MLB Free Agency

It's already Week 7 of the 2015-16 MLB offseason, and Clayton Kershaw still needs a sidekick.

From figuring out who will be backing up baseball's nastiest starter at Dodger Stadium to trying to explain why so many prominent free-agent bats remain unsigned, there are all sorts of questions to ponder as 2016 inches ever closer.

The good news for MLB's most inactive contenders like the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Kansas City Royals is that it's not even Christmas yet, which means there's still plenty of time left to shop.

The bad news for those clubs is that the offseason simply hasn't gone to script—at least not yet.

As the baseball world prepares to shut down for the holiday season, this is the perfect time to survey the league and figure out which contenders can afford to be patient and which ones should be hitting the panic button.

From trying to decipher what the heck the Los Angeles Dodgers are doing to puzzling over where Yoenis Cespedes will play next season, there are plenty of giant questions left to be answered before the MLB offseason begins its brief holiday hibernation.

While Cespedes isn't the only free-agent headliner who cracks this list, there's also room for a veteran infielder who has recently ended up on the trade block.

It’s midway through December, and this has already been one of the most active Major League Baseball offseasons in recent memory. Plenty of teams have been dealing aggressively, making smart acquisitions or signing key free agents to counter the moves made by their divisional rivals.

The 2015 MLB offseason has been an exercise in patience for prime-time outfielders like Yoenis Cespedes, Alex Gordon and Justin Upton.

Now that Jason Heyward has inked an eight-year, $184 million deal with the Chicago Cubs, the market has been set and the offseason game of outfield musical chairs can begin.

At best, Johnny Cueto for six years and $130 million gives the San Francisco Giants the bargain of the winter.

Fortunately for Jason Heyward, the Atlanta Braves thought they had a chance to win in 2010. Unfortunately for Stephen Strasburg, the Washington Nationals knew they didn't.

Both Heyward and Strasburg were young phenoms that spring. The Braves put Heyward on their Opening Day roster. The Nationals had Strasburg make 11 minor league starts before calling him up for a much-hyped major league debut on June 8.

The 2015 MLB offseason has been a major bummer for Chris Davis and Yoenis Cespedes.

The winter meetings are fading into the background and those free-agent mashers are still hunting for that lucrative, and to this point, elusive, payday.

Understatement: St. Louis Cardinals fans have not taken the news well that Jason Heyward has left for Chicago.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: We told ourselves we were only going to deal with transactions during the winter meetings, which ended Thursday afternoon. But some things are too big to ignore, so with the news that free-agent outfielder Jason Heyward has chosen the Chicago Cubs (first reported by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times), we've added an 11th transaction.