Just when you thought it was safe to take a break from the Hot Stove League, the New York Yankees shocked the baseball universe by sending a four-player package to the Cincinnati Reds for All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman, a player many believed was immovable due to his current off-field issues.
It’s a deal that was seemingly consummated in a matter of hours, if you go by what information the rumor mill provided, but chances are it’s a deal that the two clubs had been working on for a few days, if not longer.
General managers talk to each other all the time about potential moves, and sometimes, months go by before those talks are revisited. We’ll touch on some of those scenarios on the pages that follow, as deals that may have made sense at the trade deadline still do, in some form, heading into 2016.
Keep in mind these proposed deals are only ideas and pure speculation. Unless otherwise noted, there’s no indication any of them has actually been discussed.