MLB Winter Meetings journal: Day Three

SAN DIEGO — We’re living in a post-Jon Lester world. The much-chased ace has signed with the Chicago Cubs and now we enter Day Three of the MLB Winter Meetings with new hope that baseball execs will be going nuts with deals.

Will we feel aftershocks from Lester’s decision? We definitely could. His decision could have reshaped plans around the league. My Winter Meetings journal is your launching pad for another day of free-agent rumors and trade talk. Below, I’ll give you the hottest rumors of the day, recap what’s already happened and sprinkle in sights and sounds from the scene with just a tad of San Diego beer talk.

Let’s move …

FIVE HOT RUMORS TO START THE DAY

• The biggest post-Lester question is what the Red Sox will do. There are plenty of theories out there, but the big one is that they could go after Cole Hamels. That means they’ll have to wow Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr.

• The D-backs are reportedly willing to trade Wade Miley, and that’s something that could make sense for the Red Sox too.

• The Mets are making Dillon Gee available in trade talks, but the market isn’t going nuts thus far.

• The Reds’ pitchers are getting attention in trade talks. Teams want Johnny Cueto, of course, but the Reds would rather give up Mat Latos, Mike Leake or Alfredo Simon. The Reds are also willing to trade Aroldis Chapman, but the price is high.

• Mystery team(s) alert! Two owners reportedly flew to San Diego to meet with agent Scott Boras about top-prize free agent Max Scherzer. His negotiations are only starting, but it’s been reported that Scherzer wants at least $200 million.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
Day Two saw the biggest domino of the Winter Meetings fall, so we’ll start with …

• Lester, who agreed to a six-year, $155 million deal to join the Chicago Cubs. Viva Chicago baseball!

• The Cubs also swung a deal for catcher Miguel Montero, sending two low-level pitching prospects to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

• Francisco Liriano and the Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to a three-year, $39 million contract.

• It wasn’t huge, but the Dodgers and Angels made a trade, sending backup catcher Drew Butera to Anaheim. It’s fun because the two teams hadn’t traded with each other in 38 years.

• The A’s and White Sox finalized their six-player trade, of which Jeff Samardzija was the centerpiece.

VIEW OF THE DAY
San Diego, still not ugly and still not “winter.”

WINTER MEETINGS DAILY OBSERVATION
Managers from every team have a short media session during the Winter Meetings. They run two at a time, so usually I bounce back and forth between the two media scrums, trying to catch some of each. On Wednesday, Joe Girardi of the New York Yankees was talking to the press and I joined the huddle.

About 10 minutes in, I realized nobody had asked him a question about A-Rod yet. It was glorious. Instead, the reporters were asking actual baseball questions. Stuff about the Yankees bullpen and Masahiro Tanaka’s elbow and getting Didi Gregorius in a trade.

I watched as the minutes passed, wondering if we’d make it all the way through Girardi’s presser without an A-Rod question. I didn’t leave for the other session with Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, because I was fixated on whether we could actually ignore A-Rod. It would have been a banner day for the media, given how much we buy in to the A-Rod show. A couple more minutes pass. No A-Rod question. We were getting closer.

Then it came, an A-Rod question, 18 minutes into Girardi’s interview time. It was an achievement for reporters everywhere that we lasted that long. Now let’s hope it transfers into the season. Though, I really doubt that.

BEER OF THE DAY
San Diego is a hotbed for craft beer, so expect plenty of MLB writers going on about which local brews they’re trying during the Winter Meetings. Count us among the samplers.

This is The Harlot, and what a minx she is. It’s from the Societe Brewing Co. here in San Diego, and after sampling a number of the local IPAs, The Harlot was obviously much lighter. But the good kind of light. They call it a “Belgian extra ale.” It was a good go-along-with-dinner type of beer. It rates well on Beer Advocate with an 86. Beergraphs likes it too.

WHERE’S JEFF PASSAN?
Yahoo Sports’ MLB columnist Jeff Passan is on the go during the Winter Meetings, chasing rumors, talking to important people and writing stories. He doesn’t stay in one place too long. So, in the spirit of “Where’s Waldo?” we’re playing a Winter Meetings game called “Where’s Passan?”

Here he is, working the lobby. Can you you spot him? (We made it a little easier this time.)