Today is the trade deadline in the NHL! If you’re a hockey fan who enjoys MLBTR’s content, be sure to check out the folks on our sister site, Pro Hockey Rumors, as well as their Twitter account to get up-to-the-minute coverage of today’s deadline deals. While a flurry of moves is surely happening in the NHL, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Are the Cubs on the verge of acquiring a reliever?
In yesterday’s Opener, we discussed how the left-handed relief market had seemingly gone dormant following the signings of Andrew Chafin and Matt Moore in the run-up to Spring Training. It’s possible that state of affairs is about to change, however, as president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer acknowledged yesterday that the Cubs could add a lefty to pair with Brandon Hughes in their bullpen. The top three relief options on the market at this point are Zack Britton, Brad Hand, and Will Smith, though the Cubs also appear to have some interest in lefty Mike Minor, who’s worked as a starter for the past several seasons.
2. WBC teams begin reporting and working out:
Teams in Pool A and Pool B for the upcoming World Baseball Classic are set to report and begin team workouts over the weekend. The teams in Pool A are Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Panama, Italy, and the Netherlands while the teams in Pool B are China, Korea, Australia, Japan, and the Czech Republic. Kenley Jansen (Netherlands), Xander Bogaerts (Netherlands), Luis Robert (Cuba), Yoan Moncada (Cuba), Vinnie Pasquantino (Italy), Shohei Ohtani (Japan), Yu Darvish (Japan), Lars Nootbaar (Japan), Tommy Edman (Korea), Ha-Seong Kim (Korea) and free agents Jurickson Profar, Andrelton Simmons and Didi Gregorius (all Netherlands) are among the many notable big leaguers who will be participating for the aforementioned clubs. You can check out full rosters at the WBC’s web site.
3. Offseason in Review series continues:
MLBTR’s “Offseason In Review” series is set to continue today as Steve Adams takes a look back at how the offseason went for the Texas Rangers. That entry will run this morning, and Steve will be hosting a Rangers-focused live chat with readers this at 11am CT. You can submit a question in advance if you’re so inclined, and that same link will take you to the chat to participate live or read the transcript after it ends. Our OiR series has already covered the Pirates, Athletics, Tigers, Diamondbacks, and Angels this spring.