There are still games to be played, some very meaningful, but there's no question that front offices for all 30 teams have already started preparing their offseason game plans.
Which free agents will they target? Which of their own free agents will they try and retain? Which players should they target in a trade, and which of their own players are expendable? How much money will be available to spend? Which of their minor league players are ready to make an impact at the big league level.
These are all questions that will be answered in the near future before each team begins its quest to perfectly execute its offseason game plan. Some teams will succeed, and some will fail at filling their biggest needs with the players they wanted.
With a general idea of how much teams could have to spend this offseason and which positions they'll be looking to upgrade, I've predicted whether teams will be a "loser" or "winner" this offseason based on how I think they'll utilize their resources. But this isn't an indication of predicted success or failure on the actual field.
The Boston Red Sox had plenty of holes to fill last offseason, but a ton of payroll space after a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers took several long-term contracts off their hands.
They took full advantage and had a "winning" offseason, followed by a division title. On the other hand, the Toronto Blue Jays had a "winning" offseason followed by an injury-plagued and mostly disappointing season. The New York Yankees had a "losing" offseason that will conclude with a winning season.
As we all know, the games still have to be played on the field. But that doesn't take away from how important the offseason roster moves can turn out to be. We just have to wait a long time to find out the results.
The 30 slides are listed in order of lowest to highest 2013 Opening Day payroll, according to USA Today. Each team's pending free agents are listed with their 2013 salary, according to Baseball Prospectus, in parentheses. Those who have a club option that is very likely to be picked up are not listed.
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