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With over 165 free agents on the market during the offseason in Major League Baseball, the winter months will certainly provide plenty of drama and excitement.

It’s the job of every MLB general manager to properly assess the value and worth of each free agent and determine if it makes sense to offer them a contract.

Signing free agents is not an exact science. So many factors can determine the success or failure of each signing. Injuries, poor performance, an inability to adjust to new surroundings—history is certainly filled with players who never performed up to their new contracts.

So, which of the free agents in this year’s class should general managers be wary about—and why?

Let’s take a look.

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Up until the 10th inning of Game 3 in the National League Division Series between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds, the Giants were hitting just .113 for the entire series.

Then the bats woke up.

Well, sort of.

Courtesy of Reds third baseman Scott Rolen, the Giants stayed alive in the series. Rolen’s second error of the series scored Buster Posey with the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th. Posey had reached with a single to lead off the inning, just the second hit in the game for the Giants.

While the normally sure-handed Rolen lent a helping hand—so to speak—the Giants are still pondering a complete lack of offense.

First, they’re completely confounded by Bronson Arroyo on Sunday, held to just one hit in seven innings. Tuesday night, Homer Bailey does the exact same, throwing a career-high 10 strikeouts to boot.

The Giants’ table-setters at the top of the lineup—Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro—are now a combined 2-for-24 in the series (.083). Pretty hard to score runs when your top two in the lineup provide that kind of impotence.

We are now seeing what is no doubt a troubling trend. Last year, the Giants posted the second-lowest team ERA in the majors, yet found themselves hitting the links in October because their offense was the second-worst in the majors.

This season, the pitching staff once again did their part, finishing seventh in the majors with a 3.68 ERA. The offense at least chipped in more than last year, scoring 718 runs to finish 12th in the majors.

However, it’s a punchless offense. The Giants finished dead last in the majors with 103 home runs. Only 31 of those came at home in AT&T Park. On Tuesday night, the Giants were saved by an error from a Gold Glove-winning third baseman. Thank heavens they didn’t need the long ball—Giants fans would have gone home disappointed.

Obviously, the spacious confines of AT&T Park don’t help the Giants’ cause offensively. Scoring just two runs in two home playoff games was clear evidence of that fact.

GM Brian Sabean clearly now needs to spend this offseason attracting some talent that can actually reach beyond the outfield with a few fly balls. Small ball isn’t working for the Giants. That’s now apparent.

It may work in the regular season against pitching staffs that aren’t playoff-caliber—not against a staff like the Reds, or even the Nationals or Cardinals, for that matter.

We saw what happens when a team relies completely on its pitching staff to carry it through the season. That’s why the Giants were sitting at home last October. This year, Sabean brought in some talent with Pagan, Melky Cabrera and later, Marco Scutaro and Hunter Pence.

Obviously, Cabrera’s new-found offense was fueled, and Pagan and Scutaro—while both are solid contributors—don’t have home-run power, especially at home. Ditto for Pence, who clubbed just seven homers in 59 games following his trade from the Phillies.

Sabean must find some power to complement his stellar pitching staff. Otherwise, even postseason appearances will be short-lived.

The Giants’ current season now falls on the shoulders of Barry Zito, who hasn’t started a postseason game since October 2006 with the Oakland A’s.

Lucky for Zito, he’ll have an offense hitting .126 to back him up.

Doug Mead is a featured columnist with Bleacher Report. His work has been featured on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, SF Gate, CBS Sports, the Los Angeles Times and the Houston Chronicle.

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The Baltimore Orioles are still working on locking down a postseason berth, either as the AL East Division champion or as a Wild Card participant. Either way, Orioles manager Buck Showalter will have a decision to make concerning the makeup of his postseason 25-man roster.

Several of the roster spots are already locked down. Adam Jones is the heart and soul of the offense, Jim Johnson is certainly a lock at the back end of the bullpen and several other players have no worries concerning their place on that roster. However, Showalter will have several key decisions to make concerning his bench, bullpen and final starting rotation.

Showalter and the Orioles are taking a game-by-game approach in the final days of the regular season. We will take a look at some of the decisions Showalter will be forced to make if the Orioles do in fact clinch their first postseason berth in 15 seasons.

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The business of signing MLB free agents comes down to several important factors, not the least of which is clutch play.

A player who shows the ability to step it up in the heat of a pennant race or in the postseason is invaluable to his team. One recent example is Texas Rangers pitcher Colby Lewis.

Lewis suffered through a spate of injuries and went to Japan to work on his game. Signed by the Texas Rangers in 2010, Lewis showed a marked improvement during the regular season, posting a 4.06 ERA between 2010 and 2011.

However, during the postseason, Lewis stepped up his game, posting a stellar 4-1 record and 2.34 ERA in eight starts during those two seasons.

The ability to shine in the postseason is a major plus for any player, particularly if they happen to be in the final year of their contract.

Here are 13 MLB players whose play in the month of October could earn them a big payday this coming offseason.

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For much of the early summer, Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Justin Upton was a hot topic of discussion, and it wasn’t for his performance on the field.

Upton had been rumored to be available with several teams reportedly interested. However, in late July, Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick said that Upton would not be dealt midseason.

Notice that he only covered the season. This offseason could be an entirely different story.

In his Monday blog for ESPN, Buster Olney again brought up Upton, citing rival executives as saying that Upton will likely be offered up for trade this winter.

Upton’s production is way down this year, hitting just 13 HR and 56 RBI after clubbing 31 HR with 88 RBI in 2011. His slash line of .272/.349/.407 is significantly lower than last year’s .289/.369/.529 as well.

Back in early July, Olney opined about whether or not health might have been a factor in the D-Backs’ apparent willingness to discuss a deal involving Upton. Upton has had issues with his left shoulder dating all the way back to 2006.

Still, at just 25 years of age, Upton is a major talent who will draw interest from several teams this offseason.

Here are six teams who could try to put together a package to deal for Upton.

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Now a full week into the final month of the season, several pennant races are taking shape in Major League Baseball.

As of Friday morning, half of the teams in MLB were still within 3.5 games of either a division title or a Wild Card slot, giving the promise of exciting play over the final few weeks.

Pennant races throughout the history of baseball have produced moments which are indelibly etched in the minds of its fans. Many can recall verbatim exactly how those plays transpired and the events leading up to those moments.

Bleacher Report will jog your memory and recall the 30 top MLB pennant-race moments in history.

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Now that the dust has started to settle on the just-ended MLB waiver-trade period, teams can get to the business of watching the fruits of their labor.

The month of August always presents a set of various issues for teams looking to make upgrades. The waiver process itself is the largest obstacle. For years now, teams in contention have used the month of August to gauge interest in players who could be possible trade chips, either during that month or in the offseason.

Buying teams have much to weigh when making deals as well: assuming the life of a player’s contract, weighing short-term vs. long-term impacts and hoping that the acquisition doesn’t mess with team chemistry.

This season, the month of August didn’t present a tremendous amount of movement, but one deal in particular will make it memorable indeed.

We will take a look at each trade made during the waiver-trade period and attach a grade for both teams involved. Obviously, current results won’t define each trade in the long run, so grades can certainly be seen as subjective in nature.

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Let’s be clear about one important fact about the Boston Red Sox—they are not rebuilding.

They are re-setting.

Rebuilding is what small market teams do. Rebuilding is what perennial losers do year after year. The Red Sox are neither of those.

With Ben Cherington’s bold statement on Saturday morning in unloading the contracts of Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett along with prized piece Adrian Gonzalez to the Los Angeles Dodgers, he simply hit the reset button.

By doing so, Cherington gives the Red Sox financial flexibility, something that clearly hamstrung the franchise with the three contracts that headed off to Hollywood.

Now, the question remains—what next?

Well, pitching should absolutely be the priority, considering that Red Sox starters rank 26th in the majors.

But other pieces will be needed as well, and one of those pieces just could be New York Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher.

The Boston Globe writer Nick Cafardo suggested in his Sunday Notes column that Swisher will be on the Red Sox radar, provided that he won’t ask for a Jason Werth-type deal. That’s exactly the type of contract that Cherington will be avoiding.

But a three-or-four year deal could certainly be palatable for a proven veteran like Swisher.

Here are five reasons why Swisher could be a great fit for the Red Sox.

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In the aftermath of the Melky Cabrera suspension last week, details have emerged that reveal a bizarre tale of lies and deception that was put together solely for the purpose of trying to exonerate Cabrera.

Cabrera and his associate were trying to take advantage of a loophole in the MLB drug testing policy in the same manner that Milwaukee Brewers Ryan Braun was able to successfully appeal his suspension last February.

The case is still under investigation, and by the time everything is said and done, Cabrera could have a lot more than just a 50-game suspension to worry about. Jail time could be quite possible.

Cabrera’s ludicrous attempt to lie his way out of his troubles brings to mind several other lies that were brought to light in other bizarre stories in MLB history as well.

Here are a few of them.

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In just under two weeks, the MLB waiver-trade period will expire, and rosters will be expanded to 40 players.

The month of August is always interesting, as GMs across MLB often use the waiver wire to gauge interest in players for a possible deal either during the month or during the upcoming offseason.

However, there are some players that just simply deserve to be put on waivers, either because of their bloated salaries or because of their poor play throughout the year.

Sometimes, it’s a combination of both.

Here are 10 players that should be placed on waivers, but likely won’t be.

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