The Associated Press
NASHVILLE—The National League champion N.Y. Mets filled a key spot by obtaining second baseman Neil Walker from Pittsburgh for pitcher Jon Niese.
The Detroit Tigers bolstered their bullpen by acquiring reliever Justin Wilson from the N.Y. Yankees in trades yesterday at the winter meetings.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, meanwhile, kept upgrading their rotation.
A day after finalizing a $206.5-million deal for major league ERA leader Zack Greinke, they announced their five-player swap with Atlanta that brought all-star righty Shelby Miller and sent No. 1 draft pick Dansby Swanson to the Braves.
“Our ownership stepped up in allowing us to get Zack Greinke,” said Arizona general manager Dave Stewart.
“It puts us in a position to get better as a team but we weren’t complete,” he stressed.
“We needed an additional piece to our rotation.”
Miller should slot into the No. 2 spot in the rotation ahead of Patrick Corbin, Rubby De La Rosa, and Robbie Ray.
“You’re getting almost 800 innings out of your starting rotation, which should help our bullpen out,” Stewart noted.
“The biggest part of our problems in our ’pen last [season] is we had to go there very often and ask them for a lot of innings.”
Other teams are waiting for the market to develop, especially for hitters.
Among the 17 elite free agents who didn’t accept qualifying offers, five had reached agreements and all were pitchers: Greinke, Jordan Zimmermann, Jeff Samardzija, John Lackey, and Marco Estrada.
In addition, Hisashi Iwakuma has an agreement with the L.A. Dodgers that remains to be finalized.
Among the remaining 11 are pitchers Wei-Yin Chen, Yovani Gallardo, and Ian Kennedy, joined by first baseman Chris Davis, second basemen Daniel Murphy and Howie Kendrick, and shortstop Ian Desmond.
Outfielders Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, and Dexter Fowler round out the group.
