Baseball

Over the last 20 years, the New York Yankees have claimed five World Series championships, seven American League Pennants and five AL East titles. The success of the Yankees has come in large part from the homegrown talents of the "Core Four."

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte were certainly the faces of the Yankees dynasty—and arguably the most eccentric part of the success the Yankees had. However, the shrewd moves in free agency are what helped build this team into the force it has become.

The Atlanta Braves have completely transformed their roster this offseason as we sit at the two-month mark.

The man pegged to be the future face of the franchise as he ascended through the minors (Jason Heyward), was traded away to St. Louis.

The player who generated so much excitement as he completed the most thrilling outfield in the game (Justin Upton) did not last as long in Atlanta as the "throw in" (Chris Johnson) from that trade.

The New York Yankees need Yoan Moncada, the next Cuban sensation readying to make his way to Major League Baseball. And they need him for oh-so-many reasons.

Dear Santa,

Reds fan here. We haven't been on the greatest of terms since Clinchmas, now over four years ago. Where have you been since? And what's with all the coal in our red stockings?

On Monday we learned the Pittsburgh Pirates have won negotiating rights to Korean shortstop Jung-Ho Kang, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

Dear Santa,

I don't want too much for Christmas. There are just a few things I would love to see. I don't even care about the presents underneath my Christmas tree.

I just want you to do a few things for the Oakland Athletics.

Please make the following wishes come true. If you can't make all of these happen, Santa, then for your convenience, I have ordered them from least realistic to most realistic.

The Boston Red Sox are one of baseball's most active teams this offseason.  In the last eight weeks, they added high-priced All-Stars to bolster their lineup and made several moves to strengthen their depleted starting rotation.  Boston also re-signed arms for its bullpen and recently completed a trade for a new backup catcher.

But of everything the Red Sox have done so far, which deal brought them the most bang for their buck in return?  Which transaction qualifies as the biggest steal to this point?

The MLB offseason is roughly halfway to the start of spring training in February. Plenty has happened over the course of the last couple of months, as teams work tirelessly toward building a better franchise for 2015 and beyond.

The Baltimore Orioles have attempted to build off of a successful 2014 season in which the team reached the American League Championship Series for the first time since 1997, but they haven't had much luck swinging any deals this winter.

With the flurry of moves that the Los Angeles Dodgers have made this offseason, it's difficult to hone in on just one.

After all, some of these deals were interconnected, a web of swift transformation ushered in by the metric-minded tandem now running the front office at Dodger Stadium: Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi.

It is still only December, but the 2015 baseball season is rapidly approaching as pitchers and catchers will be reporting to camp in less than two months.