It’s safe to say MLB teams did not leave their holiday shopping to the last minute this year. With the Cubs’ signing of Dansby Swanson on Saturday, the last major free agent was taken off the board with more than a week to go before Christmas Day. The top 15 players in our free-agent rankings have inked new contracts, as have 27 of the top 30. It’s a stark contrast to the last few offseasons, when marquee players were often left without a team as the winter’s ice thawed across the country.
That doesn’t mean the hot stove is set to cool down quite yet, though. Pretty much every contender has an area of weakness that could stand to be shored up, and teams will probably have to be active in the trade market to adequately address those needs at this point.
Using Baseball Trade Values’ trade simulator, I’ve constructed five deals that would hopefully help both teams involved (or in one case, all three). I tried to include mostly big leaguers, as I don’t claim to be a prospect expert … and it’s just more fun to envision players we’re already familiar with swapping jerseys.
