Hot Stove talk: Sox-Yankees trade; spring training; DH agreement needed

The Red Sox – after a winter of being fairly quiet --- finally made a decent move this week, acquiring relief pitcher Adam Ottavino and prospect Frank German from the Yankees.
The trade is a big deal as before the trade, the Sox’ major moves had been:
* Signing righthander Garrett Richards for a one-year $10 million deal (he had a so-so year with the San Diego Padres in 2020 after having Tommy John surgery in mid-2018).
* Signing infielder Kiké Hernández for a two-year $14 million deal; the versatile player, who spent the last few years with the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, is a solid candidate to play second base, which was a wasteland last year for the Sox.
* Earlier signing outfielder Hunter Renfroe, re-signing starting pitcher Martín Pérez, who was in their rotation last year, but someone whom they had released after the season; and signing reliever-starter Matt Andriese.
That was a mediocre effort at best to bolster the lineup and roster. But now, in Ottavino, they've landed a serious player with a good upside. They reportedly will send the Yanks a player to be named later or cash considerations.
Ottavino was a lights-out reliever for the Yanks in 2019, but fell off last year; however, he represents an immediate major upgrade for a bullpen that, after the Sox traded Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman (the Sox closer) to the Phillies before the 2020 trade deadline, was fairly pedestrian, to put it mildly.
The trade was only the fifth in about the last 50 years with the Yankees, the last being the Sox trading shortstop and second baseman Stephen Drew to the Yankees at the trade deadline in 2014. (Drew had signed with the Sox as a free agent after the 2012 season and contributed to the 2013 World Series title. But they let him go after the season, and then, when he didn’t get signed by anyone, re-signed him as a panic move in the spring of 2014; the move sent shortstop Xander Bogaerts over to third base – and into a funk for the rest of the season.
RECOMMENDED READING: Boston Globe Red Sox reporter and columnist Peter Abraham’s story on the history of Sox-Yankee trades. (https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/25/sports/monday-red-sox-yankees-made-only-their-fifth-trade-nearly-50-years/)

SPRING TRAINING OUTLOOK

The news today (Jan. 26) has put an on-time spring training in doubt.
First, those teams that train in Arizona under the umbrella of the Cactus League, asked MLB to delay spring training due to rising coronavirus cases in Arizona.
Second, reports have MLB and the Players Association apart on a deal that would have let the National League keep the DH (it was used in 2020 on a one-year-only basis) in exchange for continuing a form of expanded playoffs. MLB and the players can’t afford a repeat of the acrimony that severely delayed the start of the abbreviated COVID-19 season last summer --- and the universal DH should have been adapted years ago. It not only creates more jobs for aging sluggers who can still hit, but who are no longer as sharp defensively, but it also permanently ends one of the dumbest aspects of MLB: different rules for different leagues, which used to create a lot of unfairness when contradicting rules were used during the World Series and in inter-league games.
So, players and owners: Get on the same page before you lose even more fans in these hard times!