The hopes that Shohei Ohtani would leave the Winter Meetings in Nashville buzzing will have to wait at least one more day. Monday at the Gaylord Opryland Resort was a snooze fest, and quite literally, a member of the media could be heard snoring throughout the entire workroom at one point.
Photo by Stephanie Amador of The Tennessean
Young and Old Stars Shine
The star of the day was certainly Brewers’ young outfielder Jackson Chourio, who, during his press conference, talked about the historic 8-year, 82 million deal he signed with Milwaukee. Following the presser, the 19-year-old delighted fans that have been hanging out at the Winter Meetings in the hopes of seeing a star with autographs and photos.
As Chourio is looking to make his early impact on the game, a guy who already made his impact over multiple decades in Jim Leyland had his Hall of Fame introductory press conference on Monday in Nashville.
Leyland, 78, acknowledged he shed “tears of joy” when he got the call he made the Hall of Fame and said that he got 294 text messages that took him a long time to respond to.
Odds and Ends
The Milwaukee Brewers were the busiest team on Day 1 with the news of the Chourio extension becoming official, and they brought back a veteran arm in lefty Wade Miley and signed a former Nats starter in Joe Ross.
The Phillies locked up manager Rob Thomson through the 2025 season. Thomson has gone 155-118 during the regular season and 19-11 in the postseason in his two years as the Phillies manager.
Another manager extension was one of the lone reported newsworthy reports to come from Day 1, with the Tigers giving AJ Hinch a long-term extension.
What the Mets Hope to Accomplish
The Mets entered the Winter Meeting as one of the more active teams so far in terms of the number of transactions, though it’s been mostly depth pieces to this point. David Stearns still has significant work to do in the rotation and bullpen, and they need options in designated hitter and in the outfield as well.
We know the Mets have interest in multiple top arms, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto clearly at the top of their rotation wishlist. The rotation now has Luis Severino as an option but still needs two more arms and probably should be middle-of-the-rotation pieces at worst.
On Monday night, Stearns said that the Mets will definitely look to add one more starter, and there was the potential for them to bring in multiple rotation acquisitions.
The bullpen market outside of the Braves has been quiet, with Jordan Hicks, David Robertson, Josh Hader, Robert Stephenson, Aroldis Chapman, and many others still available.
Outfielders Jung Hoo Lee and Michael A. Taylor are on the Mets’ radar as they look to add to an outfield that currently lacks in terms of depth and has a big question mark in Starling Marte. Stearns acknowledged the Mets are looking for an outfielder while saying Jeff McNeil will likely play a majority of his time at second base and that the team is currently uncertain what they will get from Starling Marte in 2024.
What to Expect in Day 2
Well, the baseball world is still waiting mostly on Shohei Ohtani, and reports now indicate that he might not make his decisions this week.
David Stearns acknowledged the fact that Ohtani and Japanese star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto could be slowing the market and making the Winter Meetings uncharacteristically quiet in the early going.
“It’s probably a little slower from a conversation standpoint than a winter meeting than it normally would be,” Stearns said. “But there could be a variety of factors that contribute to that, but a possibility that, yeah, the top of the free agent market hasn’t moved yet.”
Despite that, there are a few players in Nashville meeting with teams, including starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, and you would imagine teams use the conversations they have on Monday to build toward deals on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The MLB Draft Lottery takes place on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. ET on MLB Network. The Mets have the seventh-best chance at landing the top overall pick at 4.3%, and they have a 42.3% chance to land a Top 6 pick. If they don’t, their draft spot will drop 10 spots due to luxury tax penalties.
