Dan Haren

After spending 13 years pitching in the major leagues, Dan Haren has compiled plenty of thoughts and stories only a big leaguer has experienced.

Now that he's retired, the 35-year-old is willing to open up a bit about what it's like to be in the majors.

Major League Baseball saw more than just the Chicago Cubs' season end on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets. It also signaled the end of pitcher Dan Haren's career, who announced his retirement early Thursday morning. 

Here is how he told the baseball world:

The majority of the offseason's most valuable trade chips have already been dealt, but there are still a few coveted veterans who could be on the move before the start of spring training in February.

Complementary veteran pieces are still available for the right price. Oftentimes, those are the types of acquisitions that set the offseason's successful teams apart from the pack. While the big prizes of the winter are the ones that lead to the most improvement, the extra pieces take a team over the top.

Sports fans may have their attention firmly turned toward football and basketball around the holidays, but pitchers and catchers report to spring training in less than two months. That means MLB teams are running out of time to make any corresponding roster moves. 

Naturally, there are rumors circulating around the league regarding the futures of some players who could potentially switch teams before late February.

Here is a look at some of those rumors.

Not even the holidays can completely halt MLB trade talk.

The offseason doesn't shut down, but don't expect another flurry of deals before New Year's Day. After all, general managers are actual people with families, so landing that left-handed reliever can probably wait a week. 

Much of the chatter in the MLB has died down as the winter chill has set in across the nation, with the majority of big-name free agents inked to lucrative contracts and a variety of blockbuster trades—including of course the high-risk, high-reward moves pulled off by the San Diego Padres—already stamped as done deals.

Early in the offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers have already been involved in several moves. With the departures of Skip Schumaker and Nick Punto and the arrival of Dan Haren, we already know that several members of the 2014 roster will be new faces.

There are still moves to be made as November turns into December, but this is a good time to take stock of where the Dodgers are and how they've made out during these first few transactions.

In New York, the Yankees are preparing to spend money like it's 2008 all over again. Five years after drowning their third-place finish sorrows away by spending over $400 million combined on CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett, the Yankees are poised to hand out big-money deals. The names have changed, but the objective remains to spend.

In their endless search for depth and talent, the New York Yankees were in the mix for Washington Nationals starter Dan Haren as recently as last weekend, reports Ken Rosenthal of

• AL East
• Baseball
• Breaking News
• Dan Haren
• MLB
• New York Yankees