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The top-tier free agents are off the board, but while Jayson Werth and Cliff Lee have comfortable new homes, Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon are still looking for work. Several key trades have already been made, but there are gathering whispers about the New York Yankees trading for a starting pitcher, and a number of deals will still be made before pitchers and catchers report next month.

Welcome to the Hot Stove league, late January and early February addition. The biggest hype this time of year surrounds guys who have waited out the market to the point of losing value, players (like Joey Votto, who has signed, and Albert Pujols, who has not) in line for contract extensions and last-minute deals to help teams feel more confident going into Spring Training.

What is your team up to right now? Read on for a breakdown of all 30 teams’ remaining offseason checklists, and what they are rumored to be doing about it.

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Before gaining entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame, a player must wait five years after his retirement to become eligible and then be named on 75 percent or more of the total ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Former pitcher Bert Blyleven did not achieve entry until his 14th try, and he is not alone in the annals of Cooperstown when it comes to having a long time to wait.

Because so few players were getting elected and inducted to the Hall in its early years, other mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that the Hall properly honors baseball’s true heroes. Still, the most prestige, and the greatest joy, is conferred upon those who are able to reach the promised land the old-fashioned way.

Setting aside (for now) those men who got into the Hall via either the Veterans or Old-Timers Committees, some 15 Hall of Famers went in on their 10th ballot or later.

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The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is very much like a gated community, and in order to gain residence, a player must be exceptionally good at politicking with the gate-keepers. Bert Blyleven needed over a decade to gain entry; Ron Santo never did, though he unequivocally ought to have. Finding a way to woo 75 percent of those baseball writers who have votes can be a tricky needle to thread.

Fascinatingly enough, no one has ever gotten 100 percent of the vote, nor even 99 percent. Many, many players have scraped by with between 75 and 80 percent. A round dozen have come within two percentage points of the margin, garnering 77 percent or fewer of the votes. Those men are the subject of this article, which will break down what kept their numbers so low, who should never have made it in at all, and who deserved more votes than they got. Read on.

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San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey looks supernaturally natural at home plate.

The 2010 National League Rookie of the Year hit .305 with 18 home runs in the 2010 regular season, then helped lead the team to its first World Series title since 1954. Posey coolly strokes the ball with power to the opposite field and seems never to miss when an opposing pitcher makes a mistake.

Posey also possesses maturity beyond his years when it comes to handling pitchers and calling a game, making him a complete package and a blue-chip prospect. Yet he is not the most talented or exciting young player in the league.

Major League Baseball is teeming with guys who will play their age 25-or-younger seasons in 2011, but who are already among the elite producers in the game.

Where do your team’s young anchors fit? How many make the list of the top 25? The answer might tell you a lot about the future for your team.

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Felix Hernandez will make two more big-league starts for the Seattle Mariners before turning 25 years old on April 8. For a guy who still has not reached that age, Hernandez has posted phenomenal numbers already in his career. He won his first American League Cy Young Award in 2010, hurling 249.2 innings and posting a stellar 2.27 ERA.

Seattle should handle Hernandez with care, since he faced over 1,000 batters last season and may be an injury risk due to the resulting strain on his arm. He will finally be (in physiological terms) fully mature in 2011, though, so now might be the time to ride him back toward contention. More Cy Young honors might well be in his future.

He is not alone, of course. The big leagues are replete with promising young pitchers, many of whom will be 25 years old or younger in 2011. Having a stockpile of young hurlers is a key ingredient to success for any franchise, so this is a crucial question: Who are the best young arms in the league?

In the following slides, you will find a power ranking of baseball’s 25 best young pitchers who will be 25 or younger in baseball age in 2011. To qualify for the list, a pitcher needed to have pitched in the majors already. Where does your favorite team’s ace fall? How many youngsters make the list for your side? The answers may help inform the future prognosis of your franchise. Read on.

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Matt Garza threw a no-hitter in 2010, and topped 200 innings for the second year in a row while posting a 3.91 ERA. He will take that resume from Tampa Bay to Lakeview in 2011, as the Chicago Cubs acquired him Friday in an eight-player deal.

Garza is no darling of statistically inclined fans or analysts, but he is a very good pitcher. He throws an excellent fastball, averaging over 93 miles per hour and with good movement, and an A-plus slider. He will be the Cubs’ ace by the season’s end, although given the modest talent in the rotation before the trade, that may not be saying that much.

As good as Garza is, and as welcome as he will be on the Cubs roster, the Tampa Bay Rays won this trade. The Cubs get value, but they gave up an awful lot in the somewhat misguided pursuit of contending in 2011. Read on for 10 observations about this big trade for both teams.

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Few teams in the major leagues have had as rough an offseason as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The team once aspired, perhaps with stars in their eyes, to sign both Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre this winter. After a flurry of moves during and shortly after the Winter Meetings left the Angels seemingly alone in the marketplace with Beltre, they seemed certain to get at least that consolation prize.

Not so. The Rangers swept in as the Angels dragged through negotiations, and Beltre signed on for five years and $80 million to play in Texas. It’s nearly impossible to imagine that the Angels can now enter the season as a favorite in the AL West.

Understanding that the team has some great pieces already in place, though, there is no reason the team cannot compete with the Rangers in 2011. Read on for 10 things the Angels need to do between now and Spring Training in order to shift the balance of power in their division back toward southern California.

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The baseball writers made him wait far too long, but Bert Blyleven has finally gotten what he long deserved: He and Roberto Alomar became the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

This was Blyleven’s 14th time on the ballot, and though he came exceptionally close to being elected last season, he had surely begun to wonder if he would ever reach the promised land. Some rather cynical writers held his longevity against him; others insisted he lacked some intangible quality that a true Hall of Fame hurler ought to possess. It was all patently foolish, but it kept him out of Cooperstown for a decade and a half. No more. Read on for 10 reasons Blyleven deserves this honor.

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The New York Mets are stuck in a tough sort of limbo. After the Philadelphia Phillies signed free agent Cliff Lee earlier this month, the Mets seem unlikely to be able to contend this season in the crowded NL East. Yet, they are a team of talented veterans, hardly an organization ripe for rebuilding. In order to make sure they move forward, they must choose their path quickly, but they need to choose carefully.

If the Mets choose to reload and make a more serious run down the line, it could really open up the trade market in the National League. All-Stars Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Jose Reyes and Francisco Rodriguez would likely become available, as incoming general manager Sandy Alderson tries to find the right balance between unloading unwieldy contracts and retaining a sturdy core of talent.

The Mets are not alone in this regard: The Chicago Cubs, Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals are all in slightly varied versions of the same state. Read on for five players who, unlikely though it may seem, could be trade candidates at some point this winter or spring.

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The Minnesota Twins are near finalizing a contract with second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka, formerly of the Japanese League’s Chiba Lotte Marines, according to reports. Nishioka becomes the overwhelming favorite to start at second base for Minnesota in 2011, and his arrival likely signals the end of Orlando Hudson’s brief tenure in the Twin Cities. The three-year pact is thought to be worth roughly $10 million in guaranteed money, with a (presumably player-friendly) option for 2014.

Nishioka, 26, won the batting title in Japan’s Pacific League this season, and led the league in both runs (121) and total bases (287). He hits for modest power, thanks in large part to his small frame, but he runs the bases very well and can defend either middle infield position with aplomb.

The knock on Nishioka has long been his somewhat lacking durability: He led the league by playing in 144 games this season, but had never eclipsed 130 games or 494 at-bats in previous years. Neck, knee and hamstring injuries have bothered Nishioka throughout his career, and his ability to hold up over a longer season against bigger and stronger players may be fairly called into question.

Still, this move looks like a fantastic one for the Twins. Nishioka will be moved primarily to second base, though he was considered one of Japan’s elite defensive shortstops as well as playing second during his career there. Of course, a second baseman who can slide over to short in case of a pressing need is a handy commodity in and of itself. Nishioka is younger than most Japanese transplants are when they arrive in the States, so he has the potential to improve significantly with time and to continue playing in his speed-oriented, athletic and graceful style.

Nishioka also fits the Twins’ greatest need to a tee: He can hit second comfortably, and add speed to the middle infield. That, GM Bill Smith said, was the primary impetus for the team’s recent decision to trade incumbent shortstop J.J. Hardy, so Nishioka’s arrival seems to have been a foregone conclusion within the organization’s inner sanctum.

Nishioka also plays stellar defense, an imperative for Minnesota with its contact-oriented pitching philosophy and the team’s pitchers’ ground-ball proclivity. Finally, Nishioka adds on-base percentage and speed to a team that manufactured only 170 runs in 2010 (according to the Bill James Handbook), the fewest in several years for Minnesota.

After the rival Chicago White Sox added Adam Dunn, retained Paul Konerko and coaxed Jesse Crain away from the Twins via free agency, Minnesota needed this signing to keep pace. Which team should be favored in the AL Central in 2011 is an open question, but Minnesota’s addition of Nishioka ensures that their defense and fundamentals will continue to outstrip Chicago’s. If the team is able to re-sign Carl Pavano, as many expect, they could well be the better team come Opening Day.

Considering the usual costs associated with the posting system, then, and considering the benefit they derive from the deal, the Twins also got Nishioka at a bargain rate: $5 million to the Marines, plus the base salary for Nishioka, which averages out to a bit more than $3.3 million. Add it all up, and the team has found a terrific way to keep its costs down while improving the top of its batting order and the strength of its middle infield.

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