Well, it is fair to say that the Winter Meetings were not the end of the business week for MLB team executives: No three-day weekends for these folks!

On Friday afternoon, there were two major trades, both involving teams in the NL Central. The Cubs traded for three-time All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker, and the Brewers traded away two-time All-Star closer (and 2020 NL Rookie of the Year) Devin Williams to the Yankees. Those are pretty huge moves! This week started with the bang that was Juan Soto¡¯s signing, and ended with two more, happening in quick succession.

? Trade analysis: Williams to Yankees | Tucker to Cubs

The dust on these deals hasn¡¯t quite settled yet, but let¡¯s see if we can sort out some key takeaways from a wild Friday of trades.

1. The Cubs are finally going for it.

You can forgive Cubs fans if they were starting to lose a little patience. Since they traded away the last remnants of their 2016 World Series team in 2021, the Cubs have played in exactly zero postseason games. They haven¡¯t actually won a playoff game since 2017, if you can believe that. They certainly made some moves since then, acquiring the likes of Cody Bellinger, Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki, Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon. A rebuilt farm system looks ready to bear fruit. Yet they still looked like a team of supporting parts without a centerpiece -- and seemingly no real plan to get one. (They were never a factor on Juan Soto.)

Well, now they have one. Tucker instantly becomes the best player on the team -- the best player the Cubs have had since peak Kris Bryant? -- and exactly the sort of player Cubs fans will love. We¡¯ve continued to hear about an increased sense of urgency at Wrigley Field, but there hasn¡¯t been much evidence of it. With Tucker in the fold but having just one year of club control remaining, we sure have some now. The biggest question now: Will they flex their financial muscle to keep him past 2025?

2. The Yankees didn¡¯t spend much time licking their wounds.

There is no question about it: Losing Juan Soto, to their crosstown rivals no less, was a brutal blow to the Yankees, one we¡¯ll be unpacking for years to come. But you have to credit the Yankees for not sitting around, feeling sorry for themselves. In the days since losing Soto, they have been incredibly aggressive, agreeing to an eight-year contract with left-hander Max Fried and now trading for Williams, one of the best closers in baseball.

While Tucker would have been a nice short-term replacement for Soto, that ¡°short-term¡± part of it might have scared them away; they did, after all, just trade for a lefty-hitting outfielder only to wave goodbye to him a year later. (And remember: They¡¯ll be among the top suitors for Tucker next offseason, too.) The Yankees still seem a bat or two short, and it¡¯ll be fascinating to see how they address that (Alex Bregman? Cody Bellinger? Nolan Arenado? Pete Alonso?), but it¡¯s obvious, with how quickly they¡¯ve worked post-Soto, that they will address it: They¡¯re not sitting around idly, even for a second.

3. Are the Astros punting, or shifting?

This is not the first World Series hero the Astros have said farewell to, as George Springer, Carlos Correa and Charlie Morton can tell you. But this is the first one the Astros have traded away before (potentially) losing him to free agency, and, all told, Tucker might be the best of any of those guys. While it does seem likely that the Astros would be outbid for Tucker after next season, it¡¯s still something quite different to actively trade him away when you¡¯re ostensibly trying to compete (and keep an eight-season playoff streak alive).

Are the Astros actively taking a step back or just realigning their roster? The answer may come with what happens over the rest of this winter. Houston landed a third baseman (Isaac Paredes) and a third-base prospect (Cam Smith) in this trade, perhaps spelling the end for another World Series-winning franchise stalwart, free agent Bregman. Assuming he leaves, do the Astros have any other big moves planned to help this incredible run of success going?

4. Who in the AL West will step up?

Even if the Astros bring back Bregman -- which, again, is far from assured -- losing Tucker clearly brings the club back toward the pack in this division. So, who will take advantage? The Rangers have already made some moves this offseason, re-signing Nathan Eovaldi and bringing in Jake Burger and Kyle Higashioka, and they¡¯re expecting some more progression from their young players. The Mariners always seem just about to break through: Maybe this pushes them to go get some more much-needed hitting?

And don¡¯t forget how active the other two teams have been already, with the A¡¯s signing Luis Severino and the Angels bringing in Yusei Kikuchi, Kyle Hendricks, Travis d¡¯Arnaud, Jorge Soler, Kevin Newman and Scott Kingery. All this activity confirms what the Tucker trade made clear: The AL West smells blood in the water. Finally.

5. Bellinger and Arenado are probably about to be traded.

The Cubs have been trying to offload Bellinger since he declined to exercise his opt-out clause after the season, and now that they have Tucker, that may happen sooner rather than later. (Particularly now that they have so many left-handed hitters in the lineup.)

Meanwhile, the Cardinals -- who have promised a bunch of moves this offseason but so far haven¡¯t made any -- may now see the perfect opportunity to find a market for Arenado among the teams who missed out on Tucker. One wonders if they might try to talk Arenado into including the Yankees on the list of teams he¡¯d waive his no-trade clause for, because if New York doesn¡¯t get Bregman, Arenado would fit in nicely there. The point is: Friday was hardly the end of trade season. It was just the start.

6. This will probably work out in some way for the Brewers.

Does veteran starter Nestor Cortes and prospect Caleb Durbin feel like a big enough return for Devin Williams? It doesn¡¯t, right? Well, if that makes you think the Brewers, who did just win the NL Central after all, are somehow out of the picture now, you don¡¯t know the Brewers. They have other options in their ¡¯pen, and Cortes is actually a nice fit for a rotation that had gotten too right-handed.

But more to the point: It was just a year ago that the Brewers lost Corbin Burnes and manager Craig Counsell, and we all assumed we could thus count them out of the NL Central race. And then they went out and won it, fairly easily. Discount them very much at your peril.

7. Tucker is ¡°The Most Underrated Player in Baseball¡± no more

To watch a telecast, you¡¯d think ¡°Underappreciated¡± and ¡°Underrated¡± were somehow parts of Tucker¡¯s given name. But he¡¯s about to play right field at Wrigley Field for a whole season, for one of the most beloved and famous sports teams on the planet, in his walk year as everyone salivates over his pending free agency. Kyle Tucker will go unnoticed no longer, and never again.