Kuzul

Teams that have patiently waited out the free-agent market in hopes that prices would fall are in luck. Even those teams that may not have been strategically planning for a last-minute acquisition could have a bargain fall into their laps in the near future. 

Late last offseason, the Cleveland Indians landed Michael Bourn at a discounted rate in mid-February, while the Milwaukee Brewers didn’t sign Kyle Lohse until late March at a team-friendly rate of $11 million per season over three years.

There are several impact players still available on the free-agent market this time around and not enough interested teams to drive the price up. Here are the top eight last-minute values. 

Begin Slideshow

Aside from those that will eventually add free agents Nelson Cruz, Stephen Drew, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana, teams are done adding impact players, and we now have a pretty good idea of the core talent that each will head into the 162-game season with.

Based on this, we can now make a well-educated guess on which teams are the World Series favorites. If it were only that simple.

At this time last year, Bleacher Report’s Doug Mead posted his World Series odds for all 30 teams with the Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels the top four most likely to win it all, in that order. 

While it would be hard to find much of an argument with those odds at the time, none of those four teams even made the playoffs while the team with 13th-best odds, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the team with the 16th-best odds, the Boston Red Sox, were the finalists. 

This is why they play the 162-game schedule. Baseball is unpredictable, and all 30 teams have a fighting chance to make the playoffs.

It’s still fun, however, to look at the teams’ projected rosters and play out the season in our heads. When I did that, here were the four mostly likely World Series matchups I came up with. 

Begin Slideshow

After proving that he was deserving of a bigger opportunity with a strong performance in a utility role in 2012, Matt Carpenter took full advantage once the St. Louis Cardinals handed him the starting second base job last season. His age-27 season resulted in an All-Star selection, Silver Slugger Award and fourth-place finish in MVP voting. That’s what you call a “breakout performance.”

While he may have put himself on the radar the previous season, his 2013 “breakout,” which included a league-leading 55 doubles, placed him on a whole new level.  

Here is one 2014 breakout candidate from each team, who has a chance to be viewed in a whole different light by the end of the season. 

Begin Slideshow

A successful baseball season usually consists of a team having a lot more players meeting or exceeding expectations than those who fall short. In most cases, at least one or two of those players will perform way above and beyond what anyone could have imagined. For the 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers, that was Yasiel Puig.

After signing a seven-year, $42 million free-agent deal in June 2012 just a few months after defecting from Cuba, Puig didn’t exactly come out of nowhere last season. But, with only 23 minor league games played between the Dodgers’ Arizona rookie-level team and High-A Rancho Cucamonga, it would’ve been difficult to find many people who thought he would make much of an impact at all in his first full season as a pro. 

That sentiment likely changed, however, after a monster spring training performance (30-for-58, 3 HR, 5 2B, 2 3B, 11 RBI, 4 SB) when he nearly forced himself onto the Opening Day roster. After posting a .982 OPS with eight homers and 13 stolen bases in 40 Double-A games to start the season, he was called up to the majors in early June.

If there were any questions about whether Puig, who struck out 11 times without drawing a walk in the spring, would be able to hit major league pitching, they were answered immediately. 

It wasn’t until his 35th big league game that his average finally dipped below .400 and, aside from the NLCS when St. Louis Cardinals pitching held him in check for the most part (5-for-22, 3B, BB, 10 K), he never really showed any signs of struggle to hit big league pitching. Puig finished his rookie year with a .925 OPS, 19 homers, 21 doubles and 11 stolen bases in 104 games. He was also second in NL Rookie of the Year voting and 15th in MVP voting. 

With Puig on the big league roster, the Dodgers went 69-38 to finish the regular season. Several factors coincided with the team’s impressive run, but none had a bigger impact than Puig‘s arrival. 

The result is that the 23-year-old will enter his second big league season with a mountain of expectations. Will he continue to put up superstar numbers despite teams having much more in-depth scouting reports on him? Or will he come back down to earth?

By “come back down to earth,” I mean that flaws in his offensive game will be exposed, and he’ll be prone to extended slumps as he tries to make the proper adjustments to pitchers who have attacked his weaknesses. There would still be plenty of highly productive weeks or even months. But over a 162-game season, there would be extreme peaks and valleys as opposed to the four months of excellence he produced in 2013.

While that doesn’t mean Puig will be a mediocre player or even an average regular, the reality is that it’s extremely difficult to do what he did over the course of a full season. Only a small percentage of big league hitters can be counted on for that type of production year in and year out. 

And we certainly can’t rule Puig out from being in that group. He’s obviously capable of doing it over a majority of the season, though the lack of information available on him had to work to his advantage, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if teams have a plan of attack for the right-handed hitting slugger based on any weaknesses that might have been revealed in 2013.

If he’s the type of player who can put up just very good numbers that are All-Star worthy—think .800 OPS, 25 HR, 30 2B and 15 SB to go along with a high strikeout total—as opposed to the MVP-caliber numbers he was on pace for last year, are the Dodgers in for a letdown as they head into the 2014 season with World Series aspirations? 

As good as its projected 25-man roster is on paper, this is not a team without concerns. Puig‘s arrival last June catapulted a team that appeared dead in the water at 23-32.

The manager and the general manager were on the hot seat. Several key players, including Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez (pictured), were dealing with injuries. The lack of depth in the upper minors had been exposed. Adrian Gonzalez, as good of an all-around player as he still is, hasn’t been the type of hitter who can carry a team on his back for weeks at a time as he did with the San Diego Padres a few years back.

Ramirez’s return to health was a huge part of the Dodgers’ emergence, as was Andre Ethier’s return to form after an awful start to the year. Moving Kenley Jansen into the closer role proved to be an integral move. The acquisition of Ricky Nolasco certainly helped.

But without Puig, the Dodgers may have never recovered, and there’s a good chance they’d have a new manager and general manager running the show right now. 

So what can go wrong in 2014? Every team in the majors has question marks. They all can be good if a certain number of factors can occur. A team like the Astros or Marlins would need too many stars to align in order to compete for a playoff spot. But it could happen. The teams with the best chance just have a lot less “what ifs.”

For the Dodgers to not have to count on Puig carrying the team on his back once again, they’ll need at least a good percentage of the following things to happen: 

1) Hanley Ramirez stays healthy.

2) Matt Kemp returns to full health.

3) Juan Uribe, who was re-signed to a two-year deal after a solid 2014 season, won’t revert to his 2011-2012 form (.552 OPS).

4) Cuban second baseman Alexander Guerrero, who signed a four-year, $28 million deal this offseason, won’t be a bust.

5) Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke avoid the disabled list.  

6) Dan Haren pitches like he did in the second half of last season (3.52 ERA) and not the first half (5.61 ERA). 

7) Chad Billingsley returns from Tommy John surgery in the second half and gives the rotation a shot in the arm down the stretch.

8) Josh Beckett returns to health and gives the Dodgers a solid No. 5 starter in their rotation early in the season.

That’s a pretty extensive list, especially for a team that is widely regarded as one of the top World Series contenders. If Puig‘s production does “come back down to earth,” the Dodgers better be able to check off at least five or six of these things if they’re going to avoid becoming one of the most disappointing teams in baseball in 2014.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Jeff Baker, Marlon Byrd, LaTroy Hawkins and Scott Kazmir each took advantage of spring training invites in 2013, earning a spot on the Opening Day roster of their respective teams and following up with strong seasons.

Rookies Jose Fernandez, Evan Gattis and Jedd Gyorko, each spring training invitees without a day of big league service time, were seemingly ticketed for the minors where they could continue to develop and save their teams some money in the future by remaining there for the first couple of months of the season. They forced their respective club’s hand, however, and broke camp with the big league club before making a significant impact during the regular season. 

So who will be this year’s version of the aforementioned group of players? Here are 10 to keep an eye on.

Begin Slideshow

The five-player trade between the Houston Astros and Oakland Athletics involving Jed Lowrie and Chris Carter, who both went on to have highly productive seasons for their new teams in 2013, was the lone “blockbuster” trade from last February.

It doesn’t mean that we won’t have an eventful month ahead of us, with the potential for multiple impact trades to happen. Several big names have already been discussed in trades this winter and it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see a few of them head into spring training with a new team.

Here are four impact trades that could go down in February.

Begin Slideshow

Spring training is right around the corner! The Arizona Diamondbacks will be the first MLB team to hold a full-squad spring training workout on February 12, while the remaining teams will be in action no later than February 23, when the Colorado Rockies will have their entire team together.

In the meantime, teams continue to monitor the free-agent and trade markets, as well as the waiver wire, as they contemplate any last-minute wheeling and dealing.

A handful of moves that proved to have an impact on the 2013 season were made during this time period last season, including the Indians’ signing of Michael Bourn, the Athletics’ acquisition of Jed Lowrie, and the finalizing of Francisco Liriano’s deal with the Pirates, which had been on hold because of an offseason injury to his non-throwing arm. Veterans Marlon Byrd and Kevin Gregg inked minor league deals, and Shawn Kelley was acquired by the Yankees after being designated for assignment by the Mariners.

Here is one move that each team should make before the start of camp.

All salary information provided by Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

Begin Slideshow

After winning 92 games and a Wild Card berth in 2013, the last thing the Cleveland Indians would want to do is trade away staff ace Justin Masterson, who is currently the lone projected starter with at least one full big league season under his belt. If anything, they need to add another reliable starter to the mix.

But with the 28-year-old entering his last season before he can become a free agent and contract extension talks on hold, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a trade is something they should at least consider. 

The wide $3.75 million gap in the salary proposals for the arbitration hearing to determine Masterson’s 2014 salary—Masterson is asking for $11.8 million; the Indians are offering for $8.05 million—is also likely an indication of why talks didn’t go very far.

If it has become clear that the All-Star right-hander doesn’t fit into the team’s long-term plans because his perceived value isn’t anywhere near the organization’s line of thinking, dealing him prior to Opening Day could be the best “big picture” move the team could make.

The Indians could deal him prior to the trade deadline, but only if the team was well out of playoff contention. With Masterson in the mix, this team is probably too good to fall into that scenario.

Of course, it would be unfathomable to think that the Tribe would deal Masterson now unless they could replace his production prior to the start of the season. In fact, manager Terry Francona tried to squash trade rumors earlier in the offseason by calling Masterson and telling him he wouldn’t be traded, according to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com.

But if a scenario presented itself that would allow the Indians to remain competitive in 2014 and beyond, Francona might have to go back on his word. That’s why you never say “never.” Signing Ervin Santana or re-signing Ubaldo Jimenez would qualify as one of these scenarios, as would a trade that involves a major league pitcher returning to Cleveland to go along with the signing of Bronson Arroyo. 

Without either of those two combinations happening, the team would have an extremely difficult time holding up for a 162-game season.

Here are four teams that would likely be interested in Masterson and the potential trade packages that could land him.

Begin Slideshow

At last, the question of whether A.J. Burnett will retire or return to pitch in 2014 has been answered. Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review is reporting that, according to a source, the 37-year-old Burnett will indeed return for his 16th big league season. 

Not only did the source confirm Burnett’s desire to pitch in 2014, he suspects that the right-hander, who posted a 3.30 ERA with 3.2 BB/9 and a league-leading 9.8 K/9 in 191 innings pitched last season, will test the open market and not limit himself to a return to Pittsburgh. 

While Burnett has stated his desire to remain with the Pirates—he was quoted last offseason as saying he wouldn’t want to pitch anywhere else but Pittsburgh if he resumed his playing career after 2013—he’s much more likely to land a bigger contract elsewhere or, if anything, drive up the Pirates’ price with multiple teams bidding on his services. 

Here are five teams that could have the most interest in adding Burnett to the front of their rotation in 2014.

Begin Slideshow

Several teams are in the mix for Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka, who could sign with an MLB team any day now, as well as free agents Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana. In the case of those four starting pitchers, however, they won’t necessarily end up with teams, aside from the New York Yankees, that have a gaping hole in their starting rotations. 

Teams hoping to fill obvious needs on their roster will be looking elsewhere in what has become a very thin market for trades and free agents this late in the offseason. 

Here are five teams with roster problems and some possible solutions for each.

Begin Slideshow