MLB

Folks in baseball circles probably wouldn't be surprised if the Cincinnati Reds dealt a starting pitcher this offseason. The Reds might take a different, more surprising plan of action to trim some payroll, however, as they are reportedly considering trading away outfielder Jay Bruce. 

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports has the report:

Coming into the MLB offseason, you could look at the Washington Nationals and conclude within, oh, three seconds that the last thing they needed to tinker with was their starting rotation.

But now it sounds like general manager Mike Rizzo might do that anyway. And if he does, he could do so in a big way.

On the list of offseason storylines to watch in Major League Baseball, 19-year-old Cuban infielder Yoan Moncada is near the top.     

There are expected to be many teams in on the bidding, which figures to get very expensive. One team with interest in Moncada are the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants, according to comments made to KNBR by Bobby Evans, who works in the front office:

You can feel the urgency between Major League Baseball teams and players picking up each day. There's been a pattern in recent years where it took months for deals and trades to happen. That hasn't been the case so far this offseason, which leads to more excitement and unpredictability. 

One year after being traded to the Washington Nationals, right-handed pitcher Doug Fister could be on the move yet again. 

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Nationals would be inclined to deal Fister under the right circumstances:

There are five main negatives I looked at for a player to qualify for this list: age, injury history, current contract, rumored acquisition cost and opportunity cost.

In a perfect world, teams would trade for young players who are either signed to team-friendly deals or are young and not injury-prone, so signing them to a long-term deal would be a smart move. While the cost in those deals will be higher, the value of high-end, cost-controlled prospects around the league is greater than ever, so it is even more important to get equal value in return.

The hot-stove season is less than a month underway, but the Boston Red Sox have wasted no time stealing plenty of headlines.

When it comes to Major League Baseball's offseason, the speculation and rumors are at least half the fun.

The rest, of course, is actually finding out which players were traded for each other and who signed with what team and for how much.

With the hot stove burning up with news, reports and hearsay, it's time to separate which stories have something to them and which ones don't with a little "fact or fiction."

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The Cubs' future was on display late last summer with franchise cornerstones Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro playing on the same field as highly regarded prospects such as Javier Baez, Jorge Soler and Arismendy Alcantara.

Suffice it to say, the future is bright on the North Side of Chicago.

There are three types of MLB free agents.

There are those who are flat-out special and have been for some time. Then there are those coming off of their best season as they head into free agency. And sometimes, a free agent is both.

You can consider Russell Martin an example of a special player—offense, defense and leadership all wrapped up into one right-handed-hitting catcher—who played his finest baseball in 2014, parlaying it into a five-year, $82 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.