MLB Trade Rumors and News: The JT Realmuto saga continues....for better or worse

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• While Bryce Harper and Manny Machado continue to mull their options in free agency, the biggest name on the trade market continues to be J.T. Realmuto. The Marlins continue to play their hand very, very slowly and now that their price has dropped, there appears to be a number of teams vying for Realmuto’s services including the Braves, Rays, Padres, Reds, and Dodgers.
• Our own Andersen Pickard continued his look at the first half of this offseason (with the second half seemingly looking like it will extend into the last week of spring training) with a look at how well the NL Central has done for itself so far.
• Nolan Arenado and the Rockies made history as they agreed on a one year, $26 million contract to avoid arbitration. That $26 million is a most given to an arbitration eligible player and frankly, Arenado deserves it.
• The Astros bolstered the back-end of their rotation when they signed Wade Miley to a one year deal. Miley was one of the bigger surprises performance-wise last season and should help the Astros (at least a bit) in offsetting the losses of Charlie Morton and (very likely) Dallas Keuchel.
• The Padres have made a bit of a surprise entrance to the top of the free agent market as they are showing interest in some of the top names on the free agent market including Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. San Diego may not look the part of a contender right now, but they have one of the league’s best farm systems and could become good in a hurry.
• The Angels owe it to Mike Trout to at least make an effort to be better.
• The Diamondbacks are taking a chance on reliever Greg Holland after signing the three-time All-Star closer to a one-year, $3.5 million deal.
• A modest proposal: the Twins should sign Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel. Just bear with us here.
• The Marlins have had an extremely quiet offseason, but they made an addition on Tuesday evening, announcing the signing of infielder Neil Walker to a one-year deal that The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports is worth $2 million. Walker, who was considered an upper-echelon second baseman while playing for the Pirates and Mets, transitioned to a utility role with the Yankees last season and is expected to play a similar role with Miami — Sirius XM’s Craig Mish tweeted that the Marlins’ front office expects him to see action at first base, third base, and the corner outfield spots.
• Do free agents lose value when they remain on the market deep into the offseason? We took a look at the data, and let’s just say it usually helps them to sign sooner than later.
• What if Bryce Harper ditched the commitment and signed a one-year deal somewhere?
• While the Rangers likely won’t be very good next year, they aren’t standing idle, as they went out and signed free agent reliever Shawn Kelley to a one-year deal. Not exactly a sexy move, but at least it’s something.
• The Royals and Whit Merrifield have finalized a four-year extension. This will keep him under contract through his arbitration years — and potentially what was set to be his first free-agent year, depending on if they pick up his club option — and keeps Kansas City a forced to be reckoned with on the basepaths.
• The Dodgers have the money and prospects to basically go and get whoever they really want to, and they made their biggest move of the offseason when they snatched up A.J. Pollock on a five-year deal. While some thought that the Dodgers moves earlier this offseason signaled that they were going to make a run at Bryce Harper, it looks like this move takes them out of the running for his services.
• The Padres made a big splash last year in free agency. Could they do it again this year? Well, they are at least doing their due diligence on free agents Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, Mike Moustakas and Marwin Gonzalez, reportedly “checking in” with each player.
• After losing Adrian Beltre to retirement and trading Jurickson Profar to Oakland, the Rangers found their third baseman for 2019, signing veteran Asdrubal Cabrera to a one-year, $3.5 million deal. It’s quite the bargain for a player who hit 23 homers last season and could easily see his power play up at Globe Life Park.
• Our Stephen Tolbert took an in-depth look at how the qualifying offer system has affected players’ value in free agency.
• The Reds have long been linked to a lot of starting pitchers in an attempt to become relevant in the very competitive NL Central. After landing Alex Wood in a trade earlier this offseason, Cincinnati got another potentially strong rotation arm from the Yankees in Sonny Gray and immediately extended him. What will be interesting to see is how well Gray performs after getting traded to a team with yet another hitter-friendly home park.
• If you’re sick of sick the two-player circus that has been ensuing all offseason, here are 10 storylines to follow throughout the rest of the winter.