When the faucet of player transactions first turned on after the players’ union and ownership made a deal late last week, it seemed like maybe the pipes were broken. The first player that signed, pitcher Drew VerHagen with the Cardinals, hadn’t actually been locked out at all, since he was coming back from playing overseas. If teams were afraid to admit they might have been talking to free agents during the lockout, or if clubs just needed to review the collective bargaining agreement to know where they stood, the result was the same: crickets at first.
Then came the rush. The last few days have been wild. Ninety-plus days of offseason condensed into one week, paired with all the news we normally get when players report to camp. Trades, signings, surgery reveals, motorcycle crashes — it’s enough to give one whiplash. If you were able to put the phone down and go out into the sunshine, you probably missed at least a few of these transactions.
Why not spend a few words summarizing the effect of each piece of news, on the player, club and market? We’ll add a line at the end giving you a sense of what these moves mean in fantasy baseball, as well, just to be as thorough as we can in this quick-hitter format. And where else to start but at the beginning?
(Top photo of Carlos Rodón: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)