Happy day after Thanksgiving everyone. I hope everyone had an awesome day of food, football, family, and my favorite – all the fixins. This morning, I have been catching up on all the proposed Major League Baseball trades, free agent best case scenario destinations, and outlandish player for player for player proposals that sportswriters, bloggers, and opinionated fans have conjured up. Some of the proposals seem legit, others I have to question the author’s sobriety when it was posted. The day after Thanksgiving is known to many as “Black Friday” because many retailers typically and heavily discount products and encourage shoppers, like my wife, to visit their stores and save, save, save. So, I thought in the spirit of “Black Friday deals” I would create a few proposals myself to jump into the trade/free agent proposal group of fans, writers, and dreamers online.

1. Trade the Miami Marlins to the City of Montreal, Quebec and reignite the passion of the Expos franchise. Give Miami a minor league affiliation or an independent league affiliation. And give the fans of Montreal back their National League East team, one that produced a ton of great players and a slew of great teams.
2. Trade the Colorado Rockies to the City of Nashville, Tennessee. Upgrade the current team, the Nashville Sounds, to MLB status, keep the stadium (First Horizon Park), and add one very important addition to the team as a player/manager. Nashville’s own…Mookie Betts. Insert Betts as a modern day player/manager, a throw back to the early days of baseball when a manager filled out the lineup cards with the best of the day, and it included themselves in the mix.
3. Trade Paul Skenes, Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper, Adley Rutschman and Mike Trout in a whacky 5 player deal. Skenes goes to the Anaheim Angels. Trout goes to Baltimore. Harper goes to the Yankees. Rutschman goes to the Phillies. Judge goes to Pittsburgh. Wow, every team gets better with that trade. Throw in some MILB prospects, some cash, a few Philly cheesesteaks, some Anaheim orange juice, a Baltimore chop, a Bronx cheer, a Terrible Towel, and this one is definitely for the books!!!

The problem with hypothetical trades and signings is that they are merely best case scenario situations. Take the Boston Red Sox, they are reportedly shopping OF Jarren Duran because they are outfield heavy right now. Up and coming stars like Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela are all but assured roster spots and playing time. Two time Gold Glove OF Wilyer Abreu is a trusted defender and proven hitter. So, Duran has been tabbed “most likely to be traded” this off season. Yet Duran is the most senior of the group, the most experienced, easily the most energetic, was the ASG MVP in 2024, hits a ton of triples, and in my opinion the least likely trade piece. I love Duran’s playing style, his hustle, his grit, his baserunning, and his toughness. I wouldn’t trade Duran, but guess what, I don’t get to make that decision.

Since we are in Black Friday deal mode, here are a few “what I would do if I were running the baseball operations in Boston” wacky ideas.

1. Package Ceddanne Rafaela, Connor Wong, and a Pitcher to the Baltimore Orioles for C Adley Rutschman
2. Sign Pete Alonso, insert him at first base. Move Tristan Casas to the DH spot.
3. Trade Masataka Yoshida to the Cincinnati Reds for Gavin Lux. Lux is a Brock Holt type that can play multiple positions and is pretty good with the bat.

Ok, there are a few more I would make but let me make this point first. Trades, contract extensions, no trade clauses, state income taxes, and so many more legal issues are involved in any trade at the Major League level. You and I and the sports fandom can come up with Tariq Skubal for Adam Eaton type trades all we want. The fact remains that players, their agents, their lawyers, the MLBPA, ownership group members, coaches, GMs, etc. are all in on the decision making of a trade. So, it is not as simple as you might think. In fact, it is super complicated to trade a player from one team to another, let alone multiple players and multiple teams.

Still it is fun to propose whacky trades and exciting “what-ifs” about our favorite players, teams, and organizations during the offseason months. Heck, I look forward to going on MLB.com and other baseball blogs and social media sites to read their trades. And some may actually come to fruition. Like Paul Skenes to the Boston Red Sox for Wally the Green Monster, right???