Brian McCann

With the shocking Ian Kinsler for Prince Fielder trade on Wednesday night, the Texas Rangers took the baseball world by storm.  

Finally—and let me emphasize that—Texas has a premier power bat at first base.  Since GM Jon Daniels traded Mark Teixeira to the Atlanta Braves in 2007, the club has tried desperately to fill the position on a trial-and-error basis.  

The San Francisco Giants, for the first time in a long time, are going to make splashy moves in the offseason.

San Francisco already dished out lofty amounts of money to retain Hunter Pence and Tim Lincecum, but    there is still more to do. Left field needs to be upgraded, the pitching staff needs to be filled out and the bench needs improvement.

What should the Giants do this offseason?

With the confetti still lining the city streets following their World Series victory, the Boston Red Sox are plotting moves that will help bring the franchise a second consecutive championship next year. 

From an outside perspective, Major League Baseball's offseason can be difficult to understand. Unlike the NBA, NFL and NHL, a salary cap isn't present to handcuff the ability of an organization to retain stars with expiring pacts.

Yet, despite the lack of a unified budget for each team, owners and front office executives have limits for each player during the hot-stove season.

Brian McCann has spent his entire career with the Atlanta Braves and has been one of the best offensive catchers in baseball over that span. As he prepares to enter free agency this winter, the rumors and the speculation are already starting to heat up.

How a player performs when the games matter most could have an affect on his overall value, which is of greater importance to those who are eligible for free agency at season's end. 

While a majority of these players will not stand out in a good or bad way, there are a handful of them who will. As a result, the price tag could rise or fall, at least slightly. A pair of 2012 postseason stars, Marco Scutaro and Anibal Sanchez, each cashed in after boosting their value greatly with strong playoff performances. 

Like the Red Sox, whose offseason free agent targets I previewed yesterday, the Braves are one of the best teams in baseball without too many weaknesses on their current roster. The difference is that the Sox have several key players headed for free agency while the Braves have just one—catcher Brian McCann. And they could choose to replace him internally. 

In recent weeks, several teams have locked up franchise icons, including the Giants' Buster Posey, the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright and the Tigers' Justin Verlander. Without these key players hitting free agency in coming years, teams will have to work with what remains. 

A few players stand to gain tremendously from these signings, but will need to put up good numbers this season if they want to cash in on long-term deals this offseason. Here are my top five free agents in need of a strong 2013 campaign.

One of the more important storylines in baseball this spring training is the health and bounce-back ability of San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey.

The Braves enter their mid-week series with division rival Florida Marlins 4-6, a record that most in the baseball world would call a mild fiasco for a team that garnered such praise out of March.