Opinion

A year ago, Odubel Herrera was just another faceless player on a bad Philadelphia Phillies team, a nice Rule 5 pickup but still a guy known for little but having an unusual first name.

Is James Shields a member of the Chicago White Sox yet?

Talk of the veteran hurler joining the American League Central leaders might be the juiciest rumor out there, but it's far from the only one. A major injury in Kansas City has created some buzz, while a rebuilding club may have learned from past mistakes and be ready to part with an All-Star infielder.

There were no beanballs, no ejections and no Chase Utley fireworks in Sunday night's tussle between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.

It was already clear the New York Mets had beef with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and then Chase Utley happened.

Sorry, that should read Chase Utley happened again.

NEW YORK — The kid said it was the best day of his life, the happiest day of his life.

Do you blame him? Julio Urias is 19 years old, he was pitching in a real major league game and everyone was rushing to say how great he's going to be.

Maybe he will be. No matter how bad the numbers were Friday night, when the kid needed 81 pitches to get eight outs and allow three runs, nothing that happened at Citi Field should change anything anyone thinks of him.

You're going to enjoy this one, Boston Red Sox fans.

Yes, your club is sitting atop the American League East standings as May winds down. But far, far more importantly, Boston landed three—count 'em, three—players on Bleacher Report's MLB Team of the Month.

Feels good, right?

The rules are essentially the same as Team of the Week, except we're looking at stats from the past 30 days instead of the last seven.

Chances are the Kansas City Royals weren't going to repeat as MLB champions no matter what.

Don't get mad, Royals fans. That's just clear-eyed history.

The MLB trade market generally doesn't heat up until the beginning of July, but it's never too early to start speculating about some potential deals that teams could explore.

We've broken down the following article into buyers, sellers and teams still on the fence, as it's not clear where all 30 teams will fall at this point with so much baseball left to be played.

For buyers, we've proposed a trade to help plug one of their areas of need and for sellers we've suggested a deal that could turn a veteran piece into young assets.

Even without a career that included six All-Star appearances, four Silver Sluggers and three seasons in which he finished in the top 10 in NL MVP voting, Chase Utley would still forever remain in the baseball lexicon.

Albeit because of one play.

Zero. That's how many dollars the New York Yankees spent on major league free agents this winter. 

Considering they've got MLB's second-highest payroll and a well-earned reputation for cutting cartoonish checks, that's sort of a big deal.

What gives?