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Trade talks and free-agent signings are at a fever pitch during this MLB offseason, and the hype for MLB 15 The Show is gaining serious steam as well. On Saturday, the debut sizzle trailer for the game was released at the PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas. 

The event was put together to celebrate 20 years of the PlayStation brand. That celebration wouldn’t have been complete without serious representation from Sony’s monster baseball hit series MLB The Show. Here’s the latest trailer featuring cover athlete Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers:

As you may have seen from the tail end of the trailer, the release date is set for March 31, 2015.

For hardcore virtual baseball fans, that day probably seems like an eternity away, but most still have MLB 14 The Show to tide them over until then. Last season’s debut on the PS4 went pretty smoothly. It generated a Metacritic score of 83, and I rated it an 8.8 overall.

The fact that saves will carry over from MLB 14 The Show to MLB 15 only makes longtime and new fans more committed to the series. What’s new and in store for fans this time around?

Based on information that was revealed via Amazon.com, here are the new features up to this point:

• Licensed Equipment: For the first time ever, partnerships from various brands will bring accurate bats, gloves, cleats and batting gloves to the game.
• Year-to-Year Saves: Users who purchased MLB 14 The Show will be able to continue their Franchise and Road to the Show progress in MLB 15 The Show.
• Universal Rewards: Simply playing the game earns Stubs that can be spent on licensed equipment, Road to The Show improvements and virtual baseball cards.
• Legends: We’re introducing 30 Iconic MLB Alumni into our virtual player card pool, 1 representative for each team. These players span every historic baseball era of the last 70 years.
• Major Graphical Improvements: Visually, the introduction of real-time seasonal sun and shadows, revamped night lighting and enhanced player personality help make MLB 15 The Show the most authentic baseball experience yet (PS4 Only).

The licensed equipment can be seen in the trailer and will be a selling point for gamers who are sticklers for details in presentation.

The use of legends is also compelling. Obviously, the reveal of the legends included or the unlockables in the game is going to be a major deal. Theoretically, it would be cool to have access to players like Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds. 

The exact legends haven’t been revealed yet, but one can only hope for a star-studded cast of guys.

One wish I’m still holding on to is the hope that the game includes a Create a Ballpark feature. At the PlayStation Experience, I spoke to community manager Ramone Russell about this concept. He was noncommittal about it making it into this year’s game, but it is something that appears to be on the developer’s radar. 

We’ll keep our fingers crossed for Create a Ballpark, and hopefully this year’s game will be everything last year’s release was and more.

Follow Brian Mazique aka FranchisePlay, the Sports Video Game Journalist

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As the MLB winter meetings kick off in San Diego this week, the Los Angeles Dodgers seem primed to pull the trigger on a trade.

Who that trade will involve remains to be seen, but chances are that one of the team’s high-priced outfielders may be on his way out the door. Various reports out of Southern California indicate that Matt Kemp is drawing the most interest from around the league after his resurgent 2014 campaign.

But the front-office tandem of Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi may be more interested in dealing Andre Ethier or Carl Crawford, both left-handed hitting outfielders whose contracts are worth more than their recent production on the field.

It appeared that Los Angeles had actually worked out a trade that would have sent Ethier to the Arizona Diamondbacks for catcher Miguel Montero, but Arizona ownership stepped in and nixed the exchange, per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

There was also a report from USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale that the Dodgers were aggressively pursuing Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez in a trade in order to replace Hanley Ramirez.

However, the possibility of handing over prospects for what will probably amount to a one-year placeholder for top prospect Corey Seager makes it more likely that Los Angeles rolls the dice with in-house shortstops such as Miguel Rojas and Erisbel Arruebarrena in 2015.

Dumping salary seems to be near the top of the Dodgers’ priority list this winter, and it’s very conceivable that the team may make a trade in order to bolster the back end of the starting rotation.

Let’s take a look at three realistic trade targets for Los Angeles as hot-stove action at the winter meetings continues to gain more traction.

Taijuan Walker

It’s been confirmed multiple times now: The Seattle Mariners have their eye on Matt Kemp.

Jon Morosi of Fox Sports first publicized the interest last November, and then Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported that the outfielder’s name came up again in the Pacific Northwest before last season’s trade deadline.

With the Dodgers making it known that they are looking to rid themselves of a large outfielder contract as soon as possible, it comes as no surprise that the Mariners recently entered negotiations. 

According to Bob Dutton of The News Tribune, the Dodgers inquired about two of Seattle’s talented, young starting pitchers.

The Mariners were close to a deal to land Kemp before the Dodgers, on reflection, insisted that either Taijuan Walker or James Paxton be included in the swap. 

Since the Mariners backed off when, at that point, they hadn’t yet signed Cruz, they seem less likely now to buckle. That suggests a deal could hinge on what offers the Dodgers get from other clubs.

These talks occurred before the Mariners signed outfielder Nelson Cruz, so they may be less willing to part with Walker or Paxton now that a coveted right-handed power bat is in the fold.

Walker, 22, compiled a 2.61 ERA in 38 major league innings last season, striking out 34 and walking 18. Since the Dodgers already have two quality lefties in their rotation with Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu, targeting Walker in a trade makes more sense as a way to balance the left-handed starters with right-handers.

Los Angeles will probably continue to dangle a seemingly revitalized Kemp in front of the Mariners during the next few days, and it’s entirely possible that these two teams reopen negotiations.

Andrew Cashner

The San Diego Padres have also been linked to Matt Kemp in recent days. According to Nightengale, the team that plays a few blocks away from where the winter meetings are heating up appears to be a front-runner to land the high-priced outfielder.

Nightengale mentions catcher Yasmani Grandal as the key piece that Los Angeles would be receiving in the potential trade, but he also notes that another player may be heading the Dodgers’ way.

The identity of this other player is unknown, but it would make sense for Los Angeles to pursue starting pitcher Andrew Cashner. Similar to Seattle’s Walker, Cashner represents another talented right-hander who turned in an impressive 2014 season and could fit perfectly into the back of the Dodgers rotation.

Cashner struck out 93 batters and walked just 29 in 123.1 innings of work, putting together a 2.55 ERA in the process. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2013, the 28-year-old has posted a 2.96 ERA in 51 starts while holding opponents to a .234 batting average.

He won’t become free agent-eligible for two more years and is due to make $3-4 million in 2015, a price range that would fit perfectly into the Dodgers’ cost-saving approach.

Cole Hamels

The flashiest trade target for the Dodgers is Philadelphia Phillies ace Cole Hamels, but any deal to pry him away from The City of Brotherly Love would require Friedman and Zaidi to part with multiple prospects whom they love.

Los Angeles engaged the Phillies for Hamels at the trade deadline last season to no avail. According to Nightengale (h/t Dave Cameron of FanGraphs), Philadelphia’s general manager, Ruben Amaro Jr., demanded the Dodgers’ prospect trifecta of Seager, Joc Pederson and pitching phenom Julio Urias.

Los Angeles was reluctant to meet the Phillies’ high asking price, but a recent Nightengale report claiming that talks are reopened seems to indicate that Philadelphia has perhaps tempered its wish list.

Hamels is owed $90 million over the next four seasons ($110 million if his 2019 option is picked up). The 30-year-old southpaw compiled a 2.46 ERA in 204.2 innings last season and has been one of the most consistently successful pitchers throughout the last half-decade.

Rosenthal last week offered further details about a possible Hamels-to-Los Angeles trade.

The Dodgers could acquire Hamels without his consent — they are not one of the 20 teams on his no-trade list, according to sources. The team could even expand the deal to include shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who would be an appealing one-year bridge to Seager. Rollins, 36, has full no-trade protection as a player with 10 years of service and five consecutive with the same club, but might approve a deal to a large market such as Los Angeles.

The Dodgers may be particularly interested in a proven winner like Hamels because of the strong likelihood that Zack Greinke will opt out of his current contract following the 2015 season. Fitting Hamels in Dodger Blue would provide some comfort in the event that Greinke does indeed walk next winter.

Hamels in Los Angeles also ensures that the Dodgers’ starting rotation next season would be one of the most fearsome in recent memory.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball Reference unless otherwise linked/noted.

Follow @NickOstiller

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Prizes are only as valuable as the people who covet them.

That is why the first month-plus of Major League Baseball’s offseason has been a slugfest for those who slug. Like wild and crazy Black Friday shoppers looking for the season’s hottest toy in a snug department-store aisle, baseball executives are doing all they can to lure the winter’s best bats.

The last three weeks have seen teams overpay for aging hitters, some of which can’t play the field, while the market for pitchers has been slow-played as seemingly everyone waits for ace Jon Lester to make a decision. But even for the few teams who miss on Lester, plenty of pitching options await on the free-agent and trade markets.

Again, a prize is more valuable when it’s scarce.

While Lester and other pitchers might have more action surrounding their names by the time the MLB Winter Meetings conclude—they start Sunday and end Thursday—the prize of the event will be an elite hitter. And since many of those have been taken off the board, Matt Kemp, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ new cleanup hitter, is left as the market’s top target.

The best hitters on the free-agent market are gone: Victor Martinez, Hanley Ramirez, Nelson Cruz, Pablo Sandoval, Yasmany Tomas, Torii Hunter, Russell Martin, Adam LaRoche and Nick Markakis. All of those guys, some of whom are considered coveted hitters only due to the game’s current offensive state, are off the board, leaving almost no impact bats remaining on the open market.

Teams still looking for significant offensive additions now have to turn to the trade market. While a guy like Justin Upton is available for an expensive return, he has just one year remaining before he is likely to tango with his first winter of free agency in 2015. The same can be said for Boston’s Yoenis Cespedes, now part of an outfield glut similar to the one in Los Angeles that makes Kemp available.

The Dodgers know they hold the prized option, and that is why they are holding firm on their asking price for Kemp, an MVP-caliber slugger when healthy.

Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi told Eric Stephen of True Blue LA last week:

It’s something we’re continuing to explore. If you look at the landscape of baseball right now, one of the things that is really scarce is offense right now, and we’re fortunate enough to have a surplus of really good offensive outfielders. Obviously there is going to be some demand and some interest in those guys, and we’re going to sort through those as they come through.

Zaidi’s comment was referring to not only Kemp, but also Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier. However, he was pretty much talking about only Kemp in the sense that there is virtually no market for Crawford or Ethier. Crawford is still a decent top-of-the-order hitter, but with three years and $62.25 million left on his contract, he’s virtually unmovable. Ethier has three years and $56 million remaining and was an afterthought last year after being relegated to a left-handed bat off the bench, making his market nonexistent.

That leaves Kemp as the team’s one attractive trade asset. He is owed $107 million over the next five seasons. Last year he hit .287/.346/.506 with a .852 OPS, 25 home runs and 89 RBIs. The last time he was healthy for a full season—2011—he was arguably the game’s best all-around player. And now, he finally seems completely healthy and ready to shine again.

Given his healthy production and position (likely right field), Kemp seems a better value than Sandoval, Ramirez and Cruz. Given his age—he will pay virtually all next season at age 30—he is a better bet than Martinez.

Only a few teams have been talked about in a Kemp deal. The Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres and Baltimore Orioles have at least had a talk with the Dodgers, but all have been turned off by the asking price. And if one of those teams, or another, wants the Dodgers to pick up a decent chunk of Kemp’s salary, the package of prospects might have to grow.

The Orioles are said to have scoffed at the Dodgers’ asking for one of Baltimore’s top young pitchers—Kevin Gausman or Dylan Bundy. Talks were said to have “not materialized into anything significant,” according to Eduardo A. Encina of The Baltimore Sun. However, the Orioles have now lost Cruz and Markakis since then, so talks could start again.

Baltimore is the defending American League East champion, but given what it has lost in the lineup and what the Red Sox and Blue Jays have done to bulk up, the Orioles might not be able to afford not replacing Cruz and Markakis with a quality slugger.

Another possibility by the time the Winter Meetings start, or end, is that the Dodgers land Lester with a last-minute push. If that happens, the team could be looking to trim payroll and lower its price on Kemp. Then a team might be willing to pay more of Kemp’s salary in return for sending back a lesser package of young players.

However, signing Lester would put the Dodgers in even more of a win-now situation than they are already in. And with Ramirez fleeing to Boston, the Dodgers might really need Kemp’s bat, which would explain why they are currently so staunch about the return and hesitant to pull the trigger for anything less. They are perfectly fine with keeping their No. 4 hitter, who was one of only four NL players to slug .500.

Kemp is the only hitter available now who can significantly affect a team’s lineup for more than one season. The Dodgers know this. So does everyone else. That is why he comes at a steep price.

At the Winter Meetings next week the Dodgers will find out just how much shoppers are willing to spend for their prized slugger.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News, and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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Point your ear in the direction of Chavez Ravine, and you’ll hear the sound of silence. So far, the eerily quiet Los Angeles Dodgers have been letting other clubs dictate the MLB offseason’s headlines.

Let’s put this in the “Probably Not Gonna Last” file. Knowing their situation, the Dodgers’ silence is likely the calm before the eruption. 

Granted, the Dodgers haven’t been twiddling their thumbs since their 2014 season ended at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division Series. They didn’t wait until the rest of the postseason was in the bag to give their front office the ol‘ Etch-a-Sketch treatment.

First came Andrew Friedman from the Tampa Bay Rays to be the Dodgers’ new president of baseball operations. He turned on a tractor beam that attracted Farhan Zaidi to be the team’s new general manager, and he also brought in former San Diego Padres execs Josh Byrnes and Billy Gasparino and former big leaguer Gabe Kapler.

That’s a dandy of a front office, and Friedman made no secret of what’s going to allow them to work together.

“For us, information is king,” Friedman said, via True Blue LA, “and it’s about having people who appreciate that and can synthesize that to put us in the best position to make decisions.”

In theory, this is the right idea. But in practice…well, we don’t know yet. Rather than additions, the Dodgers’ offseason since the overhaul of their front office has been defined by departures.

When Hanley Ramirez signed with the Boston Red Sox, the Dodgers lost a shortstop who contributed an .817 OPS to their lineup in 2014. With Josh Beckett retired and Roberto Hernandez, Kevin Correia, Chris Perez and Jamey Wright floating on the free-agent waters, the Dodgers have also lost a few pitchers.

They need an impact bat and/or an impact shortstop as well as both starting pitching and bullpen help. Also on their list of needs, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com, is an upgrade at catcher.

At their old gigs, Friedman and Zaidi likely would have been forced to solve these needs either in-house or with bargain-bin additions. With trades for Joel Peralta and Juan Nicasio being their biggest moves to date, it may seem like they’re going to stick to what they know.

But don’t count on it.

There’s the reality that the Dodgers’ new-look front office works for an ownership group that has made it abundantly clear that it’s hell-bent on doing whatever it must to win the World Series. And though the Dodgers didn’t need further motivation, the San Francisco Giants just provided some with their third World Series victory in five years.

There’s the incentive for Friedman, Zaidi and the rest of the new front office to start making headlines. Just as important, they have the means, too.

The Dodgers aren’t lacking in trade assets. They have a farm system that B/R’s Mike Rosenbaum rated seventh in MLB in September as well as an outfield surplus that could be solved by dealing Matt Kemp, Carl Crawford or Andre Ethier.

And the Dodgers have money. It’s of some concern that they already have about $200 million committed for 2015, but even that’s a petty amount for a club that gets well over $200 million a year from its TV deal alone.

Add it all up, and there’s enough ingredients for an offseason resembling the third act of a Michael Bay movie. You need not consult the rumor mill for further proof to get a sense that the Dodgers will make some noise eventually.

But what the heck. Let’s do that anyway.

Solving the Outfield Logjam

This could very well be the first domino to fall. And given the names involved, any trade the Dodgers make to resolve their outfield logjam is going to be a big one.

But it’s sounding more and more like it will be a very big one. Though the initial word from Joel Sherman of the New York Post was that the Dodgers were telling teams they preferred to deal Crawford or Ethier, more recent rumors have suggested a Kemp deal is absolutely possible.

After slugging 25 homers and OPS’ing .852 in 2014, Kemp is a fit for anyone in a league starved for right-handed thump. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, two interested parties are the San Diego Padres and Baltimore Orioles:

In Yasmani Grandal and stud prospect Austin Hedges, the Padres have catchers that could appeal to the Dodgers if talks find a way to progress. In the likes of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Bundy and Hunter Harvey, the Orioles have pitching that could appeal to them. 

Or maybe the Dodgers will ship Kemp to the Pacific Northwest. Jon Morosi of Fox Sports has reported the Seattle Mariners‘ interest in Kemp, and their signing of Nelson Cruz doesn’t necessarily nix that. Bob Dutton of The (Tacoma) News Tribune says the Mariners still want a right fielder.

At the worst, a Kemp deal could probably land the Dodgers one of Seattle’s two shortstops (Brad Miller and Chris Taylor) and one of their many talented relievers. Or they could target Taijuan Walker or James Paxton, either of whom would be a high-ceiling addition to their rotation.

Mind you, the Dodgers don’t need to deal Kemp to solve their various question marks. There are other ways they could do so…

Finding Starting Pitching Help

In early October, Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com wrote that the Dodgers would spend their winter “searching for No. 4 and 5 starters (think Dan Haren) rather than somebody who would slide in front of Hyun-Jin Ryu.”

Even if that’s true, the Dodgers could still make an impact signing. Names like Justin Masterson, Brandon Morrow and Brett Anderson come to mind. Any of the three would be affordable but would also resemble the kind of high-ceiling reclamation projects that Friedman and Zaidi had success with in their old gigs.

But don’t rule out the Dodgers going big. Here’s this from Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

Trading for Cole Hamels would likely require the Dodgers to turn over a handful of prospects for the Philadelphia Phillies. But since they have just the farm system for the job, it could happen.

Of course, trading for Hamels might also mean taking on the roughly $100 million he’s still owed. If the Dodgers are apparently to at least consider that, it’s worth speculating that maybe they could swoop in and nab James Shields.

As for the bullpen that was such an issue in 2014…

Finding Bullpen Help

Truth be told, there might not actually be much left to do on this front. The Dodgers added a solid reliever when they traded for Peralta, and Nicasio‘s fastball-slider mix might make him a good reliever.

However, the Dodgers could get creative. One way they could do that is by signing Morrow not as a starter but as a reliever. Saxon proposed this idea, and for good reason:

Rather than go for an experiment like Morrow, the Dodgers could always go for a sure thing by signing a left-hander who just posted a 2.02 ERA and 6.06 K/BB ratio in 2014.

There’s one of those out there, you know, and ESPN’s Buster Olney says he’s on the Dodgers’ radar:

Olney‘s not wrong. If the Dodgers add Miller, they’ll be giving Kenley Jansen—he of the 2.30 ERA and 97 saves since 2012—the setup man he never had in 2014.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball…

Finding a Shortstop

If the Dodgers make a move for a shortstop, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com says it will be for a stopgap option to hold down the fort until top prospect Corey Seager is ready.

Even so, said stopgap option could still be a big-name addition. 

Among the Dodgers’ options on the open market are Stephen Drew, Jed Lowrie and Asdrubal Cabrera. Among their options on the trade market are Jimmy Rollins and Alexei Ramirez, who Bob Nightengale said the Dodgers were “aggressively pursuing” as recently as mid-November:

There’s a chance that the Dodgers will stay in-house with their shortstop options. They could hand the job to defensive wizard Erisbel Arruebarrena or the more offensively inclined Alexander Guerrero. Another option is Guerrero taking over at second base with Dee Gordon moving back to shortstop.

But if they do that, their preference to upgrade at catcher could become a true need to upgrade. If so, they’ll have options.

Finding a Catcher Upgrade

Earlier this offseason, the Dodgers were rumored to be interested in a reunion with Russell Martin. Once he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays, the open market sadly became devoid of legit catcher upgrades.

The trade market, however, is not.

One option is Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro, who Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe has reported may be available. Another is Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero, who Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic says has already drawn the Dodgers’ interest.

With either catcher, the Dodgers would be landing one of the best strike-framers in the business. They’d also be adding a left-handed bat with power, thereby giving Adrian Gonzalez some company in that department.

Way back when, we started with a sneaking suspicion that the Dodgers’ silence so far this winter is a case of them lying in the weeds. After looking at the holes they have to fill, the incentive and means they have to fill them, and the various names on their radar, them finishing the offseason with a flourish no longer feels like a sneaking suspicion.

It feels like a certainty. 

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked. Contract and payroll information courtesy of Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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The Major League Baseball winter meetings are set to kick off in a week, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are likely to be active players in Southern California.

New president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi have already made several minor moves since taking over the front office in October, but there are still question marks facing the team in the midst of a culture shift.

Although the Dodgers are still one of the richest organizations in baseball, the tactic of throwing money at elite free agents has seemingly been replaced by a more analytical and cost-effective approach to improving the team.

Here are five predictions for what Los Angeles will ultimately decide to do at the upcoming winter meetings.

Begin Slideshow

The second the Los Angeles Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman as their president of baseball operations and jettisoned former general manager Ned Colletti into a role untied to player personnel, the team was without a shortstop for 2015. 

The new front-office regime wanted nothing to do with Hanley Ramirez, the team’s full-time shortstop the previous two seasons, and allowed him to walk in free agency. While it wasn’t probable that Colletti would have pursued Ramirez as a shortstop, it certainly wasn’t out of the question.

What is certain as of now is that Ramirez is with the Boston Red Sox, and the Dodgers are without a shortstop they are comfortable with going into next spring. The in-house options are steady defensively but have nowhere close to the offense Ramirez provided, which means if the Dodgers want more than a glove at the position, they will have to explore trade options.

The top target is Chicago White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports.

The #Dodgers are aggressively pursuing #Whitesox shortstop Alexei Ramirez in trade talks.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) November 18, 2014

Corey Seager is a shortstop and one of the Dodgers’ top prospects. Between Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Chattanooga, Seager hit a gaudy .349/.402/.602 with a 1.004 OPS and was deemed one of the team’s untouchables in trade talks last July. But Seager is 20 and won’t be ready for the big leagues for at least one more season, and that is assuming he will stay at shortstop. He is 6’4″, and while the front office is going to allow him to play the position for now, that’s no promise he will stick there long term.

Until Seager is ready, the Dodgers have to fill the need. Ramirez would fit the role nicely.

Ramirez is 33 years old and an average hitter with medium pop—.273/.305/.408 with a .713 OPS, 15 home runs and a 101 OPS-plus—and while he isn’t an elite defender, he would be an upgrade from Hanley Ramirez. Also appealing is that Alexei Ramirez has played 158 games in each of the previous four seasons, a long way from Hanley Ramirez’s seemingly day-to-day availability.

Alexei Ramirez is owed $10 million next season and has a $10 million club option for 2016 with a $1 million buyout. That means his deal would be up right around the time the Dodgers would be ready to bring up Seager.

The monetary price is not an issue for the flush Dodger organization, but the price in players is high. Aside from winning at the major league level, one of the Dodgers’ stated goals is to replenish the farm system so they don’t have to rely on gargantuan payrolls year after year.

The White Sox are said to not be shopping Ramirez, but they are willing to listen to offers. The catch is that any trade involving Ramirez is going to call for some high-end prospects in return.

Rival evaluators say the White Sox asking price on Alexei Ramirez is steep, to the degree that you’d want to be buying in for 2-3 years.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 21, 2014

Part of the reason for the high price is that the White Sox are not actively shopping Ramirez, and trading him would put them in a similar bind as the Dodgers. If they move Ramirez, the White Sox would then immediately be in the market for a shortstop since their top prospect at the position, Tim Anderson, is still at least two years away from the majors.

The only way the White Sox would want to put themselves in that market is if they got a strong return for Ramirez.

“We are certainly open minded on all of our players,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn told Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com without addressing Ramirez specifically. “It’s our obligation to listen. At the same time we have what feel are some very valuable commodities in the game right now and we’re certainly not looking to move any of them without feeling very good that we are not only improving our competitiveness for 2015 but for ’16 and beyond as well.”

While the fit is perfect for the Dodgers as they wait for Seager, trading for Ramirez at that price is unlikely. For the White Sox, moving Ramirez for anything less is pointless. Plus, he is relatively inexpensive, making him appealing to both teams.

That leaves the teams at a stalemate. For now. Friedman and Hahn have a good working relationship, and they may exhaust every avenue to make a deal work before the end of the winter.

It just doesn’t make a lot of sense for either team to pull the trigger at this point.

That means the Dodgers could fish in the free-agent pond and come out with a one- or two-year deal for Jed Lowrie or Stephen Drew. They could also explore different trade opportunities as the Philadelphia Phillies are willing to deal Jimmy Rollins. Rollins has 10-and-5 rights, though, and can veto any trade because he has 10 years in the majors and five with the same team.

Aside from the Dodgers needing to make a trade in their outfield, their shortstop situation is the top priority this offseason. More than likely they will wait out the markets and hope for prices to drop on short-term options. If they don’t and the free-agent pool doesn’t work for them, one of their own guys—Erisbel Arruebarrena, Miguel Rojas and/or Justin Turner—will have to fill the hole.

Until then, the Dodgers will leave the “HELP WANTED” sign on the window and make moves elsewhere.

Anthony Witrado covers Major League Baseball for Bleacher Report. He spent the previous three seasons as the national baseball columnist at Sporting News and four years before that as the Brewers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers front office has begun wheeling and dealing this offseason, acquiring low-cost pitching help over the past two weeks.

New President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman went the familiar route with his first move, trading for former Tampa Bay Rays reliever Joel Peralta and Rays minor league left-hander Adam Liberatore.

Los Angeles then announced it had acquired pitchers Mike Bolsinger from the Arizona Diamondbacks and Juan Nicasio from the Colorado Rockies in low-risk deals. The hope with these trades is that by removing the aforementioned hurlers from hitter-friendly parks in Phoenix and Denver, respectively, perhaps they will be able to find more success pitching in spacious Dodger Stadium.

There have also been a few moves that the Dodgers could have made but didn’t.

Andrew Bailey

Relief pitching was the Dodgers’ biggest weakness last season, and the team had an opportunity to buy low on a bullpen arm who was dominant enough to win Rookie of the Year as recently as 2009. Not only was Andrew Bailey the American League‘s best rookie five years ago, but the right-hander has also been a two-time All-Star.

The New York Yankees inked the 30-year-old Bailey to a minor league contract earlier this month, realizing that he has the potential to be a dominant pitcher when healthy. Bailey posted a 2.07 ERA over 174 innings between 2009-2011 but has undergone two surgeries since then and hasn’t pitched in the majors since July 2013.

Although injuries will now always be a concern with Bailey, the Dodgers could have taken a flier on the reliever to help shore up their mediocre bullpen. He probably would have come at a very affordable price, too.

Zach Duke

Zach Duke is another quality relief pitcher that Los Angeles decided against signing. Instead, the White Sox acquired the left-hander’s services when he accepted their three-year, $15 million offer, per Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com.

Duke turned in the best season of his career in 2014 with the Milwaukee Brewers, compiling a 2.45 ERA in just over 58 innings of work. His 74 strikeouts were nearly double the amount he recorded during the previous three seasons combined.

The Dodgers could use all the bullpen help they can get at this point, and they may have been able to nab Duke for less than what the White Sox paid simply because they are positioned to win now while Chicago is rebuilding.

Duke, who limited opposing hitters to a .223 average last season, would have made a nice left-handed addition to the Dodgers bullpen to complement J.P. Howell.

Russell Martin

The argument could be made that Los Angeles needs an upgrade at catcher after A.J. Ellis mustered a measly .191/.323/.254 slash at the plate last season.

One of the biggest names on the free-agent market was Russell Martin, but the Dodgers were not prepared to take the financial plunge necessary to bring the backstop back to Los Angeles.

Instead, Martin followed the money home to Toronto, where the Blue Jays welcomed him with a five-year, $82 million contract, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick and The Associated Press.

Martin’s 5.5 wins above replacement (WAR) with Pittsburgh in 2014 were the most among all projected free-agent position players. He also led major league catchers by throwing out 37 base stealers a season ago, and his caught stealing percentage of 38.5 was much higher than Ellis’ 25 percent.

The Dodgers’ new front office has shown a commitment to cost-saving strategies so far this offseason, so signing Martin was almost completely out of the question because of the type of contract that the catcher and his agent were demanding.

All statistics courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise linked/noted.

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When I discussed the players the Los Angeles Dodgers had sent to the Arizona Fall League, I mentioned that many of the top players were position players. The pattern held; over the course of the month, the hitters far outperformed the pitchers. This is not surprising given the talent disparity, but it’s noteworthy.

Note: All statistics courtesy of MLB.com.

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For a team with $182.5 million already committed to the 2015 roster, the Los Angeles Dodgers actually have a surprising amount of flexibility. They have a couple veteran outfielders they need to get rid of, a massive budget and a farm system that is finally bearing fruit.

Whether or not the new front office will want to make a massive deal is up in the air, but it certainly has the resources to do so.

Andre Ethier and/or Carl Crawford are likely to be dealt relatively soon. If that happens, a couple 25-man roster spots will be open. Once the roster spots are available, the Dodgers will be able to slot expensive players in because of their budget: Even though it is currently in the $180 million range, it was over $200 million this past season. So there is clearly room to add.

And the farm system currently has more high-end talent than it has had for several years, including several players talented enough to headline major deals.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have a new front office, and new president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is undoubtedly familiar with the Dodgers farm system. He will be properly unwilling to trade the elite prospects.

In fact, team president Stan Kasten clearly has an appreciation for the talent in his organization; a report from Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times stated that “Colletti was prevented by ownership from making any midseason adjustments to the bullpen, people familiar with the situation said. Top prospects Corey Seager, Julio Urias and Joc Pederson were labeled as untouchable by…Kasten.”

With all of that being said, though, the Dodgers will clearly attempt to make their roster better, and the possibility exists that they will include a minor leaguer to sweeten a deal. These are the five players the Dodgers should hold on to, if at all possible.

Note: All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

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