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Free-agent starting pitcher Edinson Volquez and the Miami Marlins reportedly agreed to terms on a contract on Monday.

The Miami Herald‘s Clark Spencer first reported the news, while Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports confirmed the news and added the deal is for two years and $22 million pending a physical. 

In his second season with the Kansas City Royals, Volquez compiled a 10-11 record with a 5.37 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. He gave up more than a hit per inning and allowed a career-worst 23 home runs. FanGraphs‘ WAR formula measured his performance as being 1.1 wins worse than he was in 2015, when he was an integral part of the staff that led Kansas City to the World Series.

“I think I was kind of struggling all year,” Volquez said, according to the Associated Press (h/t the Washington Times). “It was one of those years. Everything doesn’t go your way.”

While far from his best year, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see the Royals take a chance on Volquez in 2017. The $11 million price tag isn’t all that exorbitant for a reliable arm. The Royals will likely wind up paying as much, if not more, to replace him with another veteran.

And even though Volquez wasn’t at his best, he wasn’t all that bad once you dig a little deeper. His ERA was nearly a full run worse than his FIP, his home run-to-fly ball ratio leaped nearly 5 percent from 2015 and opponents raised their average on balls in play by 29 points, per FanGraphs. A 1.5 WAR wasn’t what the Royals expected, but that’s still roughly in line with what an $11 million arm will produce nowadays.

If anything, Volquez got a little unlucky in 2016.

Now he heads to a Marlins rotation in desperate need of some help after staff ace Jose Fernandez died in a boating accident in September. The Marlins staff is shaping up to include Volquez alongside Adam Conley, Tom Koehler and Wei-Yin Chen.

The Marlins staff compiled a 4.05 ERA last season, good enough for sixth in the National League.

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If the Arizona Diamondbacks are going to dangle some starting pitchers on the winter trade market, they can rest easy knowing they at least have some name value to attract interested parties.

There’s Zack Greinke, who needs no introduction. There’s also Shelby Miller, who used to be good. Ditto with Patrick Corbin. Then there’s Taijuan Walker and Archie Bradley, two former top prospects who still have youth on their side.

Interested parties could, however, choose to skip past them and go to the [suppresses urge to type “Diamondback in the Rough”] diamond in the rough: Robbie Ray.

The Diamondbacks may already be expecting as much. After all, the word from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is that they’re expecting interest in all of their young starters to pick up:

This adds up. In trading 2016 All-Star Jean Segura to the Seattle Mariners for Walker last week, new general manager Mike Hazen has already begun remaking a roster that produced just 69 wins in 2016. And with talented starters in short supply on the free-agent market, the Diamondbacks’ arms are bound to draw a crowd eventually. If they aren’t already, of course.

For the reasons referenced above, Hazen will get calls about Greinke, Miller, Corbin, Walker and Bradley. But Ray’s the guy who’s most likely to send the phone ringing off the proverbial hook. 

Reason No. 1: The left-hander is still only 25 with four years of club control left.

Reason No. 2: He’s very talented.

A surface-level examination of Ray’s career will raise questions about the second point. He only managed a 4.90 ERA in his 32 starts in 2016. Before that, he was a throw-in in two trades involving Doug Fister and Didi Gregorius. Before that, he was a fringey prospect after he was picked in the 12th round of the 2010 draft.

But for all the nits to pick, there’s a redeeming quality from Ray’s 2016 season that’s impossible to overlook. He struck out 218 batters in 174.1 innings. That’s 11.25 per nine innings, which was second only to the late Jose Fernandez among qualified starters.

Also, one of the best single-season marks ever for a left-hander:

Since strikeouts generally don’t happen by accident, nobody should be surprised to hear Ray’s didn’t.

After debuting with an average fastball of 91.3 miles per hour in 2014, he cranked it up to 94.1 mph in 2016. Some of that could be his coming into his physical prime. As Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs highlighted last year, it may also be coming from his abandoning a higher arm slot in favor of a more natural sidearm delivery.

Ray’s money pitch, however, is his slider. Its velocity has risen as well, from 81.1 mph in 2014 to 85.1 mph in 2016. Brooks Baseball shows he also buried more sliders below the knees, like so:

The result: Ray’s slider had the eighth-highest whiff-per-swing rate of any slider thrown by any starter, according to Baseball Prospectus.

Ray’s stuff would be attractive under any circumstances. His youth makes it even more attractive. The lack of starters who offer either of these qualities on the open market makes it more enticing still.

Of course, this raises the question of why the Diamondbacks wouldn’t prefer to keep him. There’s indeed a good chance they will. But the reason they could take advantage of Ray’s trade value now traces back to the essential truth reflected in the 4.90 ERA he posted this past season:

His talent comes with fatal flaws.

One is his control, which has produced mediocre walks-per-nine rates in the 3.5-3.7 range. That would be fine if he could at least avoid hard contact in between strikeouts and walks. But that was as big a problem as his 1.24 HR/9 and .352 batting average on balls in play from 2016 would indicate.

Per Baseball Savant, Ray was among the worst in the league with average exit velocity of 90.7 mph. This points to how his command is as big a question mark as his control. The bulk of the damage came on his heat, which he located with a noticeable pattern across the middle of the strike zone.

That’s a bad idea in general, and an even worse idea against right-handed batters. They hit .278 with 14 homers off Ray’s heat in 2016. Lo and behold, he ended the year with the following platoon split:

• Against LHB: .684 OPS, 3 HR
• Against RHB: .797 OPS, 21 HR

Say it with me now: Yikes.

Mind you, maybe Ray’s iffy fastball command wouldn’t be such a problem against right-handed batters if he had something to change speeds with. But he doesn’t. He’s largely scrapped his changeup, throwing it only 5.7 percent of the time in 2016.

The fact that Ray is basically a two-pitch pitcher leads to yet another problem. This one was covered by FanGraphs‘ August Fagerstrom, with the short version being: Ray’s predictability makes life very difficult the third time through the batting order.

All told, Ray is a strange creature. He’s done enough to turn into an overpowering starter, but he still needs quite a bit of work to turn into a truly dominant starter. 

And yet, this strange set of circumstances makes him the perfect trade chip for this winter’s market. The upside contained in his ability and controllability could have teams lining up to trade for him, and his faults could keep his price tag well below those of guys like Chris Sale, Chris Archer, Jose Quintana and Justin Verlander.

To boot, there’s a number of ways a trade for Ray could work out.

If he irons out his issues, he could turn into a top-of-the-rotation starter. If not, he’d be a candidate to make like Andrew Miller and turn his fastball-slider combo into a life as a relief ace. Failing that, he could make like Brett Cecil and turn into an elite lefty specialist.

The bottom line is that Ray’s arm ought to be on the radar of every team desperate for pitching this winter. With so few options available elsewhere, it’s a good one to try to take a chance on.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The Atlanta Braves announced Monday night they traded right-handers Rob Whalen and Max Povse to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for outfielder Alex Jackson and a player to be named later.

Whalen took to Twitter to thank the Braves:

The 22-year-old made his MLB debut last year after beginning the campaign in Double-A.

He finished the season with a 7-6 record and 2.40 ERA in the minors, and in his five MLB starts, he went 1-2 with a 6.57 ERA. He averaged 8.4 strikeouts and 3.3 walks per nine innings, illustrating his erratic command.

Povse split his season between High-A and Double-A, making 26 starts and posting a 3.36 ERA. Rotoworld’s Christopher Crawford believes he’ll be a nice addition for Seattle:

The Mariners selected Jackson with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 draft. He spent the 2016 season with the Single-A Clinton LumberKings, batting .243 with 11 home runs and 55 RBI. MLB.com ranked the 20-year-old as the sixth-best prospect in Seattle’s farm system.

Matthew Pouliot of Rotoworld questioned why Seattle parted ways with the highly touted prospect:

The trade makes sense for both teams.

After starting their rebuild, the Braves have assembled a strong core of young arms. They selected pitchers with their first three picks in 2016 and drafted Kolby Allard and Mike Soroka in the first round in 2015. Through trades, Atlanta also acquired Sean Newcomb and Touki Toussaint.

Baseball America‘s JJ Cooper pointed out how difficult it would’ve been for Povse, in particular, to break through:

The Braves can afford to part ways with Whalen and Povse since neither has shown the makings of a future ace. The Mariners, meanwhile, will benefit from bolstering their rotation depth.

Trading Jackson is risky given his age and potential, but the 20-year-old may never reach his MLB ceiling. He struck out 103 times in 92 games in 2016, a year after collecting 96 punchouts in 76 games, which is concerning.

Jackson has the power to become a staple in the middle of Atlanta’s lineup, the possibility of which is worth the price of surrendering two talented pitchers.

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Although Edinson Volquez is coming off an underwhelming 2016 campaign, that didn’t stop the Miami Marlins from reportedly signing the free-agent starting pitcher.

The Miami Herald‘s Clark Spencer first reported Monday night that the Marlins agreed to terms with Volquez. According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, Volquez will earn $22 million over two years, pending a physical.

The terms of the deal would justify Volquez‘s decision to turn down his $10 million mutual option with the Kansas City Royals for 2017. Given his struggles last year, the move looked risky, but the 33-year-old appears to have benefited in the long run.

A few years ago, Volquez would have been a significant upgrade for the Marlins rotation.

However, he finished 10-11 with a 5.37 ERA in 34 starts for the Royals in 2016. According to FanGraphs, he had the second-highest ERA among qualified starters. His 4.57 FIP was more flattering but still the 14th-worst mark in the majors.

Marlins Park ranked 27th in runs (0.834) and 26th in home runs (0.793) in ESPN.com’s park factor database, which is good news for Volquez. His numbers should improve in his first year with the Marlins.

Paying $11 million per year to Volquez is a gamble for Miami, but it’s a testament to how difficult finding value on the free-agent market is this offseason.

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Generally speaking, the annual winter meetings are when the MLB offseason really takes off.

While we’ve already seen a handful of notable free-agent signings and a few significant trades, there’s still a lot of roster shuffling to be done between now and the start of spring training.

That wheeling and dealing will kick into high gear next week, as all 30 teams will converge on National Harbor, Maryland, from Dec. 4-8 for four days of excitement.

With an incredibly weak pitching market, this year’s meetings in particular could have a feel similar to the days leading up to the trade deadline when the rumor mill was buzzing and more than a few trades come to fruition.

So, one week out, what follows are some quick predictions on what this year’s winter meetings might bring.

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The MLB hot stove has largely underwhelmed with the offseason heading into its third week. A blockbuster trade could provide some excitement this winter.

Zack Greinke, Brian Dozier and Michael Wacha are among the players who have bounced around the rumor mill.

Below are updates on the trio of veterans.

Zack Greinke

Few MLB contracts are more cumbersome than Greinke‘s.

The 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner went 13-7 with a 4.37 earned run average and a 4.12 FIP in 2016, according to FanGraphs. Those numbers aren’t bad for a No. 4 or 5 starter. Greinke, on the other hand, is set to make $175 million over the next five years.

ESPN.com’s Buster Olney penned a lengthy case for why the Arizona Diamondbacks have little recourse but to deal their expensive right-hander:

But as [general manager Mike] Hazen establishes himself with the Diamondbacks, perhaps he could do what his predecessor would have never been in position to do: persuade ownership to dump Greinke and as much of his contract as possible, even if it means eating some of his salary in the years ahead. Greinke‘s contract is already a serious impediment for Hazen, as he goes about his work of trying to build a consistent winner in Arizona, and the problem might only get worse if Greinke‘s performance continues to decline next season. If Greinke struggles at all at the outset of 2017, any value he has in a pitching-thin market will evaporate entirely.

Olney added that some MLB executives believe a long-term contract with the team would provide Hazen with more flexibility to sell ownership on a Greinke trade.

It will take years for Hazen to undo the damage wrought during the Dave Stewart era. Over time, Arizona’s 2016 offseason might be considered one of the worst ever for an MLB team, between the Greinke signing and the Shelby Miller trade.

As Olney argued, holding on to Greinke runs the risk that he will continue to decline, thus further eroding his already low trade value.

The Diamondbacks should look no further than the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers for how to handle a bad contract.

After waiting for years for Matt Kemp to turn things around, the Dodgers eventually ate $32 million of the $107 million remaining on his deal to send him to the San Diego Padres in December 2014, per the Los Angeles Times‘ Dylan Hernandez.

Despite taking on a lot of dead money, the Dodgers were better off after the trade, and they managed to get solid seasons from Yasmani Grandal.

Trading Greinke would be an admission by the Diamondbacks that they made a costly mistake, but that’s a preferable outcome to giving him more than $30 million a year between now and 2021.

Brian Dozier

Dozier was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise awful 2016 season for the Minnesota Twins. He had the third-highest WAR (5.9) among qualified second basemen, per FanGraphs, and posted impressive power numbers (42 home runs, 99 runs batted in and a .546 slugging percentage).

In September, the Pioneer Press‘ Mike Berardino floated the prospect of Minnesota trading Dozier, who will make $15 million over the next two seasons. With the midseason departure of Terry Ryan, Dozier acknowledged that a different front office might have different plans regarding his future.

“First things first,” he said. “You need to see after the season who is going to be our GM, which obviously plays a huge part in it.”

On Nov. 10, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported that the Twins were getting offers for Dozier. Berardino spoke to a source Friday who said Minnesota would “have to be wowed” to part with the All-Star.

As painful as it would be for Twins fans, trading Dozier makes sense if the team can get a nice return.

In two years’ time, it’s unlikely Minnesota would be able to re-sign the 29-year-old, and in the two years he’s still under team control, Dozier can do little to remedy what is the Twins’ biggest issue: starting pitching.

Minnesota isn’t going anywhere as long as Kyle Gibson, Hector Santiago and Phil Hughes are three of the team’s best starters.

The Twins can’t expect to receive an ace for Dozier, but they could leverage his career year into a strong No. 2 or 3 starter, which would at least represent progress for the staff.

Michael Wacha

On Nov. 20, FoxSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal reported that the St. Louis Cardinals were gauging league interest in Wacha.

Providing additional perspective last Tuesday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Derrick Goold doubted whether St. Louis would pull the trigger. He wrote that the trade discussions were likely a speculative exercise by the Cardinals to see what—if anything—teams would be willing to surrender for Wacha.

It’s doubtful the 25-year-old right-hander is generating much buzz. He finished 7-7 last year with a 5.09 ERA and a 3.91 FIP, per FanGraphs. For the third season in a row, his strikeout rate lowered while his walk rate rose. He struck out 7.43 batters and allowed 2.93 free passes every nine innings.

Adding further concern, Wacha battled injuries after staying relatively healthy in 2015. He was suffering from right shoulder inflammation in August, which can be a prelude to a more significant problem. The shoulder issue helps explain why his fastball velocity fell from 95.01 in 2015 to 93.88 in 2016, per Brooks Baseball.

Wacha is under team control for the next three seasons. Since his trade value is relatively low given his age and pedigree, the Cardinals might as well keep him to see if he can rebound in 2017.

Although Wacha will likely never return to his 2013 self—when he had a 2.78 ERA in 64.2 innings—he can still be a solid back-of-the-rotation starter.

Perhaps another general manager covets Wacha to the extent that he’d send a valuable asset or two the Cardinals’ way. Nobody expected the Diamondbacks to give up No. 1 overall pick Dansby Swanson to get Miller last year.

But barring some sort of trade like that, St. Louis should wait and see if Wacha can improve before they seriously consider dealing him.

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We can break down trades in a simple way: Their idea is to make both teams better.

There are teams currently in rebuild mode that hold elite players under contract, and other teams looking to contend in 2017 could use those aforementioned players.

If the latter teams are able to send prospects in return, that’s a win-win for both organizations. The rebuilding team nets something for the future, and the contending one gets something for right now.

Which teams fall into which category this offseason? And which players might be dealt?

Begin Slideshow

What a difference a year makes.

Last winter, Zack Greinke was baseball’s reigning ERA king and arguably the offseason’s hottest free-agent commodity. The Los Angeles Dodgers wanted him back. The San Francisco Giants wanted to pry him away.

Greinke ultimately, and somewhat surprisingly, signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks for six years and $206.5 million.

Now, after his ERA ballooned to 4.37 during a deflating season in the desert, Greinke is an albatross.

The $34 million he’s owed next season could swallow more than a third of the Diamondbacks’ total budget, as ESPN.com’s Buster Olney noted. 

That’s the mess new D-backs general manager Mike Hazen inherited. His task is to mop it up, per Olney:

…as Hazen establishes himself with the Diamondbacks, perhaps he could do what his predecessor would have never been in position to do: persuade ownership to dump Greinke and as much of his contract as possible, even if it means eating some of his salary in the years ahead. Greinke’s contract is already a serious impediment for Hazen, as he goes about his work of trying to build a consistent winner in Arizona, and the problem might only get worse if Greinke’s performance continues to decline next season.

It won’t be easy. The Diamondbacks would walk away from any Greinke trade with some egg on their face. On Nov. 9, Hazen said the team is “fully anticipating that Zack is going to be back next year,” per MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert.

If they can shed a portion of his salary, though, and net a couple of decent prospects, they should jump at the chance.

Despite his down year, Greinke has upside. Between 2013 and 2015, his 13.5 WAR ranks eighth among big league pitchers, according to FanGraphs’ measure.

He’s 33, which means this decline could be real and permanent. But he’s also one season removed from leading MLB in ERA (1.66), ERA+ (222) and WHIP (0.844).

If there were an entry in the dictionary for “high risk, high reward,” it would be a picture of Greinke’s grinning visage.

The only realistic suitors are clubs with gaudy budgets and fertile farms. From that group, three emerge as the most logical. Let’s examine each, and the packages they may be willing to offer.

It’s all speculation at this point, but it should be high on Hazen and Arizona’s due-diligence list. 

New York Yankees

The Yankees have been in rebuild mode since the 2016 trade deadline, jettisoning expensive veterans and adding young talent to a minor league system Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter ranked No. 1 in the game. 

Taking on a chunk of Greinke’s salary and giving up prospects for the privilege would be a redirect, to say the least.

New York, though, is always in win-now mode. The Bronx faithful demand it. Its rotation is sketchy after ace Masahiro Tanaka, with mercurial right-hander Michael Pineda, creaky veteran southpaw CC Sabathia and a muddled cast of youngsters filling in the picture.  

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe name-dropped New York among possible Greinke landing spots. Joe Giglio of NJ Advance Media likewise said the Yanks “loom as a possibility” in the Greinke sweepstakes.

New York should refuse to part with any of its top prospects—a group headlined by outfielder Clint Frazier and shortstop Gleyber Torres—even if the D-backs are willing to pick up half of Greinke’s tab or more.

A mid-tier name such as 20-year-old right-hander Drew Finley—the Yankees’ No. 19 prospect, per MLB.com—along with a throw-in player and an offer to absorb the bulk of Greinke’s salary should get the Diamondbacks’ attention.

Still, given New York’s current trajectory, we’ll put the likelihood of this at somewhere between “low” and “not gonna happen.”

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox don’t need to add an ace-level arm with recently minted AL Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello and David Price already in the fold.

After a disappointing division-series sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Indians, however, it’s a safe bet president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will have his eyes out for upgrades to any facet of the roster.

Like New York, Boston has a loaded farm system and a hefty payroll. Hazen, meanwhile, was the Sox’s GM last season, so he presumably has a direct line to Dombrowski.

Top prospects such as infielder Yoan Moncada and outfielder Andrew Benintendi shouldn’t even enter the conversation. Perhaps someone like lanky lefty Trey Ball, ranked as the Sox’s No. 14 prospect by MLB.com, or a high-upside gamble like 19-year-old Dominican outfielder Yoan Aybar could whet Arizona’s appetite.

If Boston is going to swing a trade for a starter, it could set its sights on other targets, including the Chicago White Sox‘s Chris Sale or the Detroit Tigers‘ Justin Verlander, as I recently outlined. Greinke would likely come at a lower cost in talent, though, if not dollars.

OK, now the soggy blanket: The Red Sox will pay Price $30 million for at least the next two seasons, at which point the lefty can opt out. They also need to fill the David Ortiz-sized hole in the middle of their lineup. Shelling out for a significant portion of Greinke’s contract would strain the purse strings.

Plus, with both New York and Boston, there’s the question of whether a move to the hitter-happy AL East would help Greinke get his mojo back.

Los Angeles Dodgers

They say you can’t go home again, but the Dodgers and Greinke could test that axiom.

It’s more than a wild fancy. L.A. “expressed interest” in trading for Greinke in August after he cleared waivers, per Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal.

The talks “were not substantive and did not advance,” according to Rosenthal’s sources. Still, it shows the door to a Greinke-Dodgers reunion is cracked open.

Ace Clayton Kershaw returned strong from a back injury that cost him two months in 2016, and Japanese import Kenta Maeda was a steady No. 2.

Trade-deadline acquisition Rich Hill is a free agent, however, and the rest of the Dodgers rotation is a mishmash of promising-but-untested youngsters (Julio Urias), middling veterans (Scott Kazmir) and uncertain injury comebacks (Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu). 

Simply putting a Dodgers uniform on won’t return Greinke to his former glory. There are causes for cautious optimism, though.

The Dodgers had the third-best team defense in the NL—and all of baseball—in 2016, while the D-backs had the Senior Circuit’s second-worst, per FanGraphs. Arizona’s Chase Field was baseball’s second-most hitter-friendly yard, per ESPN’s Park Factors statistic, while Dodger Stadium was the second-least. 

That’s not to suggest all of Greinke’s 2016 struggles can be pinned on shoddy defense or his home-field disadvantage. It’s possible, however, that a return to Chavez Ravine could rekindle his All-Star flame.

Like Boston and New York, Los Angeles could hang on to its top MiLB talent and still put together an enticing package. Catcher Austin Barnes—an Arizona State alum and the team’s No. 10 prospect, per MLB.com—would make for a nice centerpiece, as would 21-year-old right-hander and No. 8 prospect Jordan Sheffield. 

The biggest impediment, however, may be the Dodgers’ financial situation.

L.A. boasted baseball’s highest payroll in 2016, but the team is under pressure to tighten its belt to conform to MLB’s debt rules, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. 

That could hinder the club’s ability to bring back key free agents such as third baseman Justin Turner and closer Kenley Jansen, let alone shoulder part of Greinke’s contract. 

The safe bet is on Greinke staying put. The Diamondbacks should keep asking, however, and see if they find a pliable taker.

Last winter’s prize has become this offseason’s toxic asset. What a difference a year makes.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The 2016 Arizona Fall League has come to an end, with the Mesa Solar Sox winning it all, besting the Surprise Saguaros 6-1 in the AFL Championship Game.

But the AFL isn’t about teams with excellent nicknames or championships. It’s about gauging the development of some of baseball’s top prospects and getting a feel for where players are heading into the offseason.

Some of those players have shown they’re ready for a chance to contribute in the big leagues, while others left little doubt that there’s more work to do before a promotion could even be considered.

Below, you’ll find a handful of players who fall under both categories—and others who fall somewhere in between—as we take a look at the highlights and lowlights of the 2016 Arizona Fall League.

Top Hitters

Gleyber Torres proved that age really is nothing but a number, as the 19-year-old—the AFL‘s youngest player—became the youngest player to be named the Arizona Fall League’s Most Valuable Player. Torres showed a spectacularly advanced approach for his age, walking more often (14) than he struck out (eight) en route to not only winning MVP honors, but the AFL‘s batting crown as well.

“He’s just ridiculously good,” MLB.com’s prospect guru Jim Callis told John Harper of the New York Daily News. “He was clearly the best player in the league. It seemed like he hit a line drive every time up.”

Two more prospects who seemed to make hard contact whenever they stepped to the plate were Cody Bellinger and Zach Vincej, though it’s entirely possible that neither one will open the 2017 season with the franchise he represented in Arizona.

Bellinger, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ top position prospect, is known to be of interest to the Chicago White Sox (per Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan) and Detroit Tigers (per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi) and could be included as part of a trade package as the Dodgers look to bolster their big league roster.

A relative unknown outside of Cincinnati, where he’s not considered one of the Reds’ top 30 prospects, Vincej was one of the AFL‘s best hitters and biggest breakout stars. He’s likely to hear his name called during the upcoming Rule 5 draft, as the Reds left him off their 40-man roster.

Top Pitchers

Already considered one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, the Boston Red Sox’s Michael Kopech only improved his stock with a run that saw him exhibit improved control over all his pitches, including a nasty fastball that sat in the high 90s and cracked triple digits multiple times.

The 20-year-old right-handed hurler led all qualified starters in ERA and finished tied for third in strikeouts with the New York Yankees’ James Kaprielian.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Austin Gomber was perhaps even more impressive, leading the AFL in strikeouts and innings pitched while trailing only Kopech in ERA. While Kopech entered the AFL as a big-time prospect, Gomber, who sits at No. 18 on MLB.com’s ranking of the Cardinals’ top 30 prospects, did not.

Like his NL Central counterpart Zach Vincej, Gomber was one of the AFL‘s biggest breakout stars. Unlike Vincej, the 23-year-old isn’t eligible for the Rule 5 draft and could be a factor in St. Louis as early as next season.

But they’re only two of the players who seemingly came out of nowhere to make their presences felt in Arizona.

Breakout Stars

Another name to look for in the Rule 5 draft is converted pitcher Eric Wood, as the Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t add the 24-year-old to their 40-man roster. Versatile enough to play the infield corners as well as left field, Wood’s developing power (a career-high 16 home runs for Double-A Altoona) makes him an intriguing player.

Wood has lots of swing-and-miss in his game, striking out 28 times in 88 Arizona Fall League at-bats, but he showed that he knows how to hit with runners in scoring position, leading the AFL with 20 RBI.

Miami Marlins fans know all about Brian Anderson, the team’s top position prospect (No. 4 overall, per MLB.com), but it had to be nice to see the 23-year-old tap into his power more regularly in Arizona, where he led all batters with five home runs in 77 at-bats.

Perhaps the most surprising stat among the AFL‘s breakout hitters was that Greg Allen finished only two dingers off Anderson’s lead. The Cleveland Indians’ sixth-round pick in the 2014 draft, Allen has never hit more than seven home runs in a full season, as he’s known more for his speed than his power.

That the 23-year-old swiped 12 bases in Arizona Fall League play, tied with Champ Stuart of the New York Mets for the AFL lead, comes as no surprise at all.

We can’t talk about breakout stars without mentioning a pair of hard-throwing relievers who both rose from Single-A to Triple-A during the regular season and look like they’re ready to contribute to a major league bullpen—the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Jared Miller and Pittsburgh’s Edgar Santana.

Arizona’s 6’7″ southpaw did his best Andrew Miller impersonation in the AFL, with the 23-year-old scattering six hits over 18.1 scoreless innings with 30 strikeouts and only four walks. Santana, 25, wasn’t quite as dominant as Miller, but you can’t find fault with 13.2 scoreless innings of relief.

Biggest Disappointments

Jacob Nottingham might have made the AFL‘s Fall Stars Game, but the No. 14 prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers’ loaded farm system certainly didn’t have the numbers to back up his selection. Only three players finished with a lower OPS than Nottingham, who struck out 24 times while drawing only two walks.

Michael Gettys was another curious choice for the AFL‘s version of the Midsummer Classic, as the San Diego Padres’ No. 10 prospect also struggled mightily to make consistent contact, leading the Arizona Fall League with 30 strikeouts in 70 at-bats.

But no player needed to make a good impression more than Tim Tebow, the oft-maligned former NFL quarterback who is now trying to make his way as a professional baseball player. As you’d imagine from the numbers he put up, folks around the game weren’t impressed with his performance.

Scouts used words like “awful” and “stinks” when it came to describing Tebow to Dan Martin of the New York Post, while an unnamed executive called the former Heisman Trophy winner “ugly,” adding “in the field and at the plate, nothing looks natural.”

If Chris Ellis was hoping to make the case that he was deserving of a chance to win one of the two available spots at the back end of the Atlanta Braves rotation next spring, he failed. Despite a strong showing in his final AFL start (3.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts), the 24-year-old looks destined to start 2017 back in Triple-A.

MLB.com’s profile of Grayson Long, the No. 10 prospect in the Los Angeles Angels’ farm system, makes a comparison to Ellis (a former Angels farmhand) in terms of stuff and competitiveness. Long’s stuff failed to play up just like Ellis’ in the AFL, as the 22-year-old walked nearly as many batters as he struck out.

Selected 18th overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2013 draft, Chris Anderson is seemingly running out of chances to prove he’s not a bust. The 24-year-old has struggled badly since making his pro debut in 2013, pitching to a combined 4.71 ERA and 1.55 WHIP over the past two years.

His struggles continued in Arizona, where he was shelled to the tune of the AFL‘s worst ERA and WHIP while walking more batters than he struck out.

Unless otherwise noted, all statistics and prospect rankings courtesy of MLB.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The focus of MLB offseason conversations is generally on what players teams could potentially add to fill areas of need, but often times the answer is already in-house.

A team’s top prospects, at least the ones on the cusp of reaching the majors, can often make a bigger impact than anyone the team might acquire during the offseason.

Take the Detroit Tigers for example.

Last winter, Jordan Zimmermann and Mike Pelfrey were signed in an effort to bolster the starting rotation.

However, it was rookie Michael Fulmer who wound up being the biggest difference-maker on the pitching side of things as he provided front-line production alongside Justin Verlander and easily out-performed both Zimmermann and Pelfrey.

Prospects are not always afforded a clear path to playing time as teams are wary of relying on unproven talent, but there are a handful of prospects that will find themselves in a better position once the offseason comes to a close.

Whether it’s the departure of a key free agent or a trade that could result in a roster shakeup, the following 10 prospects stand to benefit most from the offseason frenzy.

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