Wednesday night in Vegas, last real day of the Winter Meetings, and everyone realizes that they better actually get some work done or their bosses might not let them go to the work conference next year.
For the Nats, this meant trading Tanner Roark to the Reds for someone named Tanner Rainey. The young Mr. Rainey apparently has a fastball that can touch 100mph, but hasn’t harnessed his abilities in a meaningful enough way to make regular use of it at the major league level so far.
Roark was due to probably make $10MM in arbitration this offseason, and projected to maybe be a serviceable fourth starter, but he’s had issues with consistency the past couple of years, and it seems that the Nats didn’t deem him worth the risk. There’s been talk that they’ve been looking to bolster their rotation beyond what they’ve already got, and thinking was that they’d wait till they had a new guy in place before they’d trade Roark, but I guess the offer was something they couldn’t pass up (or they’ll announce the signing of a free agent pitcher in about ten minutes).
Fan Interference 
And the Halos signed Justin Bour, a good move if he can find his 2017 form again. Prof will be so pleased. Best quote of the day: Brian Cashman calling the Borg “a fully operational death star.”
By the way, if any of you happen to be wondering from whence the design of the death star cameth, here’s the cover of one of George Lucas’s favorite science fiction novels from when he was a kid:
The novel was published in 1922.
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I had some hopes that the Nats would sign Bour to be their 2019 version of left-handed backup 1B with pop, as he’d be a local boy made good. He hails from Chantilly, VA, and Nats Park is just a bit more than 30 miles from where he played high school ball.
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“Fully Operational Death Star.” Does that mean J.D. Martinez is about to fly in with a X-wing figher and blow them up?
And I am disappointed Charlie Morton moved on from Houston. I had a bad feeling when they didn’t offer him the expected QO. A surprisingly good pickup for two years – and a bargain in the mix. Also, a nice guy and a positive clubhouse influence by all counts. Thanks for what you brought to Houston, Charlie! Good luck in Tampa Bay.
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So it looks like the Feesh are holding fast to their exorbitant demands for Realmuto. The best thing that can happen to him now is handing the Feesh their cloacas in arbitration, and scoring a number that squeezes hardest after the first few weeks of Nuvvuaagittuk-strata attendance at Macondo Banana Massacre Field and the potential suitors for their 2020 TV deal renewal won’t answer their phone calls.
JT notwithstanding, this really wasn’t a very exciting weenter meeting. There were definitely some interesting deals but the really big boys are still waiting to be signed or dealt.
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But that’s because the way that the way baseball is now a monopoly game type spreadsheet driven quest for profits the free agent big boys aren’t really big boys.
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Did my “Great White North First Nations Joke Detector” just go off? It’s been so long….
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Seems like the hot stove starts later and later and later each year. No one seems to want to sign until March these days, and everyone always waits for the biggest names to sign first.
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Whelp, rumor now is that the Brooze are kicking J T Realmuto’s tires, too. Maybe they think that after they deeked the Feesh into trading this year’s NL MVP for The Bust, they can innerest Beep Beep and Bloody Mike in yet another overrated prospect.
I’d say “wait and see” but (a) that’s trite and (b) I’m really getting bored with the whole issue.
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It’s really too bad that the new manager of the O’s, Brandon Hyde, couldn’t have been tied to the Tanner/Tanner trade. It’s not every day that you have a chance to write a headline like: “Tanners Swapped while Brandin’ Hide Hired.”
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