NASHVILLE – We have troves of statistics to help us spot trends during the baseball season. For the winter meetings, though, ears can be enough.
Listen to a handful of club officials and scouts and you’ll hear the same tune: every club wants to engage in trade talks, but nobody is pushing for low-level prospects anymore. Clubs in listen mode want young, controllable everyday position players. They want bats, and not just the ones who hit .330 in the Double-A Texas League. They want hitters who have big league seasoning, a track record of success and minimal service time.