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The week after baseball’s winter meetings often represents a calm in the offseason. Having engaged in unrelenting trade and free-agent discussions, teams step back and evaluate their roster to date.

But that doesn’t mean we should stop asking questions.

Several of the moves have prompted forward-looking thoughts about the upcoming season. Sure, there’s still work to be done, players to be signed and trades to be worked out.

And, of course, that means these answers can drastically change. But for now, let’s see where baseball stands as the offseason heads toward its latter half.

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The New York Yankees are rebuilding. They’re also trying to win. That’s how it works in the Bronx.

Those aren’t mutually exclusive goals. Last season, the Yankees sold at the trade deadline and restocked a farm system that Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter subsequently ranked No. 1 in the game. They also stayed in the playoff picture until late September thanks to contributions from youngsters such as catcher and American League Rookie of the Year runner-up Gary Sanchez.

It’s possible to shed costly pieces and compete at the same time.

This winter, the Yanks traded veteran backstop Brian McCann to the Houston Astros for prospects. They also handed one year and $13 million to aging slugger Matt Holliday and a whopping five years and $86 million to closer Aroldis Chapman.

Clearly, general manager Brian Cashman is treading the line between a full-blown fire sale and keeping his team competitive. Hardcore fans are surely rejoicing the burgeoning youth movement, but the casual observers who put butts in seats at Yankee Stadium want to watch a winner.

To that end, Cashman has work left to do. Specifically, he has to improve a starting rotation that’s littered with question marks and could be the club’s undoing.

We’ll explore how he can accomplish that in a moment. First, let’s drill a little deeper on where the Yankees stand.

New York is in decent shape on offense, with seasoned bats such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Chase Headley and Brett Gardner joining the nascent brigade led by Sanchez, masher Aaron Judge and top-rated outfield prospect Clint Frazier.

The bullpen is robust behind the dual threats of Chapman and super-setup man Dellin Betances.

The starting five, meanwhile, is a concerning mishmash.

Ace Masahiro Tanaka threw 199.2 innings in 2016, his highest total since coming over from Japan three seasons ago, and posted a 3.07 ERA.

Behind him, there’s hard-throwing right-hander Michael Pineda, who has shown flashes of brilliance but posted a 4.82 ERA in 2016, and 36-year-old southpaw CC Sabathia.

After that, the Yankees are counting on some combination of Luis Severino, Bryan Mitchell, Luis Cessa, Chad Green and Adam Warren. All except Mitchell owned ERAs north of 4.00 last season, and Green has a grand total of eight big league starts under his belt.

That’s not a disaster if everything breaks right, but it’s uncertainty on stilts.

So what are New York’s options? The club could mortgage the farm and go after a top-tier trade candidate such as the Tampa Bay Rays‘ Chris Archer or the Chicago White Sox‘s Jose Quintana.

The Yankees, however, didn’t make a serious play for White Sox ace Chris Sale, who wound up with the archrival Boston Red Sox. It’s unlikely New York will suddenly become a big-time buyer.

There are lesser trade targets. The Kansas City Royals may be looking to shed payroll with multiple key pieces due to hit free agency next offseason.

Mercurial right-hander Yordano Ventura is Kansas City’s flashiest pitching piece, but southpaw Danny Duffy is an interesting, under-the-radar possibility.

The 27-year-old went 12-3 with a 3.51 ERA in 179.2 innings last season with 188 strikeouts next to 42 walks.

He has a final year of arbitration remaining before he tastes the market, which means he doesn’t necessarily fit with a long-term vision. It also means he won’t cost a massive haul in prospects.

Duffy is a fly-ball pitcher, which could hurt him in the home run-happy confines at 1 East 161st Street. He’d slot in nicely behind Sabathia, however, and give New York another proven mid-rotation arm.

Turning to the free-agent stew, there’s meat to be picked from the bones.

“I think it’s less likely that we wind up with a starter,” Cashman said of the free-agent options, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com). “It’s a tough market to be finding one in it.”

Tough, but not impossible.

Right-hander Jason Hammel was a workmanlike contributor for the Chicago Cubs rotation with a 3.83 ERA in 166.2 innings last season.

The Yanks were “sniffing around” Hammel in November, per the New York Post‘s George A. King III, and he’s unsigned as of this writing.

Another name that could pique their olfactory response is Ivan Nova. New York traded Nova and his 4.90 ERA to the Pittsburgh Pirates at the deadline last season.

He excelled with the Bucs to the tune of a 3.06 ERA in 11 starts. The 29-year-old Dominican Republic native was stellar in stretches after making his MLB debut with the Yankees in 2010 and could be a bounce-back candidate.

Speaking of which, here’s one more option: Doug Fister.

Yes, Fister put up a career-worst 4.64 ERA last season and will turn 33 in February. As CBSSports.com’s Mike Axisa put it, “The trend is not pretty.”

Fister, however, has been a ground-ball pitcher throughout his career. He was a top-10 Cy Young Award finisher with the Washington Nationals in 2014. He could be had on a short-term, show-me contract that won’t bust the bank.

None of these names will make the Yankees instant World Series favorites. Some may argue they’d be better off cashing in a gaggle of minor league chips for an Archer or a Quintana, or standing pat.

As Cashman threads the needle between retooling and relevance, however, he’d be wise to add some impact depth to his stable of arms.

He has a mandate to play the kids and grow the farm. He also has to try to win.

That’s how it works in the Bronx. And this is how it goes when you’re chasing starting pitching in the thin, cold winter of 2016.

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When Mike Dunn gets $19 million from the Colorado Rockies, it tells you it’s always great to be a left-handed reliever.

It also tells you Ian Desmond was right.

When the Rockies made Desmond’s five-year, $70 million deal official this week, Colorado’s new first baseman (or will he be an outfielder?) spoke of joining a team on the rise.

“They’re close,” Desmond told reporters, including Thomas Harding of MLB.com. “That’s an industry-wide consensus. Ownership and management are committed to turning that corner. I’m right there with them on board.”

I’m not sure I’d yet call it a consensus, but there is a growing feeling the Rockies are getting better. They haven’t had a winning season since 2010, but even as they were losing 87 games in 2016, they won praise for their young talent, both on the big league club and in the system.

Already this winter, they’re winning praise again.

“They’re my sleeper team for this year,” one National League scout said this week.

It’s hard to consider the Rockies more than just a sleeper, given the presence of the high-spending Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in their division. With all three teams needing back-end bullpen help this winter, the Giants spent $62 million over four years on Mark Melancon (a Colorado native), and the Dodgers topped that by spending $80 million over five years on Kenley Jansen.

Dunn isn’t Melancon, and he isn’t Jansen. He has four saves in eight major league seasons. Jansen had three saves in the 2016 postseason alone.

But spending what they did on Dunn (the $19 million is over three years) continues a winter trend for the Rockies. Instead of looking like a team trying to find its way, Colorado now looks like one pushing to win.

Signing Desmond to the second-biggest free-agent contract in franchise history (behind Mike Hampton’s $121 million in 2000) was part of that. But so were the other moves the Rockies have tried to make, and the ones they still could pursue.

While the Rockies signed Desmond as a first baseman, his experience playing the outfield last season with the Texas Rangers opens the possibility the Rockies could sign someone else to play first—Mark Trumbo? Edwin Encarnacion?—and trade one of their outfielders.

Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com reported the Rockies wanted Kevin Gausman from the Baltimore Orioles as part of a deal for either Charlie Blackmon or Carlos Gonzalez. Kubatko wrote the Orioles “aren’t trading Kevin Gausman,” which is no doubt true.

The bigger point, at least from the Rockies’ perspective, is that general manager Jeff Bridich is thinking big when he looks for pitching help. As Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweeted during the winter meetings, the Rockies would like to trade for “a front-of-rotation-type pitcher.”

The Rockies don’t have one of those in their current rotation. They do have promising 25-year-old right-hander Jon Gray in the big leagues and equally promising 23-year-old right-hander Jeff Hoffman nearly ready in the minors. Hoffman was one of three prospects the Rockies got from the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2015 Troy Tulowitzki trade.

Trading Tulowitzki was a big move for the Rockies, one ownership had previously resisted. It turned the team and the clubhouse over to the next generation, a group that includes star third baseman Nolan Arenado and shortstop Trevor Story, who was a strong Rookie of the Year candidate before a thumb injury ended his season in July.

With Arenado, Story, National League batting champion DJ LeMahieu and outfielder David Dahl, there was a strong sense in the Rockies clubhouse that they are a team on the rise. Scouts who followed the Rockies said the same thing and cited more young players the club has coming in the minor leagues.

They’ll go into 2017 with Bud Black as the new manager, which figures to be a positive not because Walt Weiss was bad (he wasn’t), but because Weiss and Bridich admittedly weren’t seeing eye to eye.

The challenges remain, from the payroll that will still trail the Dodgers and Giants by millions to the altitude that makes pitching in Colorado difficult and can make hitters believe they need a different approach on the road from the one they use at home.

It’s not impossible for the Rockies to win. They went all the way to the World Series in 2007.

Ten years later, they won’t be the preseason favorites to get there again. But at the very least, they seem headed in the right direction.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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Any thoughts the Philadelphia Phillies had about trading Odubel Herrera have likely gone away after the All-Star center fielder signed a contract extension with the team.

The Phillies announced the five-year extension Thursday.

Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the contract will pay Herrera $30.5 million in guarantees and includes option years for 2022 and 2023.

There had been some speculation about the Phillies exploring trade options for Herrera this offseason. T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reported during the winter meetings the team “might be willing” to deal the 24-year-old. 

Herrera has been a pleasant surprise in two seasons with the Phillies. He was a Rule 5 draft pick in December 2014 after the Texas Rangers kept him off their 40-man roster because they didn’t have a spot available for him. 

With the Phillies embracing a full-scale rebuild, Herrera made the team’s Opening Day roster. He put together a solid debut season with a .297/.344/.418 slash line in 147 games. 

Herrera was even better in 2016, posting a .286/.361/.420 slash line with 15 home runs, 25 stolen bases and 4.2 wins above replacement, per Baseball-Reference.com. He was named to the National League All-Star team for his efforts. 

MLB.com’s Oliver Macklin noted Herrera’s eight wins above replacement in his first two seasons with the Phillies is the second-best mark in team history, trailing only Dick Allen’s 8.8 in 1964-65.

The Phillies’ commitment to Herrera is the latest sign this franchise is heading in the right direction. It’s going to take more time for the farm system, which MLB.com ranked seventh coming into 2016, to release all of its treasures like shortstop J.P. Crawford and outfielder Nick Williams. 

Herrera is a key piece of the foundation in Philadelphia and will be part of the next great wave of Phillies baseball after signing a long-term extension with the franchise.

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The St. Louis Cardinals are reportedly willing to listen to trade offers for first baseman Matt Adams as the team looks to clear an infield logjam this offseason.

Continue for updates.

Cardinals Willing To Discuss Offers For Adams

Thursday, Dec. 15

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com reported Thursday that Adams is a “change of scenery candidate” with St. Louis likely turning to Matt Carpenter at first.

Adams is coming off an up-and-down season with the Cardinals during which he hit .249 with 16 home runs across 118 games. It marked the third time in the last four years he tallied at least 15 homers, but his career on-base percentage stands at a mundane .314.

Injuries are one thing that have held back the 28-year-old infielder at times. He’s played more than 120 games just once in four full seasons at the big-league level. The most serious issue was a torn quadriceps muscle that limited him to 60 appearances in 2015.

Andy Call of MLB.com passed along comments from Adams about being forced to accept any level of involvement after his latest injury comeback, this time a shoulder issue, back in September.

“Whatever my role is during the last part of the season, I’m willing to accept it,” Adams said. “Whatever will help this team win. If my role is to come off the bench and pinch-hit, I’m all for it. I’ve been good in the past with that.”

The question marks about his ability to make a consistent impact make him an obvious trade candidate as the Cardinals look to upgrade elsewhere.

They currently have seven infielders to fill four starting spots, with Adams, Greg Garcia and Jhonny Peralta ticketed for bench roles based on the current roster. It would make sense to seek a move that could help upgrade the bullpen or bring in a reserve outfielder.

Adams is a worthwhile buy-low target, assuming the Cardinals’ asking price is reasonable, for a team needing an upgrade at either first base or designated hitter. Moving to the American League to fill the latter role would be ideal given his injury history.

The Pennsylvania native possesses enough pop to provide between 20 and 25 home runs if he can stay healthy for 150 or more games. But that would require a starting role, something he’s not likely to hold if he sticks with the Cardinals in 2016.

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Torii Hunter Jr. will be following in his father’s footsteps as a professional baseball player with the Los Angeles Angels. 

Hunter announced his intention to pursue an MLB career instead of returning to Notre Dame’s football team for a fifth year:

Hunter’s father, Torii, enjoyed a long and successful MLB career. In 19 seasons with the Angels, Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers, he won nine Gold Glove awards, played in five All-Star Games and captured two Silver Slugger awards. 

The Angels drafted Hunter in the 23rd round of June’s draft. Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia believes in Hunter’s athletic talents helping him to play baseball. 

“I’m excited,” Scioscia said, per MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez. “This kid’s a great kid; he’s a great athlete. As good a football player as he is, I know he loves baseball. Hopefully he’ll get that chance.”

Hunter eventually signed with the Angels on June 29 but opted to keep his football career at Notre Dame going. As a redshirt senior in 2016, he had his most productive season with 38 receptions, 521 yards and three touchdowns. 

Hunter was previously drafted by the Tigers in the 36th round coming out of high school in 2013, when his father was playing for the team. He did play baseball part time at Notre Dame in 2015 and 2016. 

Odds are against Hunter turning into a big leaguer as a 23rd-round pick who hasn’t played baseball full time since high school, but his athleticism and bloodlines certainly make him capable of overcoming those hurdles in his way. 

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Major League Baseball’s winter meetings have come and gone with plenty of players, both free agents and not, finding new homes during the four-day stretch.

But the offseason could have more twists and turns awaiting before pitchers and catchers report for spring training in February.

Here is the latest on three big names who have been rumored to be on the trade market recently.

Andrew McCutchen

One of the biggest names rumored to be available during the winter meetings, Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen, hasn’t moved yet.

It was rumored at the beginning of December that the Pirates were discussing a potential trade with the Washington Nationals, per Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

However, Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported a deal could not be reached, which has left the Pirates searching elsewhere for a suitable offer.

According to Heyman, Pittsburgh received a “nice offer of prospects” from a “mystery team.” But the Pirates are looking for players who are ready to compete in the majors in 2017 and turned it down.

It’s a dangerous philosophy, considering McCutchen‘s sudden drop in production over the past few seasons.

The 2013 NL MVP batted .256 with a .336 on-base percentage and .430 slugging percentage last season, all of which were career worsts.

Having turned 30 years old in October, McCutchen may not bring back an impressive haul for Pittsburgh, as teams might believe his struggles will continue into 2017.

If the Pirates are patient and McCutchen puts together a solid first half in 2017, however, they could find it easier to deal him closer to the trade deadline.

Brian Dozier

Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dozier developed into a solid hitter through his first four years in the majors, but 2016 saw the 29-year-old record one of the best seasons at his position in American League history.

His 42 home runs were the most by a second baseman in AL history, per Baseball-Reference.com, and he also posted career highs with 99 RBI and an .886 OPS.

While he won’t be a free agent until 2019, Dozier has become an attractive option for the Los Angeles Dodgers, per ESPN.com’s Doug Padilla.

This comes after Los Angeles re-signed closer Kenley Jansen to a five-year, $80 million deal and third baseman Justin Turner to a four-year, $64 million contract, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com—increasing the team’s payroll considerably. 

Dozier is owed $15 million over the next two seasons before he hits free agency, per Spotrac.

But the Dodgers could have problems at the position after dealing Howie Kendrick to the Philadelphia Phillies. Chase Utley is also a free agent, but even if he returns, it’s risky to assume he can produce as the team’s full-time starting second baseman.

Utley, who will turn 38 on Saturday, batted just .252 with 14 home runs and 52 RBI in 2016. 

Padilla noted the Dodgers would have to send a package centering around someone such as pitcher Jose De Leon—Los Angeles’ No. 2 prospect, according to MLB.com. However, Alex Tekip of ESPN.com added that the Dodgers would be “reluctant to part with” him, which could make acquiring Dozier all but impossible.

Brett Gardner

The New York Yankees look like they still want to add some pitching help despite getting Aroldis Chapman back during the winter meetings.

A swollen payroll that is near $210 million could be a problem though, considering that team owner Hal Steinbrenner wants to see that number decrease to $197 million by 2018, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Sherman added that the Yankees are interested in adding a free-agent reliever such as Boone Logan and Brad Ziegler to provide some support for Chapman and setup man Dellin Betances.

In an attempt to cut some of that salary, the Yankees have been floating veteran left fielder Brett Gardner’s name, per Sherman.

The 33-year-old is owed $23 million over the final two years of his contract, according to Spotrac, and his departure could provide some financial relief for New York to mount a serious bid for either Logan or Ziegler.

A speedy presence who has carved his niche at the top of the Yankees lineup for the past nine years, Gardner could be an effective table-setter for a team that has some big bats but little support for them. 

Follow @JoePantorno on Twitter.

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What do baseball’s rumor mill and winter storm Decima have in common? Both are running roughshod across the country and it’s anyone’s guess as to how much of what they’re spitting out is actually going to stick.

Can a team ever have too many outfielders? Is it a former All-Star closer’s destiny to wind up in Washington, D.C.? Can two big market teams really be out of spending cash?

Hopefully our predictions are more accurate than your local meteorologist’s as we’ll hit on all that and more in this week’s edition of Fact or Fiction.

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The countdown to 2018 began a while back. Everyone in baseball could see it coming because the names were too big to ignore, the dollars too big to even imagine.

Bryce Harper. Manny Machado. Josh Donaldson. Zach Britton. Andrew Miller. All ready to hit the free-agent market the same winter.

Clayton Kershaw. David Price. Both have opt-out clauses that could send them into that same market.

The countdown is real, both for the players about to cash in and the clubs that dream of signing them. But the countdown is just as real for the teams that could lose them and get only the value of a draft pick (reduced in the new collective bargaining agreement) in return.

Decision time is coming quickly, and the choices those clubs make over the next 19 or so months could be every bit as important as the ones players and teams make two years from now.

Can they sign their stars? Do they play it out and hope for the best? Do they try to cash in and avoid the risk?

The result could be the biggest trading market ever, leading to the biggest free-agent winter ever. But if you’re a team that can’t sign your star, when exactly do you try to move him?

“Good question,” said a National League general manager who doesn’t have any of the biggest stars. “My guess is next offseason or maybe as early as this summer.”

Another NL executive predicted the Washington Nationals could trade Harper after the 2017 campaign and that the Baltimore Orioles could trade Britton. He figures the Orioles will hold on to Machado in hopes of signing him to a new contract.

But former Colorado Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd, now an MLB Network analyst, expressed doubt any of the biggest stars will be dealt. Their teams are trying to win now, he reasoned, and the return wouldn’t be big enough to justify a move.

“When your club has a chance to win, it’s very problematic,” O’Dowd said. “No matter how good the prospects are, they’re still just prospects. The new CBA makes it tougher too, because it’s harder to trade the impactful young players you’ll need to balance out your big contracts.”

O’Dowd and others believe teams will want to avoid the harshest luxury-tax penalties, which can rise to as high as 92 percent at the highest levels. The easiest way to do that is to have talented young (and thus cheaper) players to mix into your roster.

Top prospects will still get traded, as shown by the return the Chicago White Sox got this winter for both pitcher Chris Sale (from the Boston Red Sox) and outfielder Adam Eaton (from the Nationals). But the Red Sox got three years of control with Sale, who has a reasonable contract, and the Nationals got a potential five years of control with Eaton.

A team trading for a 2018 free agent now would have two years of control. But the only prominent class members who have come up in serious trade rumors this winter are Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen and Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dozier.

Neither has been dealt.

It makes sense for their teams to keep trying, especially the Twins, who have little chance of winning in 2017. The Pirates might do better waiting to see whether they can stay in the NL Central race and/or whether McCutchen can rebuild his value by bouncing back from a subpar 2016.

What about the others?

Some aren’t realistic trade candidates. Price and Kershaw pitch for teams aiming for a championship. Mark Melancon has a 2018 opt-out, but it’s in a contract he signed with the San Francisco Giants in December. They’re not trading him now and almost certainly wouldn’t move him next winter, either.

The harder ones to predict are the other 2018 free agents playing for going-for-it teams.

If the Orioles fall out of the race early, would they consider dealing Britton and/or center fielder Adam Jones, helping free up money to try to sign Machado? If the Toronto Blue Jays fall out of it, could they market Donaldson to a team needing a second-half boost? Could the New York Mets offer pitcher Matt Harvey to help fill other needs?

It’s hard to see the Cleveland Indians dropping too far behind in the American League Central, but what if they did? Could Miller be a midseason trade candidate for a second straight July? They might get even more than the high prospect price they gave up to the New York Yankees to get him.

Then there’s Harper, who will have just turned 26 when he hits the free-agent market. He’s a big part of the Nationals’ plan to win in 2017, but would they move him if they don’t?

Several executives said midseason 2017 trades could be the most realistic option for big-ticket free-agents-to-be.

“Teams can be desperate, and there aren’t free-agent options available in July,” one AL executive said. “And a team can trade for a guy knowing they can have him for two pennant races.”

With so many top players a year and a half away from free agency, the buy-sell decisions could be tougher and more significant than ever this July. Keeping a player until next winter could severely limit the potential return and thus make it less likely the player gets moved at all.

No matter what, July figures to be fascinating. Next winter could be interesting, as those same teams try to judge their chances of winning in 2018 against the risk of getting only draft picks back for departed stars.

It all leads up to November 2018, and the start of a baseball winter like none we’ve ever seen.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey watched his 2016 campaign come to an abrupt end when he was forced to undergo season-ending surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome, but the 2015 National League Comeback Player of the Year sounded optimistic regarding his return when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday. 

According to ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin, the 27-year-old confirmed he’s on the mend and feeling strong on the mound after the surgery “involved removing a rib so that muscles constricting a nerve that bridges the neck and shoulder had space to relax.”

Specifically, Harvey confirmed he’s no longer experiencing numbing sensations in his right throwing hand. 

“My hand was really cold all the time,” he said, per Rubin. “I’ve got some warmth back and no more tingling. The ball is coming out really good right now, especially for December.”

Harvey also expressed optimism regarding his ability to bounce back following a shaky statistical 2016 season precipitated by nerve issues. 

“I’d like to think so. Obviously I don’t have a crystal ball,” Harvey said, per Rubin. “The way things are feeling now, the way the body feels, I’m feeling great.”

In 17 starts last season, Harvey went 4-10 with a career-worst 4.86 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. In fact, it marked the first time in Harvey’s career that he posted an ERA above 3.00. 

Harvey, of course, is no stranger to rebounding following injury woes. 

The 2013 All-Star missed the entirety of the 2014 season after he was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery, but he rebounded in 2015 by going 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 188 strikeouts and 37 walks over the course of 29 starts. 

Based on that precedent and the steady rate at which Harvey has seemingly recovered over the past five months, it won’t be a surprise if he returns to the mound and assumes dominant form once again for a Mets team that will have its eyes on reclaiming the NL East crown. 

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