Elephant Rumblings: MLB Winter Meetings-Looking to Day 2

SB Nation

THe MLB Draft Lottery draw takes place today at 2:30 PM Pacific Time. You may remember that the A’s did not qualify for the lottery last year thanks to receiving revenue-sharing payouts and holding lottery picks

in 2023 and 2024 and were forced to pick 11th in the draft. Of course they used that pick to select Jamie Arnold out of Florida State University. Arnold was MLB Pipeline’s No. 4 overall draft prospect and while he didn’t pitch for the A’s at all in 2025, he’s still considered the A’s No. 2 prospect. Will the A’s draft slot put the team in a position to select the same caliber player as the last three number one picks; Arnold, Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson? Here are the odds for the number one overall pick.

White Sox (.370) — 27.73%
Twins (.432) — 22.18%
Pirates (.438) — 16.81%
Orioles (.463) — 9.24%
A’s (.469) — 6.55%
Braves (.469) — 4.54%
Rays (.475) — 3.03%
Cardinals (.481) — 2.35%
Marlins (.488) — 1.85%
D-backs (.494) — 1.51%
Rangers (.500) — 1.34%
Giants (.500) — 1.01%
Royals (.506) — 0.84%
Mets (.512) — 0.67%
Astros (.537) — 0.34%
Rockies (.265) — ineligible
Nationals (.407) — ineligible
Angels (.444) — ineligible

Day One: Lotsa Talk, Little Action

The first day of the MLB Winter Meetings has come and gone with lots of specualation but not many transactions. The A’s didn’t make any moves, but they are far from alone in the inaction. But no visible signs of transactions does not mean that the day wasn’t productive. It’s a safe bet that teams were talking about plenty of different options and there may be lots of movement Tuesday and Wednesday.

So far, the deals we know that were signed today sent Mike Soroka to the Diamondbacks on a one-year deal and Steven Matz signing a mult-year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. There are still some very big names up for grabs including Pete Alonso, Framber Valdez, Kyle Tucker, and Kyle Schwarber (who is rumored to have received a 4-year offer from the Pirates).

I have a feeling Day Two will be much more intriguing for those of us hoping for some big signings, big trades and big talk turned into action.

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