The Reds are all ears as the Winter Meetings begin

ORLANDO, Fla. – An hour into his stay at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort here, Cincinnati Reds general manager Dick Williams had already conducted some trade discussion by text message.

With the two biggest names now off the market – Japanese star Shohei Ohtani to the Los Angeles Angels, reigning National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton to the New York Yankees – Williams expects things to get much busier for the Reds when the 2017 Winter Meetings officially start Monday.

“Those were two big dominoes to fall, and it affects a bunch of teams,” Williams said. “I’m expecting there will be more action.”

Williams already has experienced higher levels of interest in his players from other teams compared to a year ago, he said. Still, that doesn’t mean he’s in a rush to make a trade. The Reds didn’t make a single move outside of the Rule 5 Draft at the 2016 meetings, and very well could have another quiet week this time around.

Much of the week will be spent fielding trade interest and listening. At last year’s meetings, the Reds mulled over trade scenarios involving center fielder Billy Hamilton and starters Anthony DeSclafani and Dan Straily, among others. Only Straily was traded, and it took until January for the Reds to complete the deal.

“We are not actively shopping anyone,” Williams said. “We’re not in a position of having to create an opening anywhere, we’re not in a position of having to save payroll. We feel like we’re operating from a position of strength in terms of being able to look for deals that we like.”

There may be more to listen to this year, however. The Reds have more trade chips than they did a year ago, and those chips are much more established. There’s likely to be broad interest in closer Raisel Iglesias, who is locked up for several more years on an affordable deal. Billy Hamilton has drawn interest from the San Francisco Giants and also reportedly the Texas Rangers, both teams in need of a center fielder. Scooter Gennett could possibly interest a team needing a second baseman, although his market has been quiet so far, a source said.

Left fielder Adam Duvall has probably drawn the second most interest of Reds players beyond Hamilton, according to that source, although which teams have asked about him isn’t clear. Two sources said the Giants – Duvall’s original team – have checked with the Reds on his availability each of the last two years since trading him away in the first place, although it’s not clear if anything notable came of that interest.

Those discussions may get more serious over the course of the week, but Williams said he’d be surprised if a deal was struck this early. Just like with their search for some low-cost pitching help in free agency – last year the Reds played a patient game of musical chairs in order to swipe up Scott Feldman and Drew Storen in January when fewer teams will still active on the market – any trades affecting the 2018 team could happen when it’s actually 2018.

“I doubt we’ll have stuff resolved here,” Williams said. “The times that we’ve announced trades here, for the most part we were well into those discussions by the time we got here. Finishing the deals happened here. I don’t feel like we’re at that point in our trade discussions because the interest is broader and the number players is a little broader.”