Winter meetings day 2 recap
Here are the five biggest signings from day two of the winter meetings:
Mitch Haniger - San Francisco Giants
The Giants managed to get one NorCal native outfielder yesterday, it just wasn’t Aaron Judge. Still the Giants got themselves a good player, 31-year-old, former all-star Mitch Haniger, who when healthy, can be deadly at the plate. Haniger hit 39 home runs in 2021, something the Giants need, but he was limited to only 57 games this past season.
The deal is a 3-year contract worth $43.5 million.
Cody Bellinger, Jameson Taillon - Chicago Cubs
The Cubs made two big moves yesterday, the first was signing 2019 National Leauge MVP Cody Bellinger to a one-year, $17.5 million contract.
Bellinger, 27, is still a young player, but he hasn’t been the same since his award-winning season.
Bellinger has had a 74 OPS+ over the past 3 seasons, which is 26% below the league average. Still, he brings great speed, a great glove, and offensive potential that the Cubs surely hope a change of scenery can awaken once again.
The second move was bringing in Jameson Taillon as a middle of the rotation arm.
Taillon and the Cubs agreed on a 4-year deal for $68 million.
The former number-two overall pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates has a career ERA of 3.84 and has always been around league average or better.
Josh Bell - Cleveland Guardians
Josh Bell is one of the more streaky hitters in the game, but when he’s going good there are few better. A perfect example of this is this past season, where in 103 games for the Washington Nationals bell had a 153 OPS+, but when he came to the San Diego Padres in a mid-season trade he could only muster a lousy 75 OPS+.
The Guardians hope they’ll get something closer to the 153 OPS+ Josh Bell.
The switch hitter signed for $33 million over a two-year deal, however, there is an opt-out clause after the end of year one.
If Bell plays as well as we know he can he should help the Guardians as they look to make it even further in the playoffs this upcoming season after losing in the division series in 2022.
Andrew Heaney - Texas Rangers
Finally, we have Andrew Heaney joining Jacob DeGrom in the Texas Rangers rotation on a two-year, $25 million deal that can reach $37 million after incentives, and also features an opt-out after the first year.
Heaney, 31, broke out with the Los Angeles Dodgers last year, recording a 3.10 ERA, far better than his 2021 mark of 5.83, or his career mark of 4.72 up to that point.
The Rangers obviously believe in Heaney and must be confident that 2022 was a true breakout and not a fluke.
