Opinion

Brace yourselves, Atlanta Braves fans. Another franchise player might be about to make his exit.

Youth was served in great, big, heaping helpings in the 2015 MLB season. We witnessed one of the best rookie classes in recent memory—and of all time, for that matter.

Given his history of wheeling and dealing, it was a matter of when, not if, Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski would make his first big winter trade.

As it turns out, he didn't even wait for winter to officially begin.

As it turns out, $15.8 million is pretty darn enticing.

That seems like an absurdly self-evident statement. But when it comes to MLB's qualifying offer, leaving piles of money on the table has always been the name of the game—until now.

It appears San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller is back to his old tricks.

The Major League Baseball season is over, but hot-stove action is just heating up.

It's a time when bad teams look to get better, but even the World Series champion Kansas City Royals don't shut it down in the offseason.

While they are looking to make an already strong team stronger, they also are fending off teams that are seeking to add the services of free agents who played in Kansas City last year, such as Alex Gordon and Ben Zobrist.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the market for starting pitching, and word is they're willing to go big. They either want to re-sign Zack Greinke or, failing that, sign David Price instead.

If you were worried about the state of the shortstop position after Derek Jeter's retirement, worry no more. The Houston Astros' Carlos Correa and the Cleveland Indians' Francisco Lindor have got it covered.

When the Yankee captain hung up his cleats following the 2014 season, Correa and Lindor—both former first-round picks from Puerto Rico—were marinating in the minors, full of promise but yet to prove anything at the big league level.

The first big shot of the 2015 MLB offseason has been fired, and the Los Angeles Angels pulled the trigger.

The bullet, to stretch the analogy, is Andrelton Simmons, the slickest-fielding shortstop in the game and now a member of the Halos after Los Angeles and the Atlanta Braves swung a landscape-shifting five-player trade Thursday.

The MLB offseason is already getting interesting.

It's only been a little over a week since the season ended, but it feels like a month's worth of rumors has been crammed into the last 11-plus days.

More importantly, there are some potential trades that are gathering some steam involving some notable names. 

Let's take a look at some of the latest from the rumor mill.