It was Wednesday, December 10, 2014 – the third full day of the 2014 MLB Winter Meetings in San Diego, CA. Up to that point Dodgers newly appointed president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and new general manager Farhan Zaidi had been extremely quiet at the annual event at which baseball’s biggest deals are made every year, thus causing Dodger fans to wonder if the two so-called analytics experts were all bark and no bite.

But then it happened. Very early on that Wednesday morning – so early, in fact, that many of the big-name media-types were still sleeping – Friedman and Zaidi completed what would turn out to be one of the biggest trades of the off-season; a trade that would send Dodgers All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon, right-hander Dan Haren, infielder Miguel Rojas and cash considerations to the Miami Marlins as part of a seven-player trade that brought left-hander Andrew Heaney, right-hander Chris Hatcher, utility infielder/outfielder Enrique Hernandez and catcher Austin Barnes to Los Angeles. The Dodgers would then send Heaney – one of baseball’s top pitching prospects – to the Angels for veteran second baseman Howie Kendrick. It was indeed a blockbuster trade and, for the most part, worked out great for all parties involved.

Although some Dodger fans may be getting a little impatient with Andrew Friedman at the 2015 Winter Meetings, he has shown us in the past that the best moves are not always the first ones.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The three-team trade would have easily been considered “the Big One” of the Winter Meeting had it not been for the numerous (and occasionally brilliant) transactions made by Padres new general manager A.J. Preller – including one that sent Dodgers center fielder and fan-favorite Matt Kemp and back-up catcher Tim Federowicz to the Friars in exchange for catcher Yasmani Grandal and right-handers Joe Wieland and Zach Eflin. Eflin was then flipped to the Phillies as part of the deal that brought veteran shortstop Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers.

Although Friedman and Zaidi got off to a much faster start at this year’s MLB Winter Meetings in Nashville, TN, things came to a screeching halt late Monday evening when the apparent done-deal of acquiring closer Aroldis Chapman for two minor league prospects came undone when it was learned that the 27-year-old, 105-MPH-throwing left-hander had been involved in a domestic dispute with his girlfriend in which a gun was reportedly used. The incident immediately sparked an investigation by MLB as part of its aggressive new domestic violence policy enacted earlier this year.

While the Chapman trade has now been moved to the Hot Stove’s back burner (or beyond), Friedman and Zaidi remained busy on Tuesday with reports that the Dodgers were working on a deal to acquire Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez. Even though Fernandez is coming off recent Tommy John surgery, he is still considered one of the premier starting pitchers in the game and is under team control through the 2016 season. In other words, it would cost interested teams several of their top prospects to land the 23-year-old Villa Clara, Cuba native.

In the Dodgers’ case, the Marlins have said that it would take at least number one prospect Corey Seager and number two prospect Julio Urias for them to even begin discussions about moving Fernandez – something that, to this point, the Dodgers have flat out refused to even consider. However, things may be loosening up a bit amongst the Dodgers’ brain trust this week. On Tuesday evening, Friedman was asked if he might now be open to trading the previously untouchable Urias if it meant a shot at getting Fernandez.

“Something we pride ourselves on is not having any hard and fast rules,” Friedman said. “We’re open-minded on having different conversations. It would certainly save us time to have set rules on certain things, but we’re open minded.”

Many believe that 23-year-old Jose Fernandez is a better pitcher now than at any time before his Tommy John surgery. (Photo credit – Steve Mitchell)

It was also reported on Tuesday that Friedman and Zaidi might be working on a multi-team deal similar to the one that they pulled off at last year’s Winter Meetings in an effort to land Fernandez, although no specific teams or players were mentioned. That being said, there were reports earlier in the week that there was at least one team expressing interested in Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig, but again, the identity of that team remains unknown and there was no mention whatsoever that he might be included in a multi-team trade.

Cuban natives Jose Fernandez and Yasiel Puig were MLB’s 2013 NL Rookie of the Year and runner-up respectively. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

As always, the Winter Meeting are usually 90 percent gossip and rumors and 10 percent actual action, so any such talk of a blockbuster multi-team deal should be taken with a grain of salt. However, knowing Andrew Friedman’s and Farhan Zaidi’s track record and flair for the dramatic, it’s probably safe to say that they will do something big before the Winter Meetings wrap up on Thursday afternoon.

Stay tuned…