Twins at the Winter Meetings: Day two recap

Day two of the MLB Winter Meetings is basically in the books, and included some highly interesting moves for the AL Central division—although a Brian Dozier trade was not one of them.

Here’s the rundown.

Chris Sale changes his sox

Obviously the biggest news of the day was the blockbuster trade sending White Sox ace Chris Sale to the Red Sox in exchange for a smorgasbord of prospects—those being Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Victor Diaz.

Having Sale out of the AL Central might seem like good news at first, but then you have to look at what the White Sox are getting. Yoan Moncada, a 21-year-old infielder (mostly second baseman), is currently ranked the number one prospect in baseball by MLB.com. Michael Kopech is a pitching prospect who has reached 105 mph on the speed gun. Luis Basabe has a really frickin’ awesome last name, and Victor Diaz could be the next Babe Ruth!

You can read more about the White Sox’s return over at South Side Sox—just keep in mind they are highly biased over there.

Dear god, the Indians are talking to Jose Bautista

The AL Central Champion Indians are reportedly interested in Jose Bautista, and it’s like my worst nightmare. Bautista already has the most home runs at Target Field by a visiting player, and he’s never even played in the same division. If the Indians got Bautista? Wow, no thank you. Good night.

Luckily, the Blue Jays are also interested in bringing Bautista back. Hopefully they do, unless some NL team jumps in the fray (please, please, please!)

Dozier makes his case to the new front office?

Most of the trade talk directly affecting the Twins has revolved around their biggest trade piece, Brian Dozier. For now, Dozier is still a Twin, but the jury seems out about whether that will remain the case through the off-season, if not just the next couple days.

However, after meeting with Dozier in person at the meeting in Maryland, it seems like Derek Falvey and Thad Levine might actually seem less inclined to make a deal for him. “You see the performance he had on the field—that jumps off the page,” Levine told reporters today. “But then when you hear the convictions and the passions behind it, that’s where you realize he’s a championship-caliber player. I think that’s the third dimension that maybe some of the other fans don’t get to really embrace, but when you hear that I think it’s pretty palpable.”

“When you hear somebody deliver a convicted message like that,” Levine said, “I think you’re willing to bet on them.”

Hence, there doesn’t seem to be any new developments on the trade front.

The question now is: Was Levine being sincere, trying to up the price for Dozier, or both?

Other notes from around the land

• The Red Sox signed Mitch Mooreland to a one-year deal to replace David Ortiz at DH do something.
• The Red Sox also traded Travis Shaw and Mauricio Dubon to Brewers for Tyler Thornburg. Yawn.
• The Indians also met with Mike Napoli. Yawn again.