Opinion

Major League Baseball's winter meetings are always a hotbed of activity. After a long season and a little rest, front offices around the league are looking forward to next season and trying to determine the best course of action to bolster their rosters for 2014.

Much is being made of the Philadelphia Phillies' desire to trade left fielder Domonic Brown, as reported by Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan. A line in the sand has been drawn, and there are those who feel as if Brown is the keystone for the Phillies' future while others are screaming sell, sell, sell!

Monday marked the first day of MLB's annual winter meetings in Florida, as executives from all 30 teams are gathered to discuss the current state of the game.

But they're also there to talk about possible trades and meet with agents about the prospects of signing new players. While there weren't any big deals announced on Monday, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports noted that the groundwork for a lot of potential trades has been laid.

The Arizona Diamondbacks want to protect slugger Paul Goldschmidt, but trading for Mark Trumbo is not the answer.

This MLB offseason marks the third that Theo Epstein and company have been at the reins of the Chicago Cubs, and to this point, it has been a relatively quiet winter on the North Side.

That's not a big change from the past two years, as the new front office staff has been methodical in its approach towards rebuilding the franchise from the ground up and putting its stamp on the organization.

The Seattle Mariners are back. That's the main message that one can take away from their signing of Robinson Cano. The deal was first reported by ESPN Deportes' Enrique Rojas. 

Jonathan Papelbon and Kyle Kendrick are on the trading block for a reason, and that reason's name is Nelson Cruz. The Philadelphia Phillies are looking to find wiggle room financially so they can land another high-priced free agent or two.

The Hot Stove is a bonfire, but we might still see some big moves with the Winter Meetings set to begin on Monday.

The free-agent market is quickly drying up, but the trade market has remained steady, and there are some game-changing names still floating around in rumors.

Here are three blockbuster trades that, based on reports and looking at the fallout of the flurry of recent activity, I think make sense for both sides.

Robinson Cano chose to bolt for the Seattle Mariners over re-signing with the New York Yankees, as one is wont to do when 10 years for $240 million is offered.

After coming up short in the sweepstakes for Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton in each of the last two offseasons, respectively, the Seattle Mariners were determined to land one of the few elite hitters in this year’s free-agent class.

Well, they got one Friday.