Remember how last week I said not much was going on in the baseball off season? Well I should have bit my tongue. Winter Meetings started on Sunday in Maryland and the wheeling and dealing began.

Oh – before the hot stove warmed up, everyone agreed on a new CBA… three hours before the old one was set to expire. MLB and the Player’s Association knew this was coming and they waited until the last minute like college students or something. Minor changes were made (luxury tax increase, banning of tobacco for incoming players, increase in minimum salary…) BUT the All-Star Game will no longer determine who gets home field advantage in the World Series. At first they weren’t really saying what would determine home field advantage (HFA), so I assumed it would be like rock, paper, scissors or something. Nope, it’s whatever team has the better regular season record. Which makes sense, but all I knew was the All-Star game determining HFA so I’ll eventually get used to the new idea.

So the first to make news was Matt Holliday who signed with the Yankees. Then MLB announced a partnership with Under Armour, which I’m okay with? I don’t know, I’m not too big on UA, so it’ll be interesting.

Former Red Sox pitcher Mark Melancon went to the Giants. And also former Red Sox pitcher Rich Hill signed a 3 year, $48 million contract with the Dodgers. Rumors started that the Nationals were looking at Chris Sale (AKA Edward Scissorhands).

Then on Tuesday I came out of a conference call to alerts that Travis Shaw and a few others were traded to the Brewers for reliever Tyler Thornburg. I just about started crying at my desk. The Mayor of Ding Dong City was gone.

(Because John Farrell had pitcher Steven Wright pinch run last season and hurt his shoulder and was out for a while)

So I was trying to recover from that blindsided trade before I started seeing tweets about the Red Sox signing Chris Sale. To which my response was:

Okay so yeah he has pretty decent numbers and all but I’m worried about the whole took-a-knife-to-throwback-jerseys hissy fit he threw over the summer. I enjoy throwbacks and don’t want to have to worry about Sale cutting them up.

Tuesday was a rough day for me, and thankfully nothing else major happened. The Cubs got closer Wade Davis and sent Jorge Soler to the Royals. The Rockies signed Ian Desmond to a five year deal. Then the Yankees went and got back Aroldis Chapman for five years, $86 million. That’s roughly $17.2 million a year to pitch three outs. I already don’t like him, and I’m not looking forward to having to face him in divisional play. And yesterday World Series champ Dexter Fowler signed with Cubs division rival the Cardinals, and the Red Sox signed Mitch Moreland (or Mike Napoli 2.0).

Then the Winter Meetings ended. Dave Dombrowski is one ruthless man. My dad always warned me of this because of the fact Dombrowski used to be the Tigers GM. He will trade anyone to get someone. And that often means the prospects or my favorite players.

What scares me the most about the Red Sox is the fact that Shaw is gone now. That means Pablo Sandoval has a chance to play third. He barely made it out of the first week last season before having “surgery” and sat out the rest of the season (to like pictures on Instagram). Supposedly he has lost weight, but who knows. So far he’s turned out to be a bust of a 5 year, $95 million deal. The 2017 season will be year three, so we still have a ways to go.

(Fingers crossed this doesn’t happen again).

Everyone will report for Spring Training in about two months, and I’m hoping the Red Sox do not lose anymore players (although I wouldn’t be sad to see Buchholz leave). These Winter Meetings were stressful, and I definitely need some time to deal with what happened. So Dave Dombrowski: do not make anymore moves unless you’d like to give me a heart attack. Thanks.