Even with the holiday just a few days away, Major League Baseball’s rumor mill continues to churn. Let’s take a look at what’s cooking on the hot stove.

Los Angeles Pining for Kluber

Jon Morosi of MLB Network is reporting that the Los Angeles Dodgers are “willing to discuss” including outfielder Alex Verdugo as part of a deal with the Cleveland Indians for their ace right-hander, Corey Kluber.

Kluber, 32, is a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner, three-time AL All-Star, and owns a career line of 96 wins, 55 losses, a 3.09 earned-run average, 2.96 fielding independent pitching rating, 1.070 WHIP, and a 137 ERA+ rating.

Last season, Kluber pitched to a 20-7 record with a 2.89 ERA, 222 strikeouts, and 34 walks in a league-leading 215 innings pitched.

Morosi notes that “a major deal involving a Cleveland starter is not expected before Christmas”, adding that Trevor Bauer has been drawing interest as well.

Toronto, San Diego Discussing Deal for Stroman

The Blue Jays and Padres are “extremely close” to agreeing on a trade that would send 27-year-old right-handed starter Marcus Stroman to San Diego in exchange for “multiple minor league pieces”, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

The Padres have one of the deepest and most talented farm systems in the league but if they were hesitant to deal any of their upper-echelon prospects for Mets starter Noah Syndergaard, one would have to assume that those same blue-chip guys (Fernando Tatis Jr., MacKenzie Gore, Luis Urias) would be off the table for Stroman.

Stroman, a Long Island native (Patchogue-Medford), had an off-year in 2018, pitching to a 5.54 ERA with career highs in WHIP (1.476), walks per nine innings (3.2), and a career-low 2.14 strikeouts-to-walks ratio, in just 19 starts (two DL stints; shoulder, May; blister, August).

Jon Morosi of MLB Network was the first to report traction between the two teams.

Quick Notes

Mark Fiensand of MLB.com compilated his 2018 All-Trade Rumor Team, giving updates on a number of players potentially on the move, including J.T. Realmuto, Brandon Belt, Scooter Gennett, Miguel Andujar, Nick Castellanos, and Kyle Schwarber.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe gave some insight as to where the Boston Red Sox stand in their offseason timeline, offering up the hypothesis as to why the Sox have been waiting for the market to develop to start making moves.