Opinion

Most of the world looks forward to the holidays when December arrives, but Major League Baseball takes the stage first with the winter meetings beginning in Nashville, Tennessee, on Dec. 7. 

Even though there have been a few notable trades and free-agent signings thus far, the real action will start with all 30 teams under the same roof. Free agents will get all of the attention, but trade winds are going to be more fascinating simply because more teams can play in those waters. 

1. The Budding Red Sox-Tigers Rivalry

The beautiful thing about sports is that the landscape is ever-changing and the competition is ever fiercer, and a couple of years after Torii Hunter lands upside-down in a bullpen in Boston in October, things between the Tigers and Red Sox can get even stranger.

Four weeks after Royals closer Wade Davis struck out Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores and the Kansas City Royals celebrated their World Series victory at Citi Field, the free-agent market had hardly budged. Not a single one of the top 10 players on the market had signed.

Well, that sure changed quickly.

Because 2015 was an odd year, the San Francisco Giants' having a down year was inevitable. As evidenced by their World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014, even years are their jams.

So, obviously they'll be back on top in 2016.

There is a lot of ground to cover between an MLB team saying it is "interested" in a player on the trade market and an actual deal getting done.

The winter meetings are set to kick off on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, so there will be no shortage of fresh rumors to dissect in the days and weeks to come.

Going one step further, it's fair to assume at least a few significant deals will go down before the end of the month.

The Chicago Cubs missed out on Jordan Zimmermann. Then they whiffed on David Price. Now they need to go hard after Zack Greinke, right?

They just returned to relevance with a trip to the National League Championship Series, after all, and could use another starter (at least) to push them over the long-awaited championship hump. Heck, they proved their willingness to spend big on pitching last winter by handing a six-year, $155 million deal to Jon Lester.

There are three big winners of the mega-contract David Price signed on Tuesday. One is obviously Price, who is now filthy rich. Another is the Boston Red Sox, who finally have their ace.

Each Major League Baseball offseason, teams get linked to certain free agents who just don’t make sense for their specific needs. Given the large sums of money these free agents demand, general managers have to be 100 percent certain about a player’s value before signing him.

Do you want to win, or do you not want to win?

That question trumps Price tags, sticker shock and sometimes even common sense when Jack Frost starts nipping at your nose and memories of a crumbled summer are crackling in the fireplace.

There was no bigger rumor coming out of the Thanksgiving break than a report from the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo that Boston is trying to move Hanley Ramirez and has targeted three American League clubs—Baltimore, Los Angeles and Seattle—as potential trade partners.