a free-agent manager? Total game changer, right? Not so fast. During the Winter Meetings, we learned that not only has A.J. Hinch signed an extension with the Detroit Tigers (which apparently happened soon after the regular season), but also Rob Thomson has signed an extension with the Phillies. Red Sox manager Alex Cora remains in the final year of his contract — and with a new head of baseball operations in Boston, Cora might remain a lame duck for a while — but otherwise, the managerial market doesn’t seem to be in a rush to follow Counsell’s lead. It might still happen from time to time (Cora might be the test case) but many teams and managers still value stability in that role.

Marco Gonzales was the most popular player in baseball this week.

Do not tell Gonzales, the 31-year-old left-handed pitcher, that nothing happened this week. Gonzalez was traded twice in three days, first as part of Atlanta’s fascinating trade for Mariners outfielder Jarred Kelenic. The Braves informed Gonzales not to search for real estate in Cobb County. His time in the organization was brief. Atlanta flipped him to the Pittsburgh Pirates, where Gonzales — who posted a 3.92 ERA from 2019 to 2022 before experiencing elbow issues in 2023 — was expected to bolster an inexperienced rotation.

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Baltimore made a major bet on Kimbrel

The Baltimore Orioles, winners of 101 games in 2023, have found a replacement for closer Felix Bautista, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Baltimore opted for a $13 million guarantee for Craig Kimbrel, a borderline Hall of Famer who has looked increasingly combustible in recent years. The Dodgers left him off the postseason roster in 2022. Kimbrel took the loss in a pair of games for Philadelphia in Arizona’s stunning National League Championship Series upset against the Phillies this past October. Yet the Orioles still felt confident that Kimbrel, who struck out 12.3 batters per nine innings and made his ninth All-Star team last summer, can handle high leverage. He will also be the most expensive player on the team’s roster (the Mets are paying the bulk of catcher James McCann’s $12.15 million salary).

Wait ’til next year (or just this summer) for Trout trade rumors

The Los Angeles Angels are not yet out of the mix for Ohtani, although a return to Anaheim would shock many in the industry. If Ohtani opts for another destination, the Angels will be sure to field questions about the availability of star outfielder Mike Trout. General manager Perry Minasian decided to quash any discussion of the subject earlier this week. “Mike Trout is not getting traded,” Minasian said. Fair enough. It won’t be easy to deal Trout, who has been injured often in recent years and is owed $248.5 million across the next seven seasons, but there would certainly be a market for his services, especially if he can manage his health better.

Also not going anywhere: Bregman

Houston Astros GM Dana Brown shot down speculation that they would shop their homegrown, two-time World Series champ third baseman Alex Bregman. “Most teams understand that we’re not moving Bregman,” Brown said. “I don’t know where this whole Bregman rush is coming from, but it’s certainly not coming from us because we need Bregman. He’s a pillar for this club.” Bregman, who’ll be 30 in March, and second baseman Jose Altuve, who’ll turn 34 in May, are both on track to hit free agency after the 2024 season. Bregman, who signed a back-loaded five-year, $100 million extension with the Astros in March 2019, finished fifth in AL MVP voting in 2018 and second in 2019. He has not been the same hitter since then, but he’s still a plus defender and a lock for 20 homers, 90 RBIs and an OPS above .800.

Brewers place record-setting bet on Chourio

The first and most impactful signing of the Winter Meetings was 19-year-old Milwaukee Brewers prospect Jackson Chourio, who inked an eight-year, $82 million contract with two club options and escalators that max out the potential value at $142 million. The previous largest contract given to a player who’d yet to debut in the majors was Luis Robert Jr.’s six-year, $50 million deal with the White Sox in 2020. “If he comes up to the big leagues and he’s awesome, I don’t think he signs,” Brewers GM Matt Arnold said. “We have to be first-movers to do that, otherwise we just can’t pull that off. The market won’t let us do that. We had to act sooner to do that. That’s the risk we had to take.” It all but assures Chourio will be in the Brewers’ Opening Day lineup, and he’ll likely stay there at least through the rest of the decade. Chourio started the season slowly as one of only a few teenagers at Double A, then took off. He finished with .283/.338/.467 slash line, 22 homers and 44 steals between Double A and Triple A.

(Top photo of Dave Roberts addressing the media: Kyle Schwab / USA Today)

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