New York Yankees

The New York Yankees have several difficult decisions ahead this offseason, but following a blueprint would help to mitigate the tough choices that general manager Brian Cashman will inevitably have to make.

We can make all the predictions we want about the upcoming offseason. But the reality of the prediction business is that each time a move is made that comes out of left field, a lot of the thinking that went into the remaining predictions can go right out the window.

This winter, Robinson Cano will be the biggest, most expensive name on the free-agent market, which is just the sort of player the big-market, deep-pocketed New York Yankees have been known to land.

But will they? And more importantly, should they?

Cano, of course, actually is a Yankee. At least, technically speaking. For now.

With the offseason just around the corner, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman may be presented with the opportunity to pull off a few trades to improve his squad.

According to Mark Feinsand of The New York Daily News, there is mutual interest between impending free agent Carlos Beltran and the New York Yankees.

The New York Yankees' failure to reach the playoffs in 2013 has been written about ad nauseam, but rather than lament the disappointments of the recent past, there are some good reasons to look toward the future.

General manager Brian Cashman has a ton of work to do for the 2014 season, and constructing a lineup should be the next logical move after re-signing manager Joe Girardi.

It's not official yet, but the careers of Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte, much like the former Yankee Stadium, will come to a close on a note as anticlimatic as can be. For only the second time in the wild-card era, the New York Yankees will not make the postseason.

The San Francisco Giants went to their bullpen on Friday night with two outs in the seventh inning, and Alex Rodriguez made them regret it. His opposite-field home run not only broke a 1-1 tie; it set a new MLB record for career grand slams.

One of the greatest careers in New York Yankees history is coming to an end.

As first reported by Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Andy Pettitte has announced he will retire at the conclusion of the 2013 Yankees season: