Opinion

Any big moves that Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn makes this offseason will need to accomplish two things.

First, they have to make the White Sox better in 2015 and 2016 as well as next year. Second, they must be cost effective to a fault. 

Though Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell appears to be a runaway for AL Manager of the Year, Oakland A's manager Bob Melvin has a strong case to pull off the upset.

A New York Mets offseason certain to prove a pillar in whatever the future holds for the franchise has been somewhat quiet thus far.  For how much longer remains to be seen, but the expectations are high.  

The San Francisco Giants, for the first time in a long time, are going to make splashy moves in the offseason.

San Francisco already dished out lofty amounts of money to retain Hunter Pence and Tim Lincecum, but    there is still more to do. Left field needs to be upgraded, the pitching staff needs to be filled out and the bench needs improvement.

What should the Giants do this offseason?

David Price thinks he has thrown his last pitch for the Tampa Bay Rays, according to a report by Roger Mooney of The Tampa Tribune, and the early rumors, as discussed by Joel Sherman of the New York Post, have the Arizona Diamondb

After keeping it holstered last winter, the word is that the New York Yankees are ready to get their checkbook out again this winter, and that they're not going to be messing around when they do.

That will be the case as far as their pursuit of Japanese right-handed pitcher Masahiro Tanaka is concerned anyway, and yours truly is inclined to say "Rightfully so!" to the idea.

The New York Yankees may have problems, but let's not go overboard. New York and the Yankees are still a draw, still an attractive destination for players.

Even if the team happens to be coming off a playoff-less 2013 campaign, it was only the second such over the past 19 season.

In New York, the Yankees are preparing to spend money like it's 2008 all over again. Five years after drowning their third-place finish sorrows away by spending over $400 million combined on CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett, the Yankees are poised to hand out big-money deals. The names have changed, but the objective remains to spend.

The Kansas City Royals took a step forward as a successful franchise in 2013.  They produced a winning season for the first time in 10 years.  They continued to be relevant late into the season.  They had people talking about the possibility of them in the postseason.  The season has come to an end and the baseball world continues to talk about the Kansas City Royals.

Cuba and Major League Baseball have what we'll simply refer to as an "interesting" relationship. 

There is no official pipeline between Cuba and the big leagues, as the best Cuban ballplayers technically aren't allowed to go play ball in the States. MLB gets some of the country's best players anyway, of course. All thanks to...Well, we'll refer to them as "interesting" means.