Adrian Beltre

Heading into the offseason, the Yankees considered themselves favorites to land Cliff Lee, and the Rangers definitely thought they had a chance. The Angels though they could sign Carl Crawford, and several teams around the league believed they could bring in Zack Greinke.

With all three players off the market—Lee in Philly, Greinke in Milwaukee and Crawford in Boston—GM's around baseball are scrambling to find that backup plan, fill their budgets and put a competitive team on the field heading into 2011.

With Christmas just around the corner, and the Winter GM Meetings already a thing of the past, Major League Baseball's Hot Stove league is well underway.

Going into this offseason, there was much talk about guys like Cliff Lee, the one true ace available, Jayson Werth, considered the best offensive threat on the market, and Carl Crawford, the superlative all-around threat coming off of arguably his best season.

Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno could probably be accused of a lot of things, but one of them will never be loyalty to his fan base. In the seven plus years that Arte Moreno has owned the Angels, he has steadfastly committed himself that the baseball experience at Angels Stadium remains affordable for fans, and that, with the exception of the 5-year, $90 million contract given to center fielder Torii Hunter, the team remains committed to exercising fiduciary responsibility.

That man is smiling because Adrian Beltre is currently the "hottest" item left on the Major League Baseball winter stove now that Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth, Victor Martinez and Adam Dunn have found greener pastures.

Or more luxurious estates with more elegantly manicured lawns amidst a community with higher gates.

You say potato, I say potato...

Free agency is quite often crucial to a team's short- and long-term success. While many players are drafted and brought through an organization's farm system, more times than not it comes down to the ability of a team to bring in top-end free agents. 

However, the risks involved with signing free agents are apparent in every Major League Baseball season. Year in and year out, players fail to live up to their multi-million dollar contracts.

Adrian Beltre picked a good time to become a free agent and a good year to produce like an elite offensive force. Of course we've seen this before. Teams should be scared to offer Beltre anything close to the deals given to elite hitters so far this offseason. Beltre has not been especially consistent over his career, though he does play exceptional defense and can be counted on for 25 home runs of so wherever he plays.

Now that the Winter Meetings are over and Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth have signed mammoth contracts, what's next? What other impact free-agents are still out there? 

It looks more likely this winter that there will be significant player movement via trade. In this economic climate it makes sense for smaller market teams to trade players who are looking at large salary increases in the near future in exchange for younger players that they can control for a significant amount of time.

The rumors are flying in the already steaming Major League Baseball hot stove.  With the Winter Meetings starting today, many free agents are sure to find new homes in the upcoming days and weeks.

But where will they end up? The answer is not as sure for some as it is for others. 

With the outlandish deal given to Jayson Werth, the uncertainty of this offseason has dramatically increased. After more major players sign, the dominoes are sure to fall. Here are 10 of the most coveted prizes of this offseason, their possible suitors and where they will end up. 

The dominoes are starting to fall. Jayson Werth has signed a surprisingly large contract with the Washington Nationals (seven years, $126 million) leaving outfielder Carl Crawford as the number one prize on the free agent market. Crawford and his agent were already looking for a contract in the $100 million dollar range, but if Werth going to average $18 million a season what can Crawford now command?

The Boston Red Sox acquired power-hitting Adrian Gonzalez in a trade with the San Diego Padres for three top prospects. As a result of this trade, Kevin Youkilis will move from first base to third base.

This also means that Adrian Beltre will not play for the Red Sox in 2011.

After a major down year in 2009, Beltre had a bounce-back year in Boston hitting .321, 28 HR and 102 RBI. It was only the second time in his career that he has hit 100 RBI or more.