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The lifestyle of an MLB player seems like a blast, right?

Yes, unless you’re an impending free agent, highly touted young player, oft-injured veteran or something in between. Then there’s pressure.

That’s what all professional athletes sign up for. Along with copious amounts of money and fame, you’re burdened with responsibilities to your teammates, fans and front-office executives.

The following 25 guys are either justifying an existing contract or proving themselves worthy of a new one while eyeing the 2014 World Series.

*Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs, unless otherwise specified.

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It’s fair to wonder if the New York Yankees could have already resolved all of their pitching needs before the Masahiro Tanaka posting situation is completed.

The New York Daily News’ Mark Feinsand tweets that the posting process for Tanaka will last until January 24. Being proactive with the free-agent starting pitching market would have given the Yankees all of the freedom and flexibility that they could have wanted.

Instead they are in limbo, waiting on Tanaka. 

If the Yankees had chosen to move in a different direction this winter, they could have taken the $153 million they spent on Jacoby Ellsbury and turned that money into signing two free-agent starting pitchers. Feinsand was the first to report the Ellsbury signing. New York would also have had the money left over to sign a closer.

There are three top-tier starters on the market besides Tanaka. Ervin Santana, Matt Garza and Ubaldo Jimenez all make sense for New York on some level. The Record‘s Bob Klapisch tweeted that the Yankees weren’t interested in Garza or Jimenez, but that could be posturing.

If the Yankees were aggressive, they could make the group similar three- or four-year offers. All three pitchers have received interest from around MLB, but they are stuck waiting while the Tanaka situation is resolved. If presented with a better option than waiting for Tanaka to pick a team, the agents for these starters might be willing to get something done now.

By trying to sign two of the three pitchers now, the Yankees would dramatically improve their rotation over the group that ended last season.

For example, if the Yankees signed Garza and Santana, they would have two younger arms to add to an older group of CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and the younger Ivan Nova. Garza wouldn’t require the Yankees to sacrifice any draft-pick compensation.

The 29-year-old Jimenez has a career record of 82-75 with an ERA of 3.92 and has made over 30 starts in each of the past six seasons. Garza, who has just recently turned 30, has a career record of 67-67 and has struggled to stay healthy in recent seasons. Garza did pitch well during his three seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays dealing with the AL East. The 31-year-old Santana has the best stuff of the three pitchers and has the most career wins with a record of 105-90.

If the Yankees signed two starters and still wanted to remain in play for Tanaka, they could simply look to move Nova to fill a long-term need at shortstop, outfield or second base if need be. Nova would have a lot of immediate value on the trade market and would allow the Yankees to bring in a younger position player or two, something the franchise desperately needs. 

By trying to sign two of the Garza, Jimenez and Santana group, the Yankees could still have money left over fill vacancies at the back end of the bullpen and the middle infield.

Signing a closer like Fernando Rodney or Grant Balfour would have been insurance for David Robertson as he assumes the closer mantle from Mariano Rivera. The Baltimore Orioles recently backed out of a two-year deal with Balfour worth $15 million. Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal has a complete recap of the botched signing here.

The Yankees are considered to be the favorites for Tanaka, and the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman breaks down the competition for New York here.

If Tanaka signs elsewhere, the Yankees need to make sure that they are not left out of the starting pitching market completely.

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The main focus of the MLB offseason will soon turn to Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka, who will be posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles, and free-agent starters Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana, who are all still on the board.

While most interested teams have been waiting to see how the Tanaka situation unfolds, top free-agent hitters Nelson Cruz and Stephen Drew are also still available, along with closers Grant Balfour and Fernando Rodney.

Aside from those players, there aren’t many available on the free-agent market who are expected to make a significant impact on a big league roster. That doesn’t mean there aren’t those who could fill an integral role and help a team in some way, even if it’s at the back of the rotation or off of the bench.

In July, contending teams will be looking for these types of players, who can be had now at a likely bargain rate. 

Here are six such free agents who are still available. 

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The New York Yankees made a big splash during the early stages of free agency by signing free-agent center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven-year deal worth $153 million. It was a deal that was first reported by the New York Daily News‘ Mark Feinsand with the financial information later confirmed by Feinsand.

Ellsbury is a good player, but he is unlikely to be productive enough to give the Yankees a good return on their investment over the course of the entire contract. Ellsbury is being paid like he is a $20 million-a-year player, but his production over his career doesn’t warrant that type of investment. 

The Ellsbury signing is made all the more curious due to the fact that the Yankees already had a comparable player on their roster in Brett Gardner. While Gardner may not be the exact equal of Ellsbury, the gap between the two players is not vast. New York is going to pay a ridiculous premium for a slight player upgrade, more than five times more than the player it already had under team control. 

The 30-year-old Gardner is only 18 days older than Ellsbury. Both players are used to playing in the competitive AL East. Gardner’s career slash line of .268/.352/.381 is not too far off from Ellsbury‘s line of .297/.350/.439, as Ellsbury‘s higher slugging numbers are somewhat inflated by his near-MVP season in 2011 when he hit 32 home runs.

On the basepaths, Gardner has an 80 percent success rate stealing bases while Ellsbury is closer to 84 percent. Defensively, according to Fangraphs, Gardner has a career UZR/150 of 23.0, while Ellsbury sits at 10.2. 

Ellsbury is scheduled to make $21.1 million in 2014, the first season of his new seven-year deal. Gardner is projected to make $4 million by MLB Trade Rumors’ Tim Dierkes next season. Ellsbury had a 5.8 WAR last season while Gardner had only a 4.2 WAR. But Gardner actually has a higher WAR over the past four years, coming in at 15.7 over Ellsbury‘s 14.8. 

Injuries have obviously had a big impact on Ellsbury‘s career numbers with the Boston Red Sox and injury concerns can’t be discounted moving forward. Ellsbury has shown that he is a tough player, but he has played in only 59 percent (384-648) of Boston’s schedule over the past four years. 

The numbers for both players are very comparable across the board and that’s the problem: New York reached for a player when it didn’t need to. 

In retrospect, the Yankees would have been better served looking at extending Gardner to a contract that would have paid far less than what New York just spent on Ellsbury. New York could have then taken the money that the team just spent on Ellsbury and improved other areas of the roster, specifically the pitching staff and infield. 

Ellsbury was the shiny new toy this winter, and New York has struggled recently when it comes to signing the right big-name free agents. It has repeatedly placed name recognition over value in its decision-making process. Gardner is a good enough player to have provided New York with the production it needed short-term and long-term.

The Yankees wanted Ellsbury, but he didn’t fill an immediate need on their roster. For a team looking to get back on top, spending big money on the wrong player is a surefire way for the Yankees’ long-term struggles to continue.

 Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, Fangraphs

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The MLB offseason will jump back into the swing of things once the calendar flips to 2014. For now, the rumor mill has slowed down during the holidays, serving as a lull between a wild December and a January that also figures to feature plenty of high-profile moves.

In recent days, rumblings regarding some of the top free agents on the market like Stephen Drew and Ubaldo Jimenez have circulated, while Johan Santana’s comeback attempt is a full-go. Here’s a look at the latest rumors with these trio of players.

Stephen Drew, SS

The New York Mets have long been viewed as a logical landing spot for Drew this offseason. The free-agent shortstop is still looking for work weeks after Jhonny Peralta, the other top available player at the position, signed a four-year, $53 million deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

While Drew comes with injury concerns after missing a combined 197 contests in the past three seasons, he provides a lot of pop to a premium defensive position. The Mets could use some more firepower in their lineup after last year’s starting shortstop, Ruben Tejada, batted .202/.259/.260 with no homers and 10 RBI in 57 games while dealing with injuries and a lengthy demotion to Triple-A.

According to Marc Carig of Newsday, the Mets are leaning toward Tejada to be their everyday shortstop in 2014. But Carig also notes that the team is staying in contact with Drew’s agent, Scott Boras, leaving the door open for a possible free-agent agreement.

The Mets remain in contact with Scott Boras, the agent for shortstop Stephen Drew, according to a person with knowledge of the talks. But the source likened the situation to the Mets’ pursuit of outfielder Michael Bourn late last winter. Bourn ultimately landed with the Indians, but not before the Mets made a serious run at signing him, mostly because he had lowered his asking price as the season drew near.

It sounds like New York is playing a waiting game and hoping that Drew’s contract requests will become more palatable. 

While recent comments from Mets special assistant J.P. Ricciardi to WEEI 93.7FM also suggest the team is content with watching Tejada develop, keep an eye on Drew and the Mets as possible partners.

Ubaldo Jimenez, RHP

The market for marquee starting pitchers has been slow to develop this offseason as teams awaited the fate of Japanese righty Masahiro Tanaka, who was officially posted for MLB bidding by the Rakuten Golden Eagles on Dec. 26.

Expect the rumors on guys like Tanaka, Jimenez, Matt Garza and Ervin Santana to pick up in the coming weeks as the top right-handers available engage in negotiations. In a wide-ranging notebook, Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe recently reported that multiple general managers told him the New York Yankees seem like a logical landing spot for Jimenez.

A few GMs I spoke with recently feel the Yankees may wind up with Jimenez, even if they land Masahiro Tanaka. “He had an excellent second half, has great stuff, and he has the type of personality that would fit New York,” one GM said. “He doesn’t let things get to him. He’s good at shrugging off things and turning the page.”

On the surface, it certainly makes sense. The Yankees need some rotation help behind CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova, and they have made a habit of signing big-name free agents.

While Jimenez has been largely inconsistent since his banner year in 2010, he wrapped up the second half of 2013 strong (6-5, 1.82 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, .223 opponents’ average and 10.7 K/9). Jimenez has arguably the biggest upside of any MLB-proven pitcher available and would be a nice addition to the rotation in the Bronx.

Johan Santana, LHP

Johan Santana is set to turn 35 years old during spring training and hasn’t thrown an MLB pitch since 2012, but that hasn’t stopped teams from kicking the tires on the two-time Cy Young winner.

Per Darren Wolfson of ESPN1500 in Minneapolis, the former Minnesota Twins great has generated interest this offseason:

Cafardo also weighed in on the Santana situation recently, pointing to the Twins as a logical destination.

Santana is getting closer to making a decision on a minor league deal with a team. There’s been some speculation about the Twins since Santana still resides in Fort Myers, Fla., where the Twins have spring training. The Red Sox, who also train in Fort Myers, passed. But a small-market team such as the Astros could also have some interest. Santana is just trying to get back pitching and prove himself again.

The Twins have been very aggressive in trying to shore up their dismal starting rotation from 2013 that didn’t feature a single 10-game winner. The club has already signed Ricky Nolasco (four years, $48 million), Phil Hughes (three years, $24 million) and Mike Pelfrey (two years, $11 million) to respective deals this offseason, and Santana represents another low-risk option.

According to LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Santana is expected to try out for teams in the near future:

Santana has dealt with major injuries in recent years that completely wiped out his 2011 and 2013 seasons, but his sterling career numbers (139-78, 3.20 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 8.8 K/9 ratio) is enough to warrant a look in spring training.

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The New York Yankees have been on a shopping spree this winter, committing $300 million in new contracts to players such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts among others as well as re-signing Hiroki Kuroda and Derek Jeter. 

What’s notable in it’s absence is that the Yankees have failed to address their biggest area of need this offseason—the pitching staff. Other than re-signing the excellent Kuroda to another one-year deal, New York has been surprisingly slow when it comes to addressing the team’s many pitching needs while focusing almost entirely on the offense to this point. 

New York’s offense scored only 650 runs in 2013, more than 200 runs fewer than the world champion Boston Red Sox. For a team that prided itself on its offensive stars like Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, it was a startling fall for the franchise and sign of things to come. 

It seems New York has now focused all of its attention on Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka, having already made contact with the pitcher’s agent Casey Close according to Newsday‘s Marc Carig.

Tanaka represents everything New York needs and lacks right now—star power, potential and youth. The 25-year-old Tanaka would be the bridge on the Yankees staff, transitioning the staff from older Yankees groups to a newer generation. 

New York has many holes to fill on the 2014 pitching staff due to the retirements of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. The Yankees have also lost starter Phil Hughes and reliever Joba Chamberlain to free agency. Both Hughes and Chamberlain were once projected as the future of the Yankees pitching staff. Now both players will find themselves trying to salvage their careers in the AL Central. 

What remains of the Yankees pitching staff is in a constant state of transition and potential decline. CC Sabathia comes saddled with serious signs of decline and a minimum remaining $76 million on his contract through 2016.

Sabathia had a career-high ERA of 4.78 in 2013 with the highest WHIP of his career at 1.37. Sabathia takes the ball every fifth day and is a workhorse in every way imaginable. He may simply be showing signs of pitching 200-plus innings in each of the past seven seasons. 

Kuroda would serve as the perfect mentor for the young Tanaka. Kuroda would be able to cushion Tanaka’s immersion into MLB through his own experience of coming to America in 2008.

The downside to Kuorda is that he will turn 39 before he even throws a pitch in 2014, and he has shown signs of fatigue over the past two seasons. Kuroda has been a model of consistency for the Yankees, posting virtually identical numbers during his two seasons in New York. 

Ivan Nova has been something of an enigma over the past three seasons, but he finally seemed to find himself last season, giving the team a 9-6 record with a 3.10 ERA while pitching out of the Yankees rotation.

He finally started to resemble the pitcher who burst onto the scene in 2011 and posted a 16-4 record with the Yankees. The 26-year-old Nova is a crucial piece to the Yankees pitching staff moving forward. 

Looking at the Yankees immediate landscape, Tanaka is a crucial potential piece to the team’s future. New York needs to add a high-end starter who could potentially supplant Sabathia as the team’s ace and give the team the type of performance that Yu Darvish has given the Texas Rangers since his posting. 

The amount that the Yankees have spent this winter won’t mean much if they don’t seriously address the pitching staff, whether it is making a full-court press for Tanaka or making a push toward Matt Garza, a veteran of the AL East. 

Plenty of closer options remain on the market, allowing New York to protect David Robertson in the bullpen. New York could bring in a veteran like Fernando Rodney or Grant Balfour to augment the back-end of the bullpen. 

Adding quality pitching is the way to get the Yankees back up on top of the AL East. So far, the Yankees seemed to have forgotten that fact.

Stats and relevant information provided by Baseball-Reference.com and Marc Carig of Newsday. 

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There have been a number of free-agent signings and trades thus far during the 2014 MLB offseason as teams look to improve their rosters for the coming season. Some of the deals have been surprises, and others have seemed like great fits.

Many teams out there have made moves that make sense based on what their offseason goals are. Some were looking to add players who will give them the best chance at a World Series in 2014, while others wanted to acquire young talent that would give them a solid core to build around.

The following teams have done a great job of accomplishing their goals so far this winter. There is the potential for them to continue to make more moves before Opening Day as well.

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It’s still too early to declare a team as a “winner” or “loser” at this point in the offseason. Because there’s still plenty of time left for them to make trades and several impact players still available on the free-agent market, the perception of how a team’s offseason has gone can change in a moment’s notice. 

A lot has happened, though, and there are teams that have certainly established themselves as having had a successful offseason and those who have either made enough questionable moves or non-moves to give their fanbase a reason to be disappointed. 

Here are four winners and four losers from the first two months of the offseason. 

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It’s hard enough to find five good starting pitchers. But the high occurrence of injuries to pitchers in this day and age commonly forces teams to utilize at least eight or nine starting pitchers to get through a 162-game season.

As a result, certain characteristics have become extremely important when assembling a starting rotation. Without a good combination of consistency, durability and reliability, things can get ugly very quickly. 

And this is why pitchers like Bronson Arroyo and A.J. Burnett, even as they enter their age-37 seasons, are so valuable to a pitching staff. You pretty much know what you’re going to get—30-plus starts, ERA in the mid-3.00s, 200 innings, etc.

Most importantly, their teams know that when they take the mound every fifth day, they will have given their teams a chance to win by the time they depart after six or seven innings. 

So that’s why a team like the Baltimore Orioles, who could already throw out a pretty good starting five on Opening Day (Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Norris, Miguel Gonzalez, Kevin Gausman), are looking to add one of the two free-agent starters.

According to Eduardo A. Encina of The Baltimore Sun, the O’s are more interested in the stability that Arroyo or Burnett could bring to their rotation as opposed to the top three free-agent starters—Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana—who will be paid big money for what they can potentially do, despite having careers that have had extreme highs and lows. 

Which of Arroyo or Burnett would be more effective in Baltimore? Let’s take a closer look.

The 10-year comparisons show two pitchers who have had similarly successful big league careers, with the most notable differences being Burnett’s much higher strikeout rate and Arroyo’s much higher home run totals. Burnett throws much harder, and Arroyo has pitched most of his career in a hitter-friendly ballpark, so that shouldn’t come as a big surprise. 

What this 10-year average doesn’t show is the consistency level that each pitcher has displayed. Aside from Burnett’s last two seasons with the New York Yankees, in which he posted an ERA over 5.00, and Arroyo’s 2011 season, in which he posted a 5.07 ERA with a league-leading 46 homers allowed, the overall numbers aren’t much different from year to year.

During the last two seasons, however, Arroyo and Burnett have been in top form. 

Arroyo has improved upon an already strong BB/9 rate, while Burnett has gotten particularly stingy at allowing the long ball. Both have become even more reliable, however, when it comes to quality starts (at least six innings pitched, no more than three earned runs allowed). 

Taking that a step further, Arroyo pitched at least seven innings in 14 of his 32 starts in 2013, while failing to complete six innings in only eight of his starts. He also allowed two earned runs or fewer in 17 starts, while allowing three or four earned runs in 10 starts and five earned runs or more only five times. 

Burnett (pictured) made it through seven innings in 15 of his 30 starts, while failing to complete six innings in 10 of those. He allowed two earned runs or fewer in 20 starts, while allowing three or four earned runs five times and five earned runs or more in his other five starts. 

There were only seven occasions in their combined 62 starts in 2013—four for Arroyo and three for Burnett—when either of them left the game without giving their team a pretty good chance of winning the game.

It’s hard to get much more consistent than that. It’s hard to be more reliable than that.

So which is the better fit in Baltimore?

Both have been successful in the NL Central, but what about the AL East? Burnett, despite a rough ending to his Yankees career, had three very good seasons with Toronto and one with New York. Arroyo’s first two full seasons as a starting pitcher came with Boston. 

Arroyo has experience and a proven track record of success pitching in one of the most homer-friendly parks in the majors. The homer-friendly confines of Camden Yards shouldn’t faze him one bit.

Burnett doesn’t give up many homers. He only gave up 11 homers in 191 innings pitched last season. But he’s allowed 10 homers in 62.1 career innings at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, while posting a 5.03 ERA. 

While that small sample size of struggles in Baltimore won’t scare the O’s away from Burnett, it could cause them to lean toward Arroyo. 

Arroyo, however, will require a two-year commitment, maybe even three, likely in the $7-10 million range, while Burnett, if he chooses to keep pitching, would likely settle for a one-year deal in the $10-15 million range. 

It’s a close call, and I don’t think the O’s would end up regretting the signing of either pitcher. But if I had to choose between, say, Arroyo at two years and $20 million, or Burnett at one year and $14 million, I’d go with Burnett. 

There’s a strong possibility that Gausman could be the ace of the 2015 staff and fellow pitching prospects Dylan Bundy, Eduardo Rodriguez and Mike Wright could all be ready for a full season in the majors. In addition, Tillman, Chen, Norris and Gonzalez would all still be under team control. Giving any free-agent pitcher more than one season seems unnecessary at this point. 

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This is what the Arizona Diamondbacks have been waiting for. Masahiro Tanaka will be posted by the Rakuten Golden Eagles after a contentious battle with MLB over the posting fee. It was news that was first reported by the Japanese media outlets Sponichi and Nikkan Sports and then later confirmed by the Kyodo News’ Jim Allen.

Arizona desperately needs a front-line ace quality starting pitcher to lead their rotation. This is a potential opportunity for the D’Backs to acquire a 25-year-old stud pitcher, one who might develop into an ace in America.

Tanaka‘s numbers in Japan last season were stunning; 24-0 record with a 1.27 ERA. Tanaka has been pitching in the Japanese league for seven seasons and has a career record of 99-35 with an ERA of 2.30. 

The deal to post Tanaka seemed like it would be in jeopardy from the very beginning after NPB and MLB came to an agreement to modify the posting system to post Japanese players reported in this article from the Japan Times.

The biggest change to the system was the cap on the posting fee paid to Japanese teams. The most teams can bid now would be $20 million, opening the market for almost any team in baseball to make a bid.

It was a change to make the system more fair and to stop large market teams like New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers from using their financial muscle to scare off other teams. 

Now, any team can bid $20 million for the opportunity to sign Tanaka, even the D’Backs. It’s a far cry from the $51.7 million posting fee paid for Yu Darvish and the $51.1 million posting fee paid for Daisuke Matsuzaka.

The D’Backs have been linked to Tanaka all winter, stating the player is the number one priority in this tweet by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Arizona general manager Kevin Towers told the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro the team would be willing to sign Tanaka to a long-term deal. 

It seems from the very beginning of free agency that Arizona had formulated their off-season plan to chase Tanaka.

The D’Backs face an enormous challenge to lure Tanaka to the desert over other more attractive destinations, including the Yankees. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman has a breakdown of the eight teams that will most likely be in direct competition with the Yankees for Tanaka‘s services. 

The D’Backs need to be all in, here.

This can’t be a situation where the team talks about Tanaka all winter and then comes up short in the bidding process and say they gave it the best shot. Going back to a free agent starter like Matt Garza would be a tough sell if the team has been lukewarm on signing him to this point. 

The starting point for a deal with Tanaka will likely be in the $100 million range, something the D’Backs need to be prepared for. There would be plenty of risk to a large deal with Tanaka, but adding Tanaka to a rotation that already includes Patrick Corbin and potentially Archie Bradley would be much improved over last season.

Arizona can sell the NL West as a better landing spot for the young Japanese pitcher, a division with larger ballparks and no designated hitter to face. The D’Backs have also shown a willingness to travel, as next season’s trip to Australia displays in this article by MLB.com’s Paul Hagan.

Tanaka would be a huge marketing opportunity for Arizona, one that would increase the D’Backs national and international recognition across the globe. 

The opportunity is there and Tanaka can be signed. Are the D’Backs up to the challenge? That’s the quesiton.

Information used from Sponichi, Nikkan Sports, Jim Allen/Kyodo News, Baseball Reference, Japan Times, Ken Rosenthal/Fox Sports, Nick Piecoro/Arizona Republic, Joel Sherman/New York Post, Paul Hagan/MLB.com

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