MLB

After a relatively quiet start to the offseason, general manager Neal Huntington and the Pittsburgh Pirates have added a few key pieces to the team's roster that could help lead them back to the postseason for the third straight year.  

While the signings of starting pitchers Francisco Liriano and A.J. Burnett were much needed insurance for the Pirates' rotation, there are still doubts about the back end of the rotation.    

After seeing the logo for his photography company, the Big Unit needs to find a way to include his infamous bird friend on his Hall of Fame plaque.

Former MLB pitcher Randy Johnson is expected to be voted into Cooperstown on Tuesday. On the morning of the day in which the results of the voting are announced, Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan came up with a great find.

The Arizona Diamondbacks enter 2015 with much uncertainty regarding their starting rotation.

According to the depth chart, Josh Collmenter is listed as the team's top starting pitcher. He is followed by Rubby De La Rosa, Jeremy Hellickson, Allen Webster and Vidal Nuno.

The Atlanta Braves' 2015 roster became more clear after the Justin Upton trade.

The outfield will consist of Evan Gattis, B.J. Upton and Nick Markakis. Christian Bethancourt will be the primary catcher.

The infield also looks set with Freddie Freeman, Andrelton Simmons, Chris Johnson and either Alberto Callaspo or Jace Peterson.

While the positional players look clear, the rotation still has some question marks.

The majority of the offseason's most valuable trade chips have already been dealt, but there are still a few coveted veterans who could be on the move before the start of spring training in February.

Complementary veteran pieces are still available for the right price. Oftentimes, those are the types of acquisitions that set the offseason's successful teams apart from the pack. While the big prizes of the winter are the ones that lead to the most improvement, the extra pieces take a team over the top.

With the free-agent market largely devoid of impact talent—aside from Max Scherzer and James Shields, that is—general managers around baseball have little choice but to explore trades in order to plug holes or find the upgrade at a position that they've been searching for on their respective rosters.

But in order to swing a deal, a GM must find a willing trade partner, which is often a bigger challenge than coming to an agreement on an actual swap.

While only the biggest free-agent signings and blockbuster trades capture headlines during the MLB offseason, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of transactions made each winter, both at the major league and minor league levels.

As a result, there are no shortage of under-the-radar additions made to all 30 teams each offseason, and from time to time those unheralded guys wind up making a significant impact.

My all-time favorite Randy Johnson story involves grocery shopping and orange juice. In Indianapolis.

Seriously. You were thinking, perhaps, his heroics in the 2001 World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks? His no-hitter in 1990? His five Cy Youngs, 4,875 career strikeouts (second only to Nolan Ryan)? His perfect game in 2004?

The 2014 season was a major disappointment for the Boston Red Sox, as the defending 2013 World Series champions dropped all the way to last place in the American League East.  In the process, the Red Sox traded away several veteran starting pitchers while looking to retool for 2015.   

The 2015 MLB Hall of Fame class is historically impressive.

The following four players are all be headed to Cooperstown this summer, per the MLB Twitter account:

• Craig Biggio
• Randy Johnson
• Pedro Martinez
• John Smoltz

As ESPN Stats & Info points out, this is the first time since 1955 and just the third time overall that four players will enter the Hall in the same year.