MLB Winter Meetings journal: Greetings from Nashville

(AP Photo/Steve Nesius) NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Welcome back, baseball! There might be snow on the ground in some places but, at least for this week, baseball will dominate the news cycle.

The winter meetings are about the start. Huge deals will be signed, key players will be traded and rumors will abound.

Since this is my first time covering the meetings, we here at The Stew have decided on a daily journal to keep you, the reader, engaged with the sights and sounds of the event. I’ll start off these journals looking at five significant rumors before I transition into the on the ground stuff here. I’m hoping to provide an accurate look at the meetings for fans who are interested in what actually happens here. OK, enough rambling, let’s get to it.

FIVE THINGS THAT MIGHT HAPPEN: DAY 1
During the week, plenty of rumors are going to be thrown out there. Some of them will seem plausible, while others will be completely outlandish. In this section, I’ll highlight the five significant rumors that might come through, whether it be today, or later in the week.

• After rumors have gone back and forth over the past couple weeks, it appears the Miami Marlins are shopping young ace Jose Fernandez, according to Jayson Stark of ESPN. That said, they are asking for quite the haul. Our own Jeff Passan reported that the Marlins asked the Los Angeles Dodgers for both Julio Urias and Corey Seager in a deal for Fernandez. That’s a high asking price, but the Marlins should be looking for a huge return for a player of Fernandez’s caliber.

• The Cincinnati Reds are “open for business,” according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN. Everyone expected Cincinnati to trade pieces away, but it now appears no one is off limits. It’s early, but the club has already claimed the news of the day, reportedly dealing closer Aroldis Chapman to the Dodgers. He probably won’t be the last Red to be moved in the coming days. As Crasnick mentioned, Todd Frazier’s name has been tossed around. Frazier is 29, under team control through 2017 and plays a coveted position. He should draw significant interest from any club in need of help at third.

• The Detroit Tigers are reportedly looking at both Yoenis Cespedes and Alex Gordon, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Detroit already made it clear they were going to try to contend in 2016 after signing pitcher Jordan Zimmermann earlier in the offseason. Cespedes has ties to the organization, while Gordon played against them quite a bit as a member of the Kansas City Royals. Perhaps more importantly, Heyman mentions that the outfield market could heat up. That would be pretty big. Aside from Cespedes and Gordon, Justin Upton and Jason Heyward are also out there. All four are considered to be among the best hitters currently available.

• Ben Zobrist may also be close to signing, according to Heyman. Zobrist lives near Nashville, and has reportedly been meeting with clubs at the winter meetings. The New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals and Dodgers are all involved in the bidding. The deal is expected to be four years.

• There were a fair amount of rumors surrounding both Darren O’Day and Hisashi Iwakuma on Sunday. While both players seem close to officially signing deals, neither contract is official at this time. It’s believed O’Day has a deal in place with the Baltimore Orioles, but it’s contingent on him passing a physical. Many anticipate Iwakuma to sign with the Dodgers, but it’s not a done deal yet according to Passan.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

(Nothing says it's the holidays quite like baseball.)

It’s December, but that’s not going to stop MLB Network from broadcasting the hottest winter meetings news. You don’t typically equate the holiday season with baseball, but this is the one week where baseball rules supreme. How often do you see two Christmas trees surrounding a baseball set? I’m biased, but that’s pretty awesome.

On a side note, if you want to keep up with the Yahoo! Sports guys at the winter meetings, you can follow Jeff Passan, Tim Brown, Mike Oz and me on Twitter. Feel free to do that to stay on top of the latest rumors and notes.

WINTER MEETINGS DAILY OBSERVATION
The Gaylord Opryland hotel is huge. On the way over, my cab driver said there hotel contained at least 3,000 rooms and I believe it. There are three main sections to the hotel and it probably takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk through the whole thing. There are a number of restaurants, a huge conference room area and even a boat ride. I probably won’t take that boat around the indoor river, but I’ll be certain to keep you all in the loop if it does happen. On second thought, maybe that’s where all the big deals come together? No one would expect Zobrist to meet with the Mets on the lazy river. The whole thing sounds pretty appealing now.

The other main takeaway for me was seeing all the PBEO job seekers running around the hotel. There are probably thousands of kids here hoping and praying to get hired by a team. Some of them have folders filled with resumes, others carry exceptionally personalized business cards. The thing that struck me most was how prepared most of the job seekers seem. If it’s their first time here, they’ve certainly done plenty of research on what to have available, and how to sell themselves to clubs. If they are veterans to the winter meetings, they are incredibly polished and understand how things are run. This is unfair, but I expected kids to be running around awkwardly introducing themselves to executives, turning into fanboys whenever Brian Kenny walks by and generally fumbling with all their materials. That’s not the case. The job seekers came prepared.

PEOPLE AT THE MLB WINTER MEETINGS
I’m taking some inspiration from Humans of New York here. Every day, I’ll try to highlight one interesting person I found while walking the hotel. There are a lot of unique and interesting people here, and some of them have fun and interesting stories to share. We’ll also be sharing these pictures on the BLS Tumblr page and on Twitter. Remember those PBEO job seekers I just talked about? One of them is the focus of our first People at the MLB Winter Meetings.

(Curtis Knox II, Winter Meetings job seeker)

“That’s the thing with these events, when you have opportunities where you can notice a face or you know somebody is an executive or has a big part in whatever organization; if you can see them in their free time just walking, that’s like fishing in a swimming pool. These guys are walking around here, they are obviously here for a reason and that’s either to find [people for] jobs or make advancements to their program. And that’s why I just want to make sure if that’s what they are here to do, I’ve at least introduced myself, given out my card, told them what I’m all about and, at least given myself the opportunity to be in their head once that decision-making process comes about.”

—Curtis Knox II, Winter Meetings job seeker

All that happened and I haven’t even officially experienced Day 1 of the meetings. It already feels like things are going to get a lot more exciting over the next couple of days.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: