Red Sox dominate headlines on Day 2 of Winter Meetings

Considering we’re two years removed from the San Diego Padres winning the World Series in 2015 and fresh off the Chicago White Sox raising their own banner in 2016, it’s no surprise that everyone is already picking the Boston Red Sox as their 2017 World Series favorite. What’s that? The team who makes the most acquisitions in December is not always guaranteed to win anything? That’s crazy talk.

With or without the kneejerk reactions, the Red Sox undoubtedly made themselves a lot better yesterday. They added a great player in Chris Sale and they even bumped the accept button and wound up with Mitch Moreland for some reason.

Indians news and notes

Pleskoff: Indians have plenty of reasons to sign Encarnacion | Fan Rag Sports

The always-delightful Bernie Pleskoff gave his own take on the Indians’ rumored interest in slugger Edwin Encarnacion. There seems to be a growing sentiment that the Indians should just buck up and do it, and Bernie is on the same train.

Cleveland Indians drummer John Adams loses day job during World Series, but keeps the beat | Cleveland

This kind of got drowned out in the Winter Meetings news, but a Cleveland legend lost his day job. The 65-year-old John Adams, whose drum is loved by Indians and loathed by opponent, lost his job as an AT&T technician recently. One silver lining that came out of this story — that I did not know previously — is that the Indians provide John with season tickets so he can keep going out there and beating that drum.

Around the league

• The Red Sox no longer have a farm system but at least they have Chris Sale.
• Going forward, all BBWAA Hall of Fame ballots will be public.
• The D’Backs hired Dan Haren to be their ‘pitching strategist’. If it leads to less tweeting, I hope he gets fired quickly.
• The Reds could sell high on Anthony DiSclafani. But they’re the Reds, so they won’t.
• Claire Smith, the first African-American female beat writer, won a prestigious award. Very well deserved.