Season’s Meetings: Hot Stove on full blast!

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Mere minutes from the seat of government, on the shores of the Potomac, they developed a retail and entertainment complex and gave it a name that, accurately or not, evokes images of docks and ports where vessels are supplied with or relieved of precious cargo.

That’s not why they bestowed the name “National Harbor” upon this development-turned-census-designated place that serves as this year’s Winter Meetings setting (really, it just sounded nice). But, for our purposes, it works. Because we are entering a week that could feature an especially active transaction wire.

MLB.com and MLB Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of the 2016 Winter Meetings from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center outside Washington, D.C. Fans can watch live streaming of all news conferences and manager availability on MLB.com, including the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday at 9 a.m. ET.

You want to talk about precious cargo?

Well, it would surprise absolutely nobody if this is the week we start to see movement at the top heap of the closer’s market — Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon, a trio as successful in practice as it is melodical in speech. Melancon’s market appeared to be taking shape Saturday, with Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network and FOX Sports reporting that Melancon had four-year offers in hand from the Nationals, Giants and perhaps one other club.

Additionally, this could very well be the week two of the sport’s signature stars — White Sox ace Chris Sale and Pirates former National League MVP Award winner Andrew McCutchen — get dealt, with plenty of other names being bandied about. Because free agency was light on starting pitching (with Rich Hill reportedly close to a deal with the Dodgers, Ivan Nova and Jason Hammel stand as probably the two most attractive arms on the open market), that position is especially ripe for trade activity.

And the market for sluggers and outfielders is still loaded, even with Yoenis Cespedes (Mets), Carlos Beltran (Astros) and Matt Holliday (Yankees) off the board. Those were the places where this free-agent market was — and still is — deep, with Dexter Fowler, Edwin Encarnacion, …

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