MLB

Upon signing an eight-year, $135 million contract, Freddie Freeman became the face of the Atlanta Braves franchise. He also became the symbol of why teams—for better or worse—will be forced to make major payroll-altering decisions with future pre-arbitration cases.

How do you respond if you win 85 games and finish tied for third in your division?

Well, if you’re the New York Yankees, you respond by spending half a billion dollars in hopes of making sure it doesn’t happen again.

For major league players, the actual moment of winning the World Series is the ultimate rush. Also a dream come true and the validation of so much hard work. All that jazz.

As pitchers and catchers report for duty, baseball fans can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Before long, the 2014 Major League Baseball season will begin.

After a long, cold winter, baseball is back. 

For most of us, the wait was endless. If you latched onto the hot-stove season, disappointment likely followed.

Updates from Tuesday, Feb. 11

Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com provides an update on Terry Ryan's health:

Original Text

Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan announced on Monday that he has been diagnosed with cancer.

Oscar Taveras was widely regarded as the top offensive prospect in baseball headed into the 2013 season and was expected to make an immediate impact upon reaching the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals.

On a superficial level, the New York Yankees spending nearly $500 million on Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Masahiro Tanaka this offseason makes sense because the team missed the playoffs last year and had significant questions about the future. 

Fresh off their first playoff appearance since 2007, the Cleveland Indians are now just days away from the start of spring training.

The Indians made some big changes to the roster this offseason, but the biggest moves came in the form of the free-agency departures of Scott Kazmir, Joe Smith and Ubaldo Jimenez. The team attempted to address these moves through a flurry of minor league signings while also adding closer John Axford and outfielder David Murphy to the big league roster.

The Tampa Bay Rays are preparing to begin their spring training for the 2014 season. The team is coming off another successful season, making the postseason for the fourth time in six seasons.

Unlike many recent years, the Rays do not have to begin spring training discussing the loss of any marquee players needing to be filled with an unproven prospect.

T-minus four days until Oakland A's pitchers report for spring training. Five days after that, the rest of the squad officially opens camp in Phoenix, Arizona. Baseball is upon us.

The 2014 Oakland A's will look familiar.

Four-fifths of the rotation is the same. There are no new faces in the starting lineup. The bullpen and bench saw the most turnover.

Spring training is always entertaining.