Kuzul

The 2016 Arizona Fall League has come to an end, with the Mesa Solar Sox winning it all, besting the Surprise Saguaros 6-1 in the AFL Championship Game.

But the AFL isn’t about teams with excellent nicknames or championships. It’s about gauging the development of some of baseball’s top prospects and getting a feel for where players are heading into the offseason.

Some of those players have shown they’re ready for a chance to contribute in the big leagues, while others left little doubt that there’s more work to do before a promotion could even be considered.

Below, you’ll find a handful of players who fall under both categories—and others who fall somewhere in between—as we take a look at the highlights and lowlights of the 2016 Arizona Fall League.

Top Hitters

Gleyber Torres proved that age really is nothing but a number, as the 19-year-old—the AFL‘s youngest player—became the youngest player to be named the Arizona Fall League’s Most Valuable Player. Torres showed a spectacularly advanced approach for his age, walking more often (14) than he struck out (eight) en route to not only winning MVP honors, but the AFL‘s batting crown as well.

“He’s just ridiculously good,” MLB.com’s prospect guru Jim Callis told John Harper of the New York Daily News. “He was clearly the best player in the league. It seemed like he hit a line drive every time up.”

Two more prospects who seemed to make hard contact whenever they stepped to the plate were Cody Bellinger and Zach Vincej, though it’s entirely possible that neither one will open the 2017 season with the franchise he represented in Arizona.

Bellinger, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ top position prospect, is known to be of interest to the Chicago White Sox (per Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan) and Detroit Tigers (per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi) and could be included as part of a trade package as the Dodgers look to bolster their big league roster.

A relative unknown outside of Cincinnati, where he’s not considered one of the Reds’ top 30 prospects, Vincej was one of the AFL‘s best hitters and biggest breakout stars. He’s likely to hear his name called during the upcoming Rule 5 draft, as the Reds left him off their 40-man roster.

Top Pitchers

Already considered one of the best pitching prospects in baseball, the Boston Red Sox’s Michael Kopech only improved his stock with a run that saw him exhibit improved control over all his pitches, including a nasty fastball that sat in the high 90s and cracked triple digits multiple times.

The 20-year-old right-handed hurler led all qualified starters in ERA and finished tied for third in strikeouts with the New York Yankees’ James Kaprielian.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Austin Gomber was perhaps even more impressive, leading the AFL in strikeouts and innings pitched while trailing only Kopech in ERA. While Kopech entered the AFL as a big-time prospect, Gomber, who sits at No. 18 on MLB.com’s ranking of the Cardinals’ top 30 prospects, did not.

Like his NL Central counterpart Zach Vincej, Gomber was one of the AFL‘s biggest breakout stars. Unlike Vincej, the 23-year-old isn’t eligible for the Rule 5 draft and could be a factor in St. Louis as early as next season.

But they’re only two of the players who seemingly came out of nowhere to make their presences felt in Arizona.

Breakout Stars

Another name to look for in the Rule 5 draft is converted pitcher Eric Wood, as the Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t add the 24-year-old to their 40-man roster. Versatile enough to play the infield corners as well as left field, Wood’s developing power (a career-high 16 home runs for Double-A Altoona) makes him an intriguing player.

Wood has lots of swing-and-miss in his game, striking out 28 times in 88 Arizona Fall League at-bats, but he showed that he knows how to hit with runners in scoring position, leading the AFL with 20 RBI.

Miami Marlins fans know all about Brian Anderson, the team’s top position prospect (No. 4 overall, per MLB.com), but it had to be nice to see the 23-year-old tap into his power more regularly in Arizona, where he led all batters with five home runs in 77 at-bats.

Perhaps the most surprising stat among the AFL‘s breakout hitters was that Greg Allen finished only two dingers off Anderson’s lead. The Cleveland Indians’ sixth-round pick in the 2014 draft, Allen has never hit more than seven home runs in a full season, as he’s known more for his speed than his power.

That the 23-year-old swiped 12 bases in Arizona Fall League play, tied with Champ Stuart of the New York Mets for the AFL lead, comes as no surprise at all.

We can’t talk about breakout stars without mentioning a pair of hard-throwing relievers who both rose from Single-A to Triple-A during the regular season and look like they’re ready to contribute to a major league bullpen—the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Jared Miller and Pittsburgh’s Edgar Santana.

Arizona’s 6’7″ southpaw did his best Andrew Miller impersonation in the AFL, with the 23-year-old scattering six hits over 18.1 scoreless innings with 30 strikeouts and only four walks. Santana, 25, wasn’t quite as dominant as Miller, but you can’t find fault with 13.2 scoreless innings of relief.

Biggest Disappointments

Jacob Nottingham might have made the AFL‘s Fall Stars Game, but the No. 14 prospect in the Milwaukee Brewers’ loaded farm system certainly didn’t have the numbers to back up his selection. Only three players finished with a lower OPS than Nottingham, who struck out 24 times while drawing only two walks.

Michael Gettys was another curious choice for the AFL‘s version of the Midsummer Classic, as the San Diego Padres’ No. 10 prospect also struggled mightily to make consistent contact, leading the Arizona Fall League with 30 strikeouts in 70 at-bats.

But no player needed to make a good impression more than Tim Tebow, the oft-maligned former NFL quarterback who is now trying to make his way as a professional baseball player. As you’d imagine from the numbers he put up, folks around the game weren’t impressed with his performance.

Scouts used words like “awful” and “stinks” when it came to describing Tebow to Dan Martin of the New York Post, while an unnamed executive called the former Heisman Trophy winner “ugly,” adding “in the field and at the plate, nothing looks natural.”

If Chris Ellis was hoping to make the case that he was deserving of a chance to win one of the two available spots at the back end of the Atlanta Braves rotation next spring, he failed. Despite a strong showing in his final AFL start (3.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts), the 24-year-old looks destined to start 2017 back in Triple-A.

MLB.com’s profile of Grayson Long, the No. 10 prospect in the Los Angeles Angels’ farm system, makes a comparison to Ellis (a former Angels farmhand) in terms of stuff and competitiveness. Long’s stuff failed to play up just like Ellis’ in the AFL, as the 22-year-old walked nearly as many batters as he struck out.

Selected 18th overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2013 draft, Chris Anderson is seemingly running out of chances to prove he’s not a bust. The 24-year-old has struggled badly since making his pro debut in 2013, pitching to a combined 4.71 ERA and 1.55 WHIP over the past two years.

His struggles continued in Arizona, where he was shelled to the tune of the AFL‘s worst ERA and WHIP while walking more batters than he struck out.

Unless otherwise noted, all statistics and prospect rankings courtesy of MLB.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

We’re less than a month into the Hot Stove League and, already, five of the MLB free agents that appeared on our initial Top 25 Big Board at the end of September have come off the market.

• OF Josh Reddick (No. 12): Signed a four-year, $52 million deal with the Houston Astros.
• SP Jeremy Hellickson (No. 15): Accepted the Philadelphia Phillies’ qualifying offer.
• SP Andrew Cashner (No. 19): Signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Texas Rangers.
• SP Bartolo Colon (No. 21): Signed a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the Atlanta Braves.
• DH Kendrys Morales (No. 23): Signed a three-year, $33 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.

On the surface, none of those deals appear to be eye-poppingly absurd or out of place, but it begs the question: If these are the kinds of contracts that players outside our Top 10 landed, what sort of deals await the best free agents still on the market? 

We’ll attempt to answer that on the pages that follow by taking these already completed acquisitions, the latest chatter on the rumor mill and the perceived demand (or lack thereof) for a particular position into account.

Let’s get to it.

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It’s only fitting that the trade chatter on baseball’s rumor mill has begun to look like the dinner table at Thanksgiving: A veritable smorgasbord of options to choose from for us to fill the empty space in our bellies or, in the case of our favorite teams, the empty spaces on their rosters.

From former Most Valuable Players and All-Star relievers to versatile veterans and still-developing youngsters, there seems to be at least one potential trade chip that could fill any need a team may have on the diamond.

Keep in mind these proposed deals are only ideas and speculation. Unless otherwise noted, there’s no indication any of them have actually been discussed.

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Last week, Bleacher Report’s Seth Gruen wrote that a lack of big free agents will make this year’s hot-stove league feel like the trade deadline. After what we’ve seen and heard over the past week, we can say that’s a fact.

Other than some relatively mild free-agent innuendo—things along the lines of “Team X has interest in this veteran outfielder…and four others”—most of the rumor-mill chatter has revolved around potential trade scenarios that beg more questions than they provide answers.

How willing will teams be to meet the price an All-Star has put on waiving his no-trade clause? Is one team ready to make the jump from rebuilding to redemption? Would a non-contender trade away its best player?

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Mistakes are inevitable. Everyone makes them, including general managers of MLB teams.

They come in all shapes and sizes. From overpaying for a free agent to trades general managers wish they hadn’t made to ignoring a glaring need on the roster, errors occur far more often than even the most honest baseball insider cares to admit.

In some cases, those mistakes are even deals that general managers didn’t make, overvaluing a prospect who ultimately doesn’t pan out, while the veteran piece they were potentially going to trade for would have been the difference between a playoff berth and watching the postseason from their living room.

What follows is a look at the one critical mistake each of MLB’s 30 franchises needs to avoid this offseason.

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Imagine, if you will, that you are an agent. Your client, Player X, is a free agent and has drawn offers from each of MLB‘s 30 teams. (Yes, this never happens in real life, but play along.) All of the offers are similar.

How do you advise your client to make the best possible decision?

You prepare a detailed report for him, taking these factors into account:

• Atmosphere (1-5): How does this team draw at home? Those numbers, courtesy of ESPN.com, and how rabid a fanbase is thought to be (along with the market a team plays in) all contribute to this score.

• Payroll (1-5): Can this team afford to surround your client with quality teammates? Or will he be the lone shining star on a sinking ship? Payroll information comes courtesy of Cot’s Baseball Contracts (via Baseball Prospectus).

• 2017 Outlook (1-10): Is this team poised to contend next season?

• Long-Term Outlook (1-10): What sort of shape is this team’s farm system in? (Rankings via Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter.) Is there flexibility in the payroll on the horizon?

• Tiebreaker: If two or more teams graded out the same, the tiebreakers were their scores in long-term outlook, followed by 2017 outlook, payroll and atmosphere.

With those four areas in mind, here is a look at which MLB team is the best free-agent destination this winter.

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Players who have never made an appearance at MLB‘s All-Star Game need not apply, for our sights are set on the rumors and speculation surrounding some big names as the second week of baseball’s offseason rolls along.

Chatter like this is what makes the hot stove league as interesting and exciting as the actual on-field action during the regular season. The possibilities are endless, and fans of even the most downtrodden teams can dream of a big move (or two) that might thrust their favorite club back into the spotlight.

Speaking of the spotlight, can one of baseball’s best relievers turn his postseason performance into a nine-figure payday? Is the face of one franchise about to blend into the background with another? Could we see one of the game’s iconic figures be traded for the second time?

We’ll hit on all that and more in this week’s edition of “Fact or Fiction.”

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We’ve already seen a handful of trades since the World Series came to an end, most recently a Monday deal that found the Los Angeles Dodgers trading veteran catcher Carlos Ruiz to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for left-handed reliever Vidal Nuno.

Odds are that won’t be the last trade that either of those teams make, as we’ll dig into on the pages that follow. The rumor mill may just be starting to crank up for what could be an offseason full of swaps between clubs, but that doesn’t mean there’s no immediate speculation to dissect.

Keep in mind these proposed deals are only ideas and speculation. Unless otherwise noted, there’s no indication any of them have actually been discussed.

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Billy Goats and Bartman be damned. The curse over Wrigley Field has been lifted, and the Chicago Cubs are the kings of baseball for the first time in more than a century.

While fans continue to pinch each other, making sure this isn’t all some beautiful dream, the Cubs have little time to rest of their laurels. For the MLB offseason is officially underway, and team president Theo Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer and their staffs have work to do.

It’d be nice to keep the World Series-winning roster intact, but change is inevitable—even for the reigning champs. What follows is an overview of some of the decisions the team will have to make and how the roster might look when Opening Day rolls around roughly five months from now.

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As Milli Vanilli once sang, “Blame It On the Rain.”

OK, maybe Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan never actually sang those words, but the short rain delay heading into the 10th inning of Game 7 in the World Series robbed the Cleveland Indians of the momentum it had picked up thanks to a fabulous eighth-inning rally to tie things up with the Chicago Cubs.

It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact—and it may be the only reason the Cubs, and not the Indians, emerged victorious when play resumed.

While it was a disappointing ending to a terrific season, Cleveland is in terrific shape to make another playoff appearance, and perhaps another deep run, heading into the 2017 season. Of course, the roster won’t be exactly the same as some changes are inevitable.

What follows is an overview of some of the decisions that the team will have to make and how the roster might look when Opening Day rolls around roughly five months from now.

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