OXON HILL, Md. -- The champion Chicago Cubs closed their only real need, getting All-Star reliever Wade Davis. The Washington Nationals opened quite a debate by trading not one, not two, but three talented young pitchers for outfielder Adam Eaton.
Ian Desmond wound up in a new spot, reaching a $70 million agreement with Colorado, and there were a couple of other lesser deals Wednesday during the last full day of the winter meetings.
"The free agent market and the trade markets have both been a little slow," Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson said. "Things are picking up a little bit."
Closers Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen were still in play, and Pittsburgh didn't trade -- not yet, anyway -- outfielder Andrew McCutchen.
As expected, the Cubs completed a deal for Davis. To get a closer who's been dominant for the past three years, the World Series champions sent outfielder Jorge Soler to Kansas City.
Davis, who finished out the Royals' victory that clinched their 2015 title, moved right into the ninth-inning role Chapman held at Wrigley Field.
Cubs Manager Joe Maddon avoided any assessment of who was best. Instead, he offered: "They're just different kind of pitchers."
But the opinions weren't so blurred after the NL East champion Nationals made their deal with the Chicago White Sox.
A day after missing out on White Sox ace Chris Sale, Washington traded top prospect Lucas Giolito, strong-armed Reynaldo Lopez and 2016 first-round draft pick Dane Dunning to get Eaton.
Right away, Nats fans lit up Twitter, wondering why their team paid such a hefty price. Washington GM Mike Rizzo didn't blink at swapping the trio.
"We feel comfortable with the deal. We've done a lot of deals. I like win-win deals," he said.
"I think the White Sox did a great job of acquiring good, potential upside players. We got ourselves a good, young skillful player that we can control at below-market values for five seasons. And, again, you got to give to get," he said.
Eaton, who turned 28 on Tuesday, batted .284 with 14 home runs and 59 RBI, stealing 14 bases and hitting an AL-leading nine triples. He topped the majors with 18 outfield assists.
"We see the arrow still going up with him," Rizzo said.
Praised Nationals Manager Dusty Baker: "He's not afraid to get dirty and grimy, greasy, nasty -- do everything there is to beat you."
Giolito, 22, was the Nationals' first-round pick in 2012. He made his big league debut in June and was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in six starts in the majors.
Lopez is also 22, and went 5-3 with a 4.91 ERA in 11 games last season. Dunning, 21, was drafted out of Florida.
"We view all three of them, actually, as having the potential to become front-end-of-the-rotation pitchers," White Sox General Manager Rick Hahn said. "There's still a fair amount of development with each of them."
In other deals, San Francisco agreed to trade pitcher Chris Heston to the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named, a person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been finalized.
Heston pitched a no-hitter while going 12-11 as a rookie in 2015, but spent most of this year in the minors.
Also, the Marlins reached agreements with pitcher Jeff Locke and catcher A.J. Ellis.
Late Tuesday, the Texas Rangers and free agent Carlos Gomez agreed to reunite for one year at $11.5 million, according to sources and pending a physical.
Gomez was signed Aug. 20 after being released by the Houston Astros after a miserable start to the season. After a rough start with the Rangers, Gomez became arguably their best player down the stretch and served as their leadoff hitter with Shin-Soo Choo injured.
The Rangers like Choo in the leadoff spot, but with Ian Desmond gone the team could go with Gomez followed by Choo in the No. 2 spot.
Sports on 12/08/2016