Opinion

An underwhelming 2015 season left Texas Rangers star Ian Desmond in need of reinventing himself.

Like Apple on the brink of bankruptcy in the late 1990s or Taylor Swift transitioning from country singer to mainstream pop star, Desmond’s brand was due for a seismic change when he entered free agency this past offseason.

It was tempting to give Ken Griffey Jr. an honorary slot in Bleacher Report's latest MLB Team of the Week.

The Kid will officially enter the Hall of Fame on Sunday, and even at age 46 he exemplifies everything that's fun and awesome about baseball. Let's put it this way: He might be the only guy his age who can still rock a backward baseball cap and get away with it. 

Big Papi's been places. And done things. All-Star Games. Home Run Derbies. World Series. You name it.

But about four months into David Ortiz's final major league season, it's getting hard to ignore the possibility of him doing something he's never done before: win the Most Valuable Player award.

There is no shortage of big names on the block as we head toward the 2016 MLB trade deadline on Aug. 1.

As teams prepare for their playoff pushes, they want impact players who can make a difference for the rest of the regular season and beyond. Of course, those stars aren't going to come cheap. The contending squads will have to give up noteworthy talent in return, which this year also includes high-profile players.

They sit across the negotiating table as adversaries, but Rob Manfred and Tony Clark are also partners.

As the commissioner of Major League Baseball and the head of its players union, respectively, Manfred and Clark have significant differences, but also common goals. There's little they agree on more than the need to bring the game to younger audiences, to increase baseball's appeal to the next generation.

The Los Angeles Dodgers' 2016 season is riding on Clayton Kershaw's back.

Literally.

July means sellers reign supreme in Major League Baseball. 

That rings true at least from an attention standpoint, as teams that are out of contention are ready to turn an eye to the future and make a splash. It's not the most difficult thing to pull off, either, not with so many contenders willing to take the bait each year.

Theirs is a friendship based on curveballs, Commodores and chip shots.

Maybe one day, these two Vanderbilt University alums and Tennessee neighbors will be teammates, too.

For now, David Price is the $217 million anchor in a sketchy Boston rotation as the Red Sox take aim at another World Series run.

If you're already a baseball fan, you've long since learned to live with how the sport takes its time. Any given baseball game is a slow burn, and there's a certain charm to that.

However, it's doubtful anybody is clambering for games to become even slower burns. Major League Baseball certainly isn't, which is why it should be afraid of one of the ideas in the air right now.

You've heard the rumblings. You've sifted through the rumors. Now, at long last, the Aug. 1 MLB non-waiver trade deadline is in sight.

Seriously, squint your eyes. You can see it, right?

In the next week and change, a handful of impact trades will go down, and the balance of power will shift across both leagues. That much we know.

Who's on the move? That's where the picture gets murkier.