Opinion

Shoot for Jon Lester—even if you miss, you'll land Rick Porcello, Wade Miley and Justin Masterson.

OK, so that's not exactly how the saying goes. But it is the reality for the Boston Red Sox, who whiffed on a chance to bring back Lester at the MLB winter meetings but did manage to revamp their starting corps, which posted an unsightly 4.36 ERA in 2014.

All remains fairly quiet for the Texas Rangers this offseason, as the 2014 winter meetings have now come and gone.

As Day 2 of the 2014 Major League Baseball winter meetings winds down in San Diego, rumors are swirling like so many late-autumn leaves.

The fate of Jon Lester, arguably the biggest prize in a rich free-agent pitching market, remains in the air as of this writing. And there's plenty of other innuendo and scuttlebutt (gotta love those "well-placed sources" and "people familiar with the team's thinking") to go around.

The start of the MLB season is still months away, but rumors surrounding some of the biggest stars are already getting chaotic. No player is safe during the winter meetings, including some of the most notable names for franchises.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are keeping the gang together.

Trading for Matt Kemp shouldn't feel like an equivalent to hitting on 17 in blackjack. And yet, there are a few good reasons for why it does.

We'll get to that. But first, we should clarify that it is sounding more and more like the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to trade Kemp this winter.

Imagine if Mark Twain and Grantland Rice drank rye by a bonfire all night and attempted to come up with an American folk hero for the modern sports era. 

Can you feel that? The buzz in the air? Can you hear the whispers and negotiations and deals going down?

That's just the winter meetings in baseball starting to really heat up, as free-agent signings and trades are going down left and right. And that means for every completed deal, there are five times the number of rumors making the rounds. 

Below, you'll find a few of the juiciest ones out there.

This has to stop.

Hearts are broken, and that is certainly understandable. But the screaming has to stop. Now.

Billy Beane is not a villain. He is not a moron. He is not attempting to piss off anyone who has ever cheered for the Oakland Athletics.

And most importantly, he is not trying to lose. To think that is his goal is not only ridiculous but also completely ignorant.

The pitching market has mostly been at a standstill this offseason with Jon Lester being the presumed catalyst to increased talks on other arms, but the latest MLB trade rumors suggest that several premier arms could be on the move in the near future.