Opinion

In only about three years, Theo Epstein has built the Chicago Cubs farm system into one of the game’s best.  Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Javier Baez and Jorge Soler are four of the most exciting young prospects in the league, and 28-year-old right-hander Jake Arrieta emerged on the scene as a potential ace with a sterling year in 2014.

In many ways, for many reasons, the New York Yankees trading for Troy Tulowitzki makes sense. After all, they're the major-market, deep-pocketed, All-Star-obtaining Yankees, and in 2015, they'll be embarking on their first season sans shortstop, captain and future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter.

Add Korean shortstop Jung-ho Kang to the list of international free agents hoping to make the jump to the major leagues in 2015.

Since Evan Gattis is an American League player trapped in a National League uniform, we may never know how good he can be as long as he remains the property of the Atlanta Braves.

But if the Braves were to trade Gattis to an American League team, on the other hand...

The New York Mets started the offseason with an unexpected bang, inking veteran Michael Cuddyer to a two-year, $21 million pact. Since then, they've gone mostly quiet.

That has to change if New York is truly shifting into win-now mode, as assistant general manager John Ricco suggested after the Cuddyer signing.

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.

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. 

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.

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.