As you\u2019re getting ready to hang your stockings by the chimney with care, here are three things to watch for (other than Santa Claus) on Christmas Eve:<\/p>\n
1. The corner infield market is heating up:<\/p>\n
On Sunday morning, the White Sox came to terms on a two-year, $34MM contract<\/a> with NPB first baseman\/third baseman Munetaka Murakami<\/a>. Later that day, the Red Sox swung a trade<\/a> with the Cardinals to acquire a slugging corner infielder of their own, first baseman Willson Contreras<\/a>. Then, on Tuesday, it was the Pirates who joined in on the fun, coming to terms with Ryan O\u2019Hearn<\/a> on a two-year, $29MM guarantee<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to those recent moves, corner infielders have overrun the rumor mill lately. The Athletic\u2019s Ken Rosenthal<\/a> reported over the weekend that Blue Jays officials have had \u201crecent contact\u201d with Scott Boras regarding his client Alex Bregman<\/a>. The star third baseman is the top unsigned corner infield free agent from MLBTR\u2019s Top 50 list<\/a>. Mariners GM Justin Hollander also\u00a0reconfirmed his team\u2019s interest<\/a> in reuniting with third baseman Eugenio Su\u00e1rez<\/a>, while\u00a0Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/a> noted that, before the Pirates signed O\u2019Hearn, they had \u201cmultiple virtual meetings\u201d with Kazuma Okamoto<\/a>, another All-Star first baseman\/third baseman from NBP.<\/p>\n One also has to wonder if more corner infield-related trade rumors are soon to come. One of Ryan Mountcastle<\/a> or Coby Mayo<\/a> is likely to be on the trade block now that Pete Alonso<\/a> is ensconced at first base in Baltimore, and Triston Casas<\/a> could be on the move after Contreras\u2019s arrival in Boston. What\u2019s more, the fact that the Cardinals have now traded Contreras and Sonny Gray<\/a> only seems to make a Nolan Arenado<\/a> deal more likely. While any notable trades and signings probably won\u2019t take place on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, keep an eye out for the next big corner infield transaction that\u2019s surely on its way.<\/p>\n 2. DFA resolutions coming for Noel and Wiemer:<\/p>\n Today marks a week since the Guardians and Giants DFA\u2019d outfielders Jhonkensy Noel<\/a> (also known as Big Christmas) and Joey Wiemer<\/a>, respectively. There hasn\u2019t been any news about either player since, but that should change today. When a player is designated for assignment, his team has seven days to either trade him or pass him through waivers. If no trade comes together and the player goes unclaimed, his team can send him outright to the minor leagues. Neither Noel nor Wiemer has the necessary service time to reject an outright assignment, so if they do clear waivers, the Guardians and Giants will be able to keep them in their organizations.<\/p>\n 3. Last-minute holiday shopping?<\/p>\n Yesterday featured two official major league signings and news of another, with Jacob Webb<\/a> joining the Cubs<\/a>, Sean Newcomb<\/a> joining the White Sox<\/a>, and O\u2019Hearn reportedly agreeing to terms<\/a> with the Pirates. Today, however, is likely to be a slow news day around Major League Baseball. Trades and free agent signings are almost as rare on Christmas Eve as they are on Christmas Day. Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean a move is out of the realm of possibility. Just last year<\/a>, the Twins sent left-handed reliever Jovani Mor\u00e1n<\/a> to the Red Sox in exchange for catcher\/utility man Mickey Gasper<\/a> on December 24.<\/p>\n Some of the biggest Christmas Eve transactions in MLB history include Mark McGwire re-signing with the Athletics in 1992 (five years, $28MM) and Reggie Jackson returning to the Athletics on December 24, 1986 for what would be his final season. Funnily enough, the A\u2019s are also one of just three teams in the last decade to sign a major league deal with a free agent on Christmas Eve. The Cubs officially signed<\/a> Drew Smyly<\/a> in 2022, the Mets came to terms and announced a deal<\/a> with Dellin Betances<\/a> in 2019, and the A\u2019s finalized a contract with Mike Fiers<\/a> on the holiday in 2018. Fiers would go on to throw a no-hitter for Oakland the next May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As you\u2019re getting ready to hang your stockings by the chimney with care, here are three things to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-366158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}