MLB

For the second consecutive offseason, the Chicago Cubs could land the hottest left-hander on the market.

Nothing is official until the ink's dry, obviously, but right now, fans on the North Side can allow themselves to dream of David Price in a Cubbies uniform.

The deadline for MLB teams to extend qualifying offers to impending free agents passed at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, and 20 players will get the chance to make some money in the offseason.

This number shattered the previous record of 13, according to Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith.

On Saturday at 12:01 a.m. ET, MLB free agents will officially be free to sign with any club. With 139 names on the free-agent list, there is plenty of intrigue as the hot-stove season gets set to fire up.

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Chris Heisey cleared outright waivers and Friday elected to become a free agent, according to Alanna Rizzo of SportsNet LA.

The 2015 MLB offseason is just getting started, but already a number of teams are circling the free agents they want and doing what they can to pursue them.

This year's class is littered with high-profile players, especially with starting pitching, which could lead to a lot of different storylines over the course of the winter. Some pursuits will drag out over a few months, while others could wrap up in the first week of free agency.

New York Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia admitted this week he's known about his alcohol problem for about three years. Yet, it wasn't until near the end of the regular season in Baltimore that he finally understood he needed help.  

The 2015 Cubs season was an appetizer of sorts. It didn’t necessarily represent accomplishment but rather possibilities for a young core that will remain in Chicago for several more years.

No one walks into any restaurant because of its tasty appetizers. But certainly they can excite you about what else the chef has to offer. If anything, they increase your appetite. They leave you wanting more.

Jason Heyward is a different kind of elite baseball player.

His traditional statistics are not the stuff of legend. He doesn’t bang balls off of scoreboards, and he might never be the all-world run producer traditionalists fawn over. His name has never been instantly recognizable by the casual sports fan, and his jersey might never crack the top five in Major League Baseball’s sales rankings.

Free agency is hogging most MLB headlines with players eligible to sign with teams as early as Friday, but there is still plenty of buzz on potential trades that could contribute to the personnel shifts among the baseball landscape.

Here is a glance at the latest names rumored on the trade market in the young offseason.

The 2015 MLB season has come to a close, but that doesn't mean baseball is done for the year. In fact, many 2016 storylines will be molded over the next few months during free agency. 

Over the next few slides, we'll take a look at a handful of the hottest questions that need to be answered this winter.