The Cleveland Guardians added depth to their starting rotation, agreeing Tuesday to a $750,000 one-year contract with free agent right-hander Ben Lively. The 31-year-old split last season between Cincinnati and Triple-A Louisville. In 12 starts for the Reds, he went 4-7 with a 5.38 ERA.
Superstar free agent Shohei Ohtani was rumored to be en route to Toronto on Friday to meet, and maybe sign, with the Blue Jays, but further reports debunked it all.
Big-name free agents appear in no hurry to strike deals at the winter meetings, biding time until Shohei Ohtani potentially breaks the record for richest contract set 4 1/2 years ago by Mike Trout. “It's probably a little slower from a conversation standpoint at a winter meetings than it normally would,” New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said Monday.