Baseball Winter Meetings

Baseball Winter Meetings
Cody Goggin
12-17-2013  1:01 pm

OWENSVILLE, MO-If you are a fan of roster moves in Major League Baseball then you must love the Winter Meetings. The Winter Meetings are the annual event where representatives from every baseball team meet and shake up the rosters. Having this many representatives for teams in one hotel can make for an interesting week. This is often the week in which the most offseason trades and free agent deals happen. The 2013 Winter Meetings were held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort.

            The Winter Meetings started off with a bang as on the first day Roy Halladay announced his Halladay was a two-time Cy Young award winner who spent his last season battling injuries and decided that he could no longer compete at the level he once did. The Toronto Blue Jays signed Halladay to a one-day contract so that he could retire as a Blue Jay. The only othe major news on the first day was that the Marlins had signed the former catcher for the Boston Red Sox, Jerrod Saltalamacchia.

            Day two saw one really big moves as the Diamondbacks, White Sox, and Angels agreed on a three-team deal. This deal would send Adam Eaton to the White Sox, Hector Santiago and Tyler Skaggs to the Angels, and slugger Mark Trumbo to Arizona.  

            On the third day, Seattle made two moves to try to improve their club further by adding Logan Morrison and Corey Hart to protect Cano in their lineup. Pitchers seem to be hot on the market as Bartolo Colon landed with the Mets and Edinson Volquez inked a one-year deal with Pittsburgh.

            The winter meetings have come to an end, but they were as eventful as promised. In the upcoming weeks look for the Yankees to make some major splashes while trying to fill a middle infield void and solidify their bullpen. The best remaining free-agent is former Reds and Indians outfielder Shin Soo Choo. Choo was second in the league in on-base percentage last season and could really help a team needing a leadoff hitter. If Tanaka, the coveted pitcher from Japan becomes available, then expect the Yankees to be in the market for him, as well as multiple others. This has been one of the craziest off seasons in recent memory and it shows no-signs of slowing down soon.