SAN DIEGO
As players and teams waited for Jon Lester to make a decision and start defining the high-end pitching market, baseball’s winter meetings opened Monday with Oakland jettisoning yet another All-Star and the Chicago White Sox adding a closer.
In the first swap of the four-day session, the Athletics sent first baseman-outfielder Brandon Moss to Cleveland for minor league infielder Joey Wendle. That followed Oakland’s trade last month of third baseman Josh Donaldson to Toronto.
The White Sox agreed to a $46 million, four-year contract with David Robertson, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced. Chicago also was working to acquire pitcher Jeff Samardzija in a trade from the Athletics.
Big-name moves among free-agent starting pitchers are taking more time to percolate. Traded from Boston to Oakland last summer, Lester was sought by the Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs.
Max Scherzer and James Shields appeared content to wait for Lester to reach a deal first. And trade talks for top pitchers seemed secondary.
Lester helped Boston go from worst to first and win the 2013 World Series, and then was part of a purge as the Red Sox again dropped to last in the AL East.
“We’re still optimistic that he’ll be in a Red Sox uniform. There’s a lot of history between the Red Sox and Jon,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “We obviously have a strong desire to bring him back. And yet, hopefully, this is coming to a little bit of a head here.”
The perennially woeful Cubs got a player back at the less pricey level, agreeing to a $20 million, two-year contract with right-hander Jason Hammel — a pitcher Chicago traded to the A’s last summer. That deal was confirmed by a person familiar with those talks, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced.
Arizona finalized its $68.5 million, six-year contract with Yasmany Tomas, a 24- year-old Cuban defector the Diamondbacks may move from the outfield to third base.
Cleveland obtained the 31- year-old Moss, who hit .234 with 25 homers and 81 RBIs in 2014. He batted .268 with 21 homers in the first half of the season to earn his first All-Star selection
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