Touch 'Em All, Joeis a weekly column from SN's Joe Rivera, whodiscu ses hisMLB stream of consciousne s and fields questions and comments from trusty Twitter users.Welcome, readers! As you're gearing up for potentially cold weather, the stove gets hotter with the winter meetings in full effect.Here's this week's Touch 'Em All, Joe.Leading off: Winter bluesI'm a little nervous, folks.Waiting for the dam to break on this offseason is like sitting in the waiting room at thedentistfor a root canal. The wait stinks, but once it's done, you're all hopped up on the happy pills and the world is all right. Or something.Unfortunately, aside from a few trades and the signings of Patrick Corbin and Josh Donaldson, we'rewaiting for more explosive moves. The good news is that, thankfully, this offseason has been significantly busier than last year at Michael Porter Jersey this point,with the James Paxton trade, Robinson Cano to the Mets and the aforementioned Corbin and Donaldson deals all coming down before the meetings.MORE: There arestill too many quality players on the market for it to be this quiet so far, and it's hard to imagineall 30 squads in baseball are just waiting for Manny Machado and Bryce Harper to sign. I certainly hope we're not heading for another lukewarm winter of nothingne s until spring training. That's bad for fans and players, and even teams.Here's hopingDouble: Evil Empirestate of mindWhat are the Yankees waiting for? The James Paxton trade happened before Thanksgiving, and now there are reports that the Yankees .All things considered, if there's any player on whom tospend $300 million-plus, it's Machado and fellow big-time free agent Bryce Harper. Both are 26 and not yetin the primes of their careers. I'm not sure why this is up for debate. The production, the swagger, the marketability, the headline-making capability of both guys pretty much write the checks themselves.I don't thinkthe Yankees are done this winterby any stretch, but their strategy isinteresting choosing to go into the 2019 season with incremental upgrades over last year's squad. Sure, the Yankees did win 100 games, and they did get a big lefty in Paxton, but the AL East is only going to get better around them.Choosing not to spend big money on guys who could impact the division race in a bigway is questionable at best.I don't think the Yankees are particularly scared to spend money, after all. I think they showed responsible financial restraint inavoiding going all-in on Corbin, and there are still plenty of pieces on the market that would be beneficial to New York's cause. (See: Dallas Keuchel, Andrew Miller, Marwin Gonzalez and more.)RIVERA: There is, however,something unsettling about the way the Yankees are operating. Some of it is with an eye Tyler Lydon Jersey on the future as has been the modus operandi for some time now with Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius and others needing contracts in the coming years.Oh?What's that, fair reader? Judge and Sanchez aren't up for contracts until 2022? Well, that certainly changes things.While a financially restrained Yankee team is something odd to watch, with ownership adamant about staying under the $197 million luxury tax threshold in order to potentially sign players this offseason, it's time to put up or shut up. They're currently allowed a little bit of leeway with the market moving just a bit slowly, but with Corbin slipping away and Nathan Eovaldi re-signing with the rival Red Sox, fans of the Evil Empire might be getting a little antsy.You can't keep selling to your fans one thing and decide against improving your team in a big way. Not that ownership is in the busine s ofanything but making money, after all, but you have to spend money to make it.Willingly pa sing on not one, not two, but three big-ticket free agents Jerami Grant Jersey the year after your most hated rival wins a World Series and you have the financial ability to make one of those moves, well, that doesn't make much sense.I'd be willing to bet Machado ends up a Yankee, but if they swing and mi s (as they are prone to do, you may have heard) on major free agents this year, it's a confusing offseason for the Bombers.Triple: CatchersreportThe baseball world is anxiously awaiting to see where J.T. Realmuto will be playing in 2019, because it's almost a certainty that he won't be donning a fancy new Marlins uniform come Opening Day 2019. Puts on Morpheus gla ses But what if I told you the gap between Realmuto and the catcherfield isn't as wide as youthink?There's no denying Realmuto seems Matrix-conjured, mixing together all of a catcher's most valuable skills into one player.By bWAR, Realmuto has gotten better in each of his four seasons, with his 4.3 bWAR mark in 2018 the highest of his career (13.0 bWAR overall).But some of the free-agent catchers Carmelo Anthony Jersey on the market are equally as enticing, namely Yasmani Grandal and Wilson Ramos. Realmuto might have the advantage of youth on his side,but the offensive production among the three has been eerily similar:Realmuto 2018 stats:.277/.340/.484, 131 OPS+, 21 home runs. 4.3 bWAR.Grandal 2018 stats:.241/.349/.466, 121 OPS+, 24 home runs. 3.3 bWAR.Ramos 2018 stats:.306/.358/.487, 130 OPS+, 15 home runs. 2.7 bWAR.You can interpret Realmuto's 2018 a few different ways, as you would a painting in the Museum of Modern Art. You can interpret it to mean he's reached his prime, and this is the player he's going to be for the next four or five seasons.Or you can view it as Thomas Welsh Jersey an aberration, considering this isn't the offensive player he's been in years prior. To be fair, I'd consider his 2018 more of the former than the latter.To go a little further, however, per Baseball Prospectus' brand-spankin' new Deserved Runs Created Plus stat (DRC+) which takes into account many different things,including, but not limited to, umpires, pitcher and park factorsto evaluate how much value an offensive player is worth Realmuto is just one of the pack.Realmuto:113 DRC+Grandal:115 DRC+Ramos:111 DRC+(You can.)All that said, where Realmuto ends updepends onwhat teams are willing to give up: prospects or money?Prospects are like gold in today's game. Actually, prospects are more than that: They're e sentially treated like that treasure Nicholas Cage found in that one flick. What was the name of that again?In any case, a trade for Realmuto is going to cost a fair amount of top prospects, along with a top-dollar contract in the coming years. The other guys, free agents, will only cost money. For teams looking for a backstop, it's all about how much and what they're willing to give up.It's safeto say Realmuto is probably worth it.He's very good, but maybe he's not that franchise-altering backstophe's been painted to be.In a word:.Home run:Diamondbacks' densityI'll be the first to