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For as wonderful as the World Series was, the three-and-a-half months that immediately followed were just as mesmerizing. 

Armed with new front offices, and/or money and/or a directive to get instantly better before spring training, several clubs aggressively went about this last offseason with a makeover in mind.

The hot stove season was a blur of wheeling, dealing and one blockbuster acquisition after another. It started before the winter meetings, punched into overdrive once they started in San Diego in early December and finished off with a record-setting contract for the top free agent on the market, Max Scherzer, the completion of a stunning franchise transformation with James Shields’ signing with the Padres, and a record signing bonus for an international free agent, Yoan Moncada.

But for all the impressive moves that went down last offseason, there was one renovation that will produce the best results in 2015 and well beyond. The Los Angeles Dodgers not only made moves to get better on the field for this coming season, but the men in charge of making them—president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, senior vice president of baseball ops Josh Byrnes and general manager Farhan Zaidi—were also part of the franchise makeover that will pay dividends on and off the diamond.

“We obviously traded away some very good players tonight,” Friedman told reporters at a late-night press conference after trading Matt Kemp to San Diego at the winter meetings, part of his nine trades in his first 25 days at the helm. “But we feel with the totality of the moves, we made ourselves a better team.”

Not all the moves were met with complete praise. Dealing Kemp was a shock to the fanbase and what the Dodgers had become over the last six seasons, but it was a necessary move to clear the logjam in the outfield and, according to the front office, improve the clubhouse dynamic.

The overhaul was done decisively and with specific goals in mind. Friedman and Co. wanted to gain future payroll flexibility, which they did by moving Kemp’s expensive, long-term contract and acquiring expiring contracts in Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick to go with the expiring contract of Juan Uribe. They also wanted to eliminate the elephant in the corner of the clubhouse, one that created tension at times and uneasiness at others.

Trading Kemp and allowing Hanley Ramirez to leave via free agency meant getting rid of two alpha male personalities, one who dominated one corner and another who dominated the complete opposite corner of the team’s recently remodeled clubhouse.

“That was the most eye-opening thing,” catcher A.J. Ellis told CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman a few weeks ago. “For people allegedly only concerned about computer printouts, they’re taking a serious look at the character of people and what kind of culture they’re creating here.”

There was an on-the-field mandate as well. The Kemp trade that brought in catcher Yasmani Grandal and made way for center field prospect Joc Pederson, along with the acquisitions of shortstop Rollins and second baseman Kendrick, was done with defense in mind, specifically improving it.

Those moves could give the Dodgers one of the best up-the-middle defenses in the National League, starting with Grandal, who is also a massive offensive upgrade from Ellis. Rollins and Kendrick are also significant defensive spikes in the middle infield over Ramirez and Dee Gordon, who the Dodgers traded to the Miami Marlins, which eventually turned into the deal for Kendrick. Pederson is regarded as the best defensive outfielder in the organization as well as being a 30-30 guy at Class AAA Albuquerque.

The front office also filled out the rotation with Brandon McCarthy, who they believe can be a premium No. 4 starter now that he is out of Arizona and using his entire repertoire of pitches, and they attempted to redo a bullpen that was the team’s Achilles’ heel last year.

Guggenheim Baseball Management, the ownership group that features president Stan Kasten and figurehead Magic Johnson, took the first sledgehammer swing this offseason, luring Friedman and removing former GM Ned Colletti. Friedman then brought in Byrnes and Zaidi, along with scouting director Billy Gasparino and farm director Gabe Kapler.

Those men then sledged their way into making a 94-win club and two-time defending division champion better. Between the foul lines and behind closed doors, the Dodgers found a way to improve themselves.

In a sport where there are guaranteed contracts and no salary cap, front offices matter to an infinite degree. And where they grab headlines from Oakland to San Diego to Chicago to Boston, the Dodgers might have assembled the best of the bunch.

Congrats to Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi, Josh Byrnes, Gabe Kapler and Billy Gasparino #Dodgers #PowerHouseFrontOffice

— Jim Bowden (@JimBowden_ESPN) November 7, 2014

So when star players on the current roster exceed their prime and are no longer the best of the best, the Dodgers have positioned themselves for continued success. Wise, experienced, analytical and ridiculously aggressive, this front office has made the Dodgers’ overhaul the best in baseball.

And it will make it the best going beyond next October. 

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by the author. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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To deem a young player or prospect as “untouchable” can sometimes backfire.

Injuries occur. Plateauing performances before hitting the majors happen more often than not. Other opportunities present themselves and make that player less valuable to an organization. Any number of scenarios can turn a once-untouchable player into a relative bust, or simply expendable. 

So far, none of that has happened with Blake Swihart.

Swihart is a top-20 prospect across the board—according to Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus—and has become quite the household name in baseball circles. Not because he is the Boston Red Sox’s top prospect, or possibly the best catching prospect in the game, but because he is part of the reason the team still does not have an ace in its rotation and the main reason why Cole Hamels is still with the Philadelphia Phillies.

18 executives were asked to name 3 players they’d build an MLB team around. Blake Swihart received a vote. http://t.co/KDQMd2GMFa #Phillies

— Joe Giglio (@JoeGiglioSports) March 18, 2015

This has become a well-known hang-up, but ESPN.com baseball writer Jayson Stark was the latest to report that a deal for Hamels, which has been speculated about for months now, will not happen if Swihart is not part of the return package. And the Red Sox refuse to include him.

That means a deal is not done and probably won’t get done as long as the Phillies demand Swihart. With both sides holding their ground, it is not surprising, as Stark reports, zero headway has been made in trade talks between the two clubs.

“I hear it all the time, though. It’s kind of hard not to hear it,” Swihart told reporters, including Stark, of the rumors involving him in a trade for Hamels. “At the end of the day, though, I play for the Red Sox, and I want to play for the Red Sox. I like being here, and I like playing here.”

Clearly the Red Sox are doing everything to make sure that happens. And for his part, Swihart is doing a good job of proving the organization correct in how it values him.

The team optioned him back to Class AAA Pawtucket last week, which was expected. Swihart has played in only 18 games at that level and struggled. Going into his age-23 season—he turns 23 on April 3—he clearly needs more at-bats and seasoning before joining the Red Sox.

But during his time in the Grapefruit League this year, Swihart continued to make scouts drool, no matter what organization they represented. He went 7-for-18 with a home run, a walk and three strikeouts.

His defense is also developing as he is in his fourth year as a catcher, and Red Sox pitchers enjoyed throwing to him in camp, according to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald.

Red Sox manager John Farrell told reporters:

Blake came in and wasn’t just being happy to be in big league camp, but he came in to compete. He knows he is getting closer to becoming a major league player. When that time comes, who knows?

And I think there are some areas that we recognized he has to continue to develop, and that’s probably as much on the receiving side, some blocking. That’s ongoing maintenance for any catcher. But I thought he showed well—very well.

That Swihart is a catcher makes him more valuable than if he were, say, a second baseman or left fielder. His position is a premium one, and not one that every organization has success developing. That scouts see him as developing into someone who can play the position at the major league level, plus the fact that Swihart can hit, gives his overall value a massive boost.

But there is another interesting part to this equation, and one that makes us wonder if Swihart will be an “untouchable” for much longer.

Christian Vazquez is 24 and expected to break camp with the Red Sox, splitting time behind the plate with Ryan Hanigan this year. He has a 12-gauge arm and can frame a pitch beyond his experience level. And while he does not have the offensive upside Swihart does, he did post a .336 OBP in 270 plate appearances at Pawtucket last year, and his .308 OBP and 19 walks in 201 big league plate appearances shows the potential to get there for the Red Sox as well. 

Realistically, his peak is probably a lighter-hitting version of Yadier Molina, who is a workout partner for Vazquez during the offseason.

Of course, if Vazquez develops into that kind of defensive force, the Red Sox can always move Swihart to first base, but that is a discussion for another day. Currently he is a catcher with huge upside and massive trade value.

And this spring training did nothing to diminish that. It also solidified the organization’s decision to not include him in any trade talks this past offseason, and it is likely to hold that stance in the near future.

Swihart’s “untouchable” tag is an earned one, and this season it will be up to him to keep it attached while proving he deserves a major league promotion sooner rather than later.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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When Troy Tulowitzki is on the field, he is the best at what he does.

If he were on it more often, he would arguably be the game’s brightest superstar. On that, there should be no debate.

Tulowitzki is the best shortstop in baseball. He is the best all-around infielder in the game. He is one of the sport’s elite hitters as well. He is the kind of do-it-all player organizations fantasize about drafting.

When they do not, they dream about ways to trade for him, and at some point, the team that did draft him ought to seriously consider such a deal.

Tulowitzki understands that now more than ever.

“I think this offseason was the first time it really hit me, just because it was every single day and pretty hard,” he told reporters after reporting to Colorado Rockies spring training last month. “I do pay attention, and yeah, I saw my name being thrown all over.”

This is an athlete at a premium position who plays it exceedingly well—over the last eight seasons, he has been worth 84 defensive runs saved, per FanGraphs, and two Gold Gloves—and can hit like a corner infielder or outfielder. He is also signed through 2020 for $118 million, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, which makes him something of a bargain in baseball’s current economic market.

Consider that kind of production and the fact that the Rockies appear years away from seriously contending, and it’s easy to understand why teams would be feeling out Colorado’s interest in a swap. However, Tulowitzki is the biggest trade gamble on the market.

While he is a coveted target and would be a bargain if he produces, any team dealing for him would have to cross its fingers that Tulo is able to avoid injury and stay in the lineup.

He has missed 222 games over the last three seasons, playing in just 47 games in 2012 and 91 last year. He might have been on his way to the National League MVP Award in 2014 had hip surgery in August not ended his season. He was hitting .340/.432/.603 with a 1.035 OPS, 21 home runs and a 171 OPS-plus, per Baseball-Reference.com, when the hip put him on the shelf.

For his career, Tulowitzki has missed 334 games—more than two full seasons—because of injuries, some serious and some nagging, according to Baseball Prospectus’ injury data. He has had two major season-ending surgeries—the hip last year and one to repair a groin injury in 2012.

Because of all his time sidelined, Tulowitzki’s career has become known for time missed and what he could be if healthy rather than what he has actually done while on the field. He is aware of the stigma.

“I’ve gone to lengths and lengths to try to figure this thing out,” the Rockies shortstop said of his infamous injury history. “I’m not going to quit. I’m not going to quit trying until I find that right recipe.”

The Rockies desperately need him to figure it out, because they have not finished higher than third in the NL West since 2009 and have averaged nearly 93 losses a season over the last four years.

Even with Tulowitzki present and accounted for in their lineup, the Rockies are not a contender in the NL West. That is why they need him healthy, not for their own benefit, but so they can showcase him as a healthy superstar. Only then can they get a premium return package in what would be a blockbuster trade either this season or during the next offseason.

Such a trade would allow the franchise to move forward with younger, promising players while opening up payroll.

The problem is that the Rockies believe they can compete with Tulowitzki healthy. That is why trade talks with teams like the New York Mets never went far, assuming they got off the ground at all last offseason.

Meanwhile, deals to Tulowitzki’s preferred destinations—the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco Giants, per CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman—were never realistic options, as a compensatory package for the shortstop would be nearly impossible to agree upon given his injury history.

The Yankees and Dodgers are on top of SS Troy Tulowitzki’s trade wish list.

— SportsBlogNewYork (@SportBlogNYC) November 11, 2014

“We kept him because, one, we believe in him,” Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich told Tyler Kepner of The New York Times. “Two, he’s the best shortstop in the game, when he’s on the field. That’s pretty easy to see. There’s actually not that much competition for that moniker. There’s a couple of guys you could bring up, but it’s him, and it’s a premium position.” 

That is exactly why the Rockies should move Tulowitzki. He is a rare commodity, maybe the only one of his kind, and he could fetch a foundation for a serious rebuild—if he is healthy.

Bridich was smart not to trade him over the winter. He would have been selling too low on a player capable of being one of the top five in the game. It is better to let his best player showcase himself when he’s healthy and productive, then strike on a market absent of Tulowitzki’s kind of talent.

This coming season is critical for the Rockies and Tulowitzki. They need him on the field and performing at an elite level, not so they can win games now, but so they can build a promising future.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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The Tommy John surgery dragon just keeps blowing fire on the hopes of teams across the land. The New York Mets and Zack Wheeler are its latest victims. 

While the Mets and Wheeler downplayed his barking elbow over the last weekend, everyone involved kept their fingers crossed that it was nothing more than a spring training flare-up. But in all honesty, this is an era in which any elbow pain brings about the worst fear, one that used to be a rarity just a decade ago.

The Mets understood this throughout the offseason, as Wheeler had two MRIs and a PRP injection over the winter. Plus, he complained of elbow pain in January.

Zack Wheeler torn ligament. Sounds like Tommy John surgery. #mets

— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) March 16, 2015

The Mets front office, led by general manager Sandy Alderson, shut its ears to all the hollering to trade for an established shortstop, another offensive threat or bullpen help. It adhered to the adage, “You Can Never Have Too Much Pitching,” because this is a time when Tommy John surgery snipes pitchers with unprecedented precision. The team refused to deal from its surplus, which will help absorb losing Wheeler, which the Mets realized was a possibility and part of the thought process all along.

Pitching was one of the team’s strengths coming into this season. A team doesn’t jump toward evaporating that prematurely even when it finds itself in the Mets’ situation of getting back its ace, Matt Harvey, from an injury.

That did not stop Dillon Gee from becoming a frequent flier in trade rumors. He was linked to several teams over the winter, but Alderson always understood how important it was to have pitching depth—not just with Gee, but also with guys like Bartolo Colon, who is in the final year of his contract, and Jon Niese.

“This possibility or a possibility of something like [Wheeler’s injury] is probably a reason we’ve been hesitant to trade pitching in general,” Alderson told Mike Vorkunov of NJ.com. “This is what happens with pitching. You see guys going down all over the place. I think it’s why we’ve been hesitant to trade any of our pitching depth.”

The Mets have one of the deepest pitching prospect pools in the game today and a group of major league pitchers still competing for a spot in the Opening Day rotation. Top-level depth with arms like Gee, Colon and Niese obviously becomes invaluable now, and the Mets will likely deploy that line of defense before dipping into their prospect bushel sooner than they might have wanted.

Educated guess, #Mets‘ Opening Day rotation will look something like this: 1. Niese/deGrom 2. deGrom/Niese 3. Harvey 4. Colon 5. Gee

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) March 16, 2015

Baseball America ranks four pitchers in the team’s top 10 prospects—much of the big league depth is also homegrown—with right-hander Noah Syndergaard ranking No. 1 and lefty Steven Matz at No. 2.

Neither of those prospects has made his major league debut, but 2015 promotions were already on the table before Wheeler’s injury. Now, with pitching considered the team’s strength and with Harvey back in the fold after his own Tommy John procedure, those prospects are a bigger part of the grand picture and could take on a more prominent role when they arrive.

Their major league timetables probably won’t be dramatically pushed up because of Wheeler’s injury, but their time in spring training becomes even more valuable as the Mets evaluate their readiness.

Sandy didn’t rule out Matz or Syndergaard on roster. It will be discussed. I don’t think it’s likely. My sense: Noah would get 1st call.

— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) March 16, 2015

Rafael Montero, 24, is rated eighth on that Baseball America top-10 list. The Mets debuted him last May, called him back in August and again in September. He pitched 44.1 innings, 43 of them as a starter. In his eight starts, he allowed 19 earned runs (3.98 ERA) and eight home runs. He is likely to start the season at Triple-A Las Vegas.

Marcos Molina, 20, is the No. 10 prospect but has yet to pitch above Low-A.

Wheeler’s loss hurts regardless of the major or minor league depth. The 24-year-old, who was the key piece of the blockbuster deadline trade that sent Carlos Beltran to the San Francisco Giants in 2011, was part of a 1-2-3 combination the Mets felt could be one of the best in the National League, fronted by Harvey and reigning NL Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom.

Wheeler scuffled during the first three months of last season, but he turned it on midway through and went 8-3 with a 2.71 ERA in his final 16 starts. The Mets figured he would be a pillar of their rotation for years to come, starting with this one.

That plan will have to be pushed back now. Wheeler will miss all of 2015, and that is a gut shot to the team’s already slight playoff hopes. But the Mets can roll with it. 

Alderson elected all offseason to keep the team’s pitching depth, both in the minors and in the majors. That decision is already paying off before Opening Day and is the reason the Mets can still sell the possibility of meaningful October baseball.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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Cliff Lee has sent Ruben Amaro Jr. his much-needed wake-up call.

Now it is up to Amaro to actually wake up.

Lee is the Philadelphia Phillies former ace and currently a 36-year-old left-hander whose balky elbow has him face to face with the end of his successful career. Amaro is the Phillies’ general manager and currently the man who still has not traded his one strong bargaining chip and current left-handed ace, Cole Hamels.

But Amaro should not be that guy for much longer. He should move Hamels in the near future if not immediately. And if he keeps Hamels longer than that, then he should cease to be the team’s GM. Either way, Amaro should not be that guy for much longer.

Don’t hold any precious breaths waiting for that to happen, though. Lee’s career-threatening elbow injury is not going to push Amaro into trading Hamels, and apparently, neither is any other injuries to pitchers on other clubs.

“Nope,” Amaro told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark when asked if his asking price on Hamels has softened after Lee’s injury. “Why would it change? No reason to change it.

“I don’t know what our ‘stance’ on Cole is. Others have ‘stances,’ I guess, for us. I guess other people must think we have a ‘stance.’ Our ‘stance’ is that we’re open-minded. And that hasn’t changed one bit.”

But open-minded in Amaro’s world seems to differ from common folk.

Here is the Cole Hamels Situation, or “stance,” as we have come to know it since last July at the non-waiver trade deadline: Amaro has refused and will continue to refuse any trade offer for his ace that does not completely knock him off his designer loafers.

Many Rival evaluators find PHI asks on their players to be greatly overpriced within the context of the current market, as they did in July.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 19, 2014

The inherent injury risk of hanging onto Hamels does not even register into Amaro’s thinking.

“There’s no lesson learned from Lee’s situation because it’s a totally different situation. One guy is hurt. The other guy is completely healthy,” Amaro dissected to Stark.

“All pitchers can get hurt. All players can get hurt. It can happen any time,” Amaro later added. “That has nothing to do with the way we go about our business, [by] planning for a player to get hurt. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Understandable. You do not “plan” for a player’s injury without any pre-existing knowledge that he is prone to having one, which is Hamels’ situation. Still, trading your most valuable asset at his highest value in order to fully kick-start your team’s rebuild is not the same as planning for injury.

It is just wise, especially when we have now learned over the last eight and a half months that Amaro’s dream package is not dropping onto his doorstep. And if it does between now and next July 31, it likely means that the pieces he covets have significantly lost value to their current organizations, which also does not bode well for the Phillies.

The teams the Phillies have flirted with—the Red Sox, the Rangers, the Yankees, the Padres—have aggressive but analytical front offices. If they are unwilling to part with key prospects at this point, especially when they lack a true ace (Red Sox) or have just lost one for the season (Rangers), their minds are unlikely to change. This becomes particularly true next offseason when you consider the crop of available starting pitchers might be the deepest in the history of free agency.

And if Amaro hangs onto Hamels beyond this coming July, his value drops dramatically with three years instead of four on his contract, another year of age and mileage on his arm and plenty of other options on the market that do not cost high-end prospects.

“Again, if there were deals that we felt were appropriate for us to move forward, then we would,” Amaro told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com last month before Lee was hurt and before the Rangers lost Yu Darvish to Tommy John surgery. “So far some of the deals that we’ve discussed with some of our players have not yielded what we’ve wanted to do. And in some cases, we feel like we’re better off staying with the players that we have for a variety of different reasons. We’ll move forward accordingly.”

But what forward is there to move toward without a trade for Hamels? The team has no other pieces worth salivating over, and it is clearly not in a position to win anytime soon, with or without Hamels. Hamels understands this and has stopped barely short of asking for a trade to a contender during this spring training.

So instead of waiting for the eye-popping prospect package, which is just not available these days like it was when the Rangers traded Mark Teixeira in 2007, the Phillies ought to seek their best available offer as soon as possible and be done with this cloud of constant speculation.

At one point this offseason, we all saw Lee, if healthy and effective, as a trade piece at some point before August. That option has been erased.

Now, Lee is a simply a reminder of one of the possible risks of hanging onto Hamels too dearly. His injury is not the reason Hamels should be traded but more of a notice of what could happen in a worst-case world.

The reason for a Hamels trade has long been upon us considering the Phillies have lost 259 games in the last three seasons. And until now, Amaro has engaged in the kind of hardball no other MLB executive is willing to play, and it is costing his franchise valuable time in its attempt to regain relevancy.

Lee’s elbow is Amaro’s alarm sounding. The Phillies now have to hope his snooze button is broken.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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The expectations placed on George Springer have never been higher. 

As a college player at Connecticut, they were already on the rise. After the Houston Astros drafted him 11th overall in 2011, those expectations again grew, and by the time he finished his second full minor league season in 2013 with a .303/.411/.600 line to go with a 1.010 OPS, 37 home runs and 108 RBI, he was a potential star.

Last year, Springer started fulfilling that potential as a major league slugger. Now, with the start of this season less than a month away, expectations surrounding the 25-year-old Springer have completely spiked.

The reason: His breakout 2014 with the Astros has put him on the brink of superstardom. Hitting 20 home runs in 78 games and compiling an .804 OPS as a rookie will do that in a game starved for offense.

“Success definitely breeds confidence,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch told reporters Thursday. “But … you ride that momentum when you can, and dwell on it just enough to take the good out of it without the undue pressure.”

That pressure is going to be difficult for Springer to hide from in his sophomore season.

He started 2014 at Triple-A Oklahoma City, but after just 13 games the Astros realized Springer needed no more minor league seasoning. As the sport’s No. 18 overall prospect prior to last season, as rated by Baseball America, Springer hit .353/.459/.647 with a 1.106 OPS and three home runs in those 13 contests.

It was enough for the Astros to call up their top major league-ready prospect despite no realistic expectations to contend.

“Offensively, he’s been heating up the last week or so, and we want to get a guy when he’s hot,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said upon Springer’s mid-April promotion, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.

The hot stretch did not bleed into the big leagues right away. Springer compiled a .180 average with 23 strikeouts, five walks and no home runs through his first 15 games (67 plate appearances).

But as the season crept into May, Springer found a stride, birthing this new edition of sky-high expectations.

Starting with a quiet 1-for-3 day on May 5, Springer proceeded to hit .333/.434/.762 with 10 homers and four doubles in 22 games. The league named him the AL’s Rookie of the Month for May, and while his slash line dipped, he still flashed his trademark power with six more homers in June and four more in July despite playing just 13 games in that final month.

A quad strain cut off Springer’s season on July 20, an injury that he tweaked during his rehab stint in August. He ended up ranking second among all rookies with those 20 home runs, third with 51 RBI and fifth with his .804 OPS.

There were also obvious flaws. And it is those, if not remedied, that could stall his climb to becoming baseball’s next young superstar.

Springer struck out 114 times last year, or once in about every three plate appearances, and hit .231/.336/.468. Also keep in mind that a near-league-average .294 BABIP helped his batting average, and his swinging-strike percentage (18.2) was second-worst in the AL among players with at least 300 plate appearances. His overall contact rate of 61 percent was worst in the league.

Plus he did not take full advantage of his power because he hit more ground balls (45.4 percent) than fly balls (39.3).

George Springer has 5 games with 4+ strikeouts this year. The whole rest of MLB has just 89, and no other player has more than 2.

— High Heat Stats MLB (@HighHeatStats) July 19, 2014

I love George Springer but want to see him cut back on the strikeouts, career to date: 239 strikeouts per 162 games.

— Ace of MLB Stats (@AceballStats) July 10, 2014

If those trends continue, Springer’s value could greatly diminish over the course of a full season. That will be especially true if his BABIP fluctuates downward, which it can from year to year.

The failures are something Springer understands, and while they might have frustrated him at times, he believes they are part of his path to eventual success.

“I wouldn’t change a thing,” Springer told The Associated Press. “In order to succeed, you have to fail first, and I think I was able to learn from the failure and the hardships. I learned a lot about myself and about the game.

“My dad used to say that adversity introduces a man to himself, and that really stuck with me. It’s not about how you fail, but how you handle it.”

As the Astros’ rebuild continues to take its eventual form, Springer is already establishing himself as a major part of it. While players like Carlos Correa, Mark Appel and Colin Moran, among other prospects, are still making their way to the big leagues, the Astros were 29-30 in Springer’s final 59 games—starting with the game he hit his first homer—showing that he is a major part of their success now and in the future.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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Uncertainty surrounds the Detroit Tigers. 

It has since the end of their virtually nonexistent postseason run last October when they were swept by the Baltimore Orioles, and it became more prevalent as the offseason saw their offensive stars, Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez, go under the knife. And just because spring training is off and running, the question marks will not subside.

However, while the murkiness might start with the health and performance of veterans, including pitchers David Price, Anibal Sanchez and Justin Verlander, it does not end there. It ends with, and could be cleared up by, some of the team’s youth performing throughout the lineup.

While J.D. Martinez provided that boost last season, this year the Tigers are looking to players like Jose Iglesias, Nick Castellanos, Anthony Gose and possibly Steven Moya. Even Yoenis Cespedes could be a surprise contributor if he becomes more than just a bopper.

Whoever it might be, the Tigers need at least one of them to prove he is a major league offensive force to alleviate any potential health or production concerns that seem inevitable for this club, not to mention the loss of pitcher Max Scherzer in free agency and Rick Porcello as part of the trade that landed Cespedes from the Boston Red Sox.

Aside from Martinez, this spring has given Gose an early stage to shine. And while we are only about a week into games, what he has done is still impressive.

In 14 Grapefruit League at-bats, Gose has eight hits, a double, a triple, two walks and is 3-for-3 stealing bases. He has also created havoc on the bases with his speed, drawing errant pickoff throws and forcing errors while running the bases when the ball is in play.

Anthony Gose stole another run. This time, by going second-to-third on the throw back to the mound. Then by going third-to-home on an error.

— anthony fenech (@anthonyfenech) March 9, 2015

While this is promising for a player who is expected to be a platooning center fielder when the season starts, Gose, 24, understands about not getting too high on spring training results or seeing himself as the full-time guy out there.

“It’s spring training,” Gose told The Detroit News’ Chris McCosky. “It’s been four days. If I’m doing this at the All-Star break, then come talk to me.”

Gose is a long way from that point, especially when you consider he has had a full season’s worth of plate appearances in the big leagues—616 spread over three years—and produced a .234/.301/.332 line. All of those appearances came while with the Toronto Blue Jays before the Tigers traded for him in November.

The other man the Tigers are counting on this season, and to fill a much more prominent and permanent role, is 25-year-old shortstop Jose Iglesias. As a 23-year-old second-year player with the Red Sox and Tigers in 2013, Iglesias showed a ton of promise by hitting .303/.349/.386 over 382 plate appearances, most of them with Boston when he hit .330/.376/.409 in 63 games.

He was traded at the deadline of that season in the three-team deal that sent Jake Peavy to the Red Sox. But since that half-season with the Tigers, Iglesias has not played a single inning. He missed all of last season with stress fractures in both shins, and, of course, the Tigers felt his pain as their shortstops hit a league-worst .223 and played poor defense.

Hope for Iglesias is once again prevalent this spring as he is healthy—he had a minor scare last week when he was hit by a batting-practice line drive in, of all places, his shin—and expects to be productive.

“He doesn’t look like he’s missed a year of baseball,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus told Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown last week. “I really don’t think missing a year is going to be an issue.”

If it is not, and Iglesias can return to being a .300 hitter and the kind of threat who gets on base nearly 38 percent of the time, he will go a long way in easing any time Cabrera or Martinez might miss.

While Moya, 23, probably will head to the minors for some more seasoning, another 23-year-old, Castellanos, is around to stay as long as he is reasonably productive. Last year, in his first full season in the majors, he was about that with a 93 OPS-plus, although he was worth a minus-1.5 WAR (Baseball-Reference) because of shoddy defense.

The Tigers need more from him this year. While ZiPS projects him to again be awful defensively—minus-12 runs saved—it also believes he can reach 17 home runs, 77 RBIs, with a .335 weighted OBA and a 108 OPS-plus. If he can give them at least that kind of production and outdo his low defensive projections, he will become a solid contributor in a lineup that needs every piece of certainty it can get going forward.

For all their injury concerns, potential declines and regression, and future uncertainty—Price, the ace, can be a free agent after this season—the Tigers remain the favorites in the American League Central for 2015. That would give them a fifth consecutive division title, but the gap between them and the rest is closing.

The Chicago White Sox improved. The Cleveland Indians might have the best rotation in baseball. The Kansas City Royals will be defending their pennant after missing a World Series title by one mighty whack of the bat. Even the Minnesota Twins should be slightly better than they were last season, if nothing else.

That kind of competition means the Tigers will no longer roll through the Central, and it will require one of the aforementioned young players to become a significant contributor this summer. They might not need to do the heavy lifting, but they will have to at least carry their own weight.

If the Tigers get that production from one or more of them, a fifth straight postseason ticket will undoubtedly be punched.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

A team’s fortunes over the course of a six-month season typically hinge on more than one factor, but depending on how critical said factor is, that one wild card can affect things greatly.

It can be a good or bad performance. It can be a health issue, for better or worse. It can be how a player bounces back from an injury or a poor previous season. It can even be how a player produces during the ever-important contract year.

Whatever the case or reason, these are players who can greatly impact their teams, their division races and even World Series chances depending on how they turn. That is why they become important pieces in determining how their league’s landscapes play out.

This year, there is no lack of such examples. Every team has at least a couple of these X-factors, and they have the potential to make or derail an entire season depending on how they break.

For 2015, these are some of the most important variables. Either way they go, they will all have a significant impact on their team’s year.

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This news rarely turns in the other direction. 

The Texas Rangers might not know for sure yet, as Yu Darvish discussed (via Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News), but the sprain in his ulnar collateral ligament is likely to lead to Tommy John surgery. He will be done for this season.

With that continues the Rangers’ misfortune of injuries and probably ends their chances at postseason baseball in 2015. It also continues a baseball epidemic—we are not using that diagnosis lazily—that has seen elbows fail again and again, with Matt Harvey and Jose Fernandez, two of baseball’s brightest stars, the latest in a dense line of promising or established arms.

Now, Darvish. The New York Times‘ Tyler Kepner provided Jon Daniels’ comments regarding how promising Darvish looked “early in camp”:

Jon Daniels on Yu Darvish, who is likely headed for TJ surgery: “He couldn’t have looked better early on in camp….He looked like himself.”

— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) March 7, 2015

Maybe it’s been lost on baseball-watching America because it hasn’t seen much of Darvish in the last year, either because of injury or his team’s irrelevance. But this guy is legit. In an age of pitcher revival, Darvish is an ace.

Since arriving in America prior to the 2012 season, Darvish has struck out hitters at a double-digit-per-nine-inning rate, been an All-Star three times and could undoubtedly be classified as elite.

“When he’s right, he’s one of the best in the game,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick. “That much is clear. You’re talking about a guy who’s a year removed from being second in the Cy Young voting. It speaks for itself.”

Darvish is now part of the franchise’s ongoing problem. Again.

The Rangers are coming off one of the most injury-struck seasons in recent memory, one that took them from contenders to about the worst record in baseball, and Darvish was a part of the ugly run. Now, after a snag that was hopefully no more than a triceps bug, the Texas ace is likely gone until May 2016 if surgery is needed.

Major League Baseball has taken on the Pitch Smart initiative, which vows, “A series of practical, age-appropriate guidelines to help parents, players and coaches avoid overuse injuries and foster long, healthy careers for youth pitchers.”

But as a culture, worldwide, we are well beyond that for entire generations of pitchers. Harvey, Fernandez and Stephen Strasburg are examples that immediately stick out. Young pitchers all of them. But Darvish is 28, going on 29 by the end of this season. He was supposed to be clear of this sort of trauma. Yet here he is, another casualty of a baseball problem that is far bigger than pace of play or the length of the season.

Darvish is done now. He is the latest. He will not be the last.

And the Rangers are left to continue cleaning up a mess they believed to be tidy.

Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo and even Darvish. The Rangers expected more from them all, at least in terms of them being on the playing surface. But with this Darvish news, spoiling the playoff hopes of the Los Angeles Angels or Seattle Mariners or Oakland A’s is about the best they can hope for.

Last year the Rangers lost 2,116 days to the disabled list, according to Jeff Zimmerman of Hardball Times. That total is the most in the majors, dating back to 2002, and Darvish is likely going to add 162 days to their 2015 total before 2015 even begins, and one-time top prospect Jurickson Profar, who already added 162 last season, could add up to four months to the tally. 

Fielder is healthy. So is Choo. Adrian Beltre is a steady force, and Elvis Andrus will again be counted on. Yovani Gallardo is in the fold, and Derek Holland should be ready to fill his rotation spot once the season starts.

But none of that really matters. Darvish was the key. He was the ace most slumping teams do not have, the guy the Rangers would lean on every fifth game.

There are options to replace Darvish, sure. The Rangers have been interested in Cole Hamels in the past, according to The Dallas Morning News, and now Dillon Gee is an option. So is Cliff Lee. But at this point, does it make much sense? Is it worth giving up a top prospect or two to have what you had just days before? Can the franchise justify moving out a player like Jake Thompson or Jorge Alfaro, two of its best prospects, just to replace Darvish?

No. Because Hamels or Lee or Gee will not make the Rangers a contender. Maybe one of them along with Darvish and Gallardo would have, but that is no longer a plausible scenario.

Anytime an awakening of the Rangers was discussed this offseason, it started with Darvish. Now it ends with his faulty right elbow.

A season after losing Harvey and Fernandez, baseball faces a 2015 without Darvish, stars all of them. It is a true epidemic, and this season already has a feeling of “here we go again” for fans and the Rangers.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Officially, Alex Rodriguez is more than one week into his return. Unofficially, we have learned nothing.

Rodriguez returned to New York Yankees spring training camp—and Major League Baseball—last week after a yearlong suspension stemming from his involvement with Biogenesis. He has been in camp for about two weeks, but Yankees position players did not have to officially report until Feb. 25.

Since making his way to the team’s complex in Tampa, Florida, A-Rod has angered the brass by not telling them he was arriving at camp, acknowledged his use of performance-enhancing drugs, skillfully danced around other questions, played in a couple of games and shown no clear signs if he will truly be able to contribute to the team’s lineup this season.

None of this is really news.

Then again…

Good morning, Alex Rodriguez. From your friends at the @nypost: pic.twitter.com/wAWaW52yZB

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) March 5, 2015

Just about everything A-Rod does is backpage fodder in New York. A hoard of reporters documents his every movement, what he eats for breakfast and lunch, how many practice swings he takes in the on-deck circle and how long he stands in a parking lot and answers questions. Oh, and of course, his wardrobe—a University of Miami track suit on Day 1, if you were wondering. 

But what have we learned that is actually newsworthy over the last dozen days?

For starters, Rodriguez’s acknowledgement of playing the game dirty was not his first. And he has clearly been well-coached on how to field related questions, which is why his answers were not a surprise, but they were better than a “no comment.”

Rodriguez was asked on his second day in camp about playing without a PED boost, and he managed to take on the question as much as one can while also ducking it.

“I think I’m fine, yeah,” Rodriguez told reporters. “But only time will tell.”

What his time in Tampa will not tell, though, is if he is ready for regular-season major league at-bats. This is a man who looked beat the last time we saw him in a batter’s box, and then he took a full year off, plus he’s had two hip surgeries and will hit 40 this summer. So unless he is completely overmatched during the Grapefruit League, it won’t be possible to make an accurate judgment.

However, looking at Rodriguez’s first spring training game Wednesday, pre and postgame, there were some interesting comments from the once-surefire Hall of Famer.

The first came prior to that game, and was the kind of admission A-Rod usually does not lay out.

“I’ll be a little nervous,” Rodriguez said about being back on the field. “I haven’t been in front of my—our—fans, for a long time. I’m excited about that. I have some challenges ahead.”

A new, more humble Rodriguez then went out and tallied a single and a walk in that first spring training game as the Yankees’ designated hitter. Afterward, there was another snippet that no one is used to coming from such a once-confident hitter.

“I was happy I just made contact,” Rodriguez said. “I was pleasantly surprised it was a base hit.”

This is not the A-Rod we have come to know and love/loathe, this one with the humbleness, meekness and modesty. And if we ever happened to hear it in the past, we all knew he was saying it to portray himself as an everyday man of the people, which he most certainly was not.

But this time felt more genuine, as if Rodriguez actually were surprised he singled in a spring training game.

A-Rod from even two years ago would not have been “pleasantly surprised” about anything he achieved on a baseball diamond. But now, a routine spring training base hit registers as such.

So, if we learned anything over Rodriguez’s first 12 days at Yankees camp, it is that he is just as curious as all of us to find out how he matches up with other major leaguers at this point in his career.

He understands where he was before the suspension, more than any analyst or player or coach, and that he is older now and with a season missed recently behind him. He knows he is no longer the greatest hitter ever to play the sport and that it’s not going to come flooding back to him. Ever.

And this is really all we could have learned in this short time. Rodriguez was either going to come back cocky and defiant, or he was going to be humble. With some advice from his PR people, undoubtedly, Rodriguez made the right decision this time.

There is still about a month to go in this camp. We will wait and see if this Rodriguez sticks around, and if we can ever glean anything from how he performs while knowing he is a mere mortal.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com