NL West

A+

No, seriously. A+. Catcher has been upgraded, shortstop has been upgraded, second base has been upgraded, depth has been added, and essentially all it cost was Matt Kemp and a left-handed pitching prospect named Tom Windle.

The Chicago Cubs' rapid-fire rebuild continued Tuesday, as they acquired All-Star catcher Miguel Montero from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for pitching prospects Jeferson Mejia and Zack Godley.

Imagine if Mark Twain and Grantland Rice drank rye by a bonfire all night and attempted to come up with an American folk hero for the modern sports era. 

Trade talks and free-agent signings are at a fever pitch during this MLB offseason, and the hype for MLB 15 The Show is gaining serious steam as well. On Saturday, the debut sizzle trailer for the game was released at the PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas. 

As the MLB winter meetings kick off in San Diego this week, the Los Angeles Dodgers seem primed to pull the trigger on a trade.

On Friday, the Arizona Diamondbacks acquired 19-year-old minor league shortstop Domingo Leyba from the Detroit Tigers.

Prizes are only as valuable as the people who covet them.

That is why the first month-plus of Major League Baseball’s offseason has been a slugfest for those who slug. Like wild and crazy Black Friday shoppers looking for the season’s hottest toy in a snug department-store aisle, baseball executives are doing all they can to lure the winter’s best bats.

After looking up at the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in the NL West in 2014, the San Diego Padres are giving off strong signals that they mean to level the playing field this winter.

Question is: Is Matt Kemp the right man for the job?

Point your ear in the direction of Chavez Ravine, and you'll hear the sound of silence. So far, the eerily quiet Los Angeles Dodgers have been letting other clubs dictate the MLB offseason's headlines.

Let's put this in the "Probably Not Gonna Last" file. Knowing their situation, the Dodgers' silence is likely the calm before the eruption. 

The San Francisco Giants just lost Pablo Sandoval, their third baseman and cleanup hitter. So, naturally, they should set their sights on...Jon Lester, starting pitcher.

Seems counterintuitive on its face. Sandoval's departure leaves a panda-sized hole in the San Francisco lineup; shouldn't filling it be priority No. 1?