NL East

After a winter of lavish spending on homegrown, ascending talents, the Atlanta Braves have locked up their young core—Freddie Freeman, Andrelton S

On Monday morning, New York Mets first baseman Ike Davis was agitated when an injury he failed to disclose to the team last season was uncovered. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tweeted the series of events that followed:

The New York Mets’ search for an external solution at shortstop has been centered on free agent Stephen Drew. Now that the Seattle Mariners are dangling middle infielder Nick Franklin in the trade market, there is plenty of reason to shift their focus.

Spring training is finally upon us. After a long offseason, baseball is back, and more specifically, Philadelphia Phillies baseball is back.

The New York Mets outfield situation is a wide open competition heading into their official spring training full-squad workouts on February 22. At this point, the one player that seems to have locked up an everyday role is Curtis Granderson. 

The Atlanta Braves have gotten extension-crazy all of a sudden, but that doesn't mean they're handing out crazy extensions. The first one they handed out this month was a good one, and now they've handed out another good one.

This second extension is going to young right-hander Julio Teheran, as the Braves gladly announced on Twitter:

It's been a big week for the Philadelphia Phillies. More specifically, it's been a big last couple of days for the Phillies.

Playing armchair general manager is often met with skepticism. In an ideal world, the New York Mets would have outbid the Seattle Mariners for Robinson Cano’s services, subsequently adding one of the premier offensive threats at a notoriously light-hitting position.

For the Atlanta Braves, a core of young, ascending talent is a blessing. But it's also a curse for long-term payroll planning.

Aside from those that will eventually add free agents Nelson Cruz, Stephen Drew, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana, teams are done adding impact players, and we now have a pretty good idea of the core talent that each will head into the 162-game season with.

Based on this, we can now make a well-educated guess on which teams are the World Series favorites. If it were only that simple.