Preview/Prediction

The first week of December is typically an optimistic time for all 30 Major League Baseball teams because it marks the start of the winter meetings, where club executives and agents discuss potential deals.

There was a storm cloud hanging over this year's meetings, though, with owners and the players' union struggling to agree to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Although the winter meetings are sure to bring plenty of shakeups across Major League Baseball, the trade hot stove is already kicking into high gear with several huge names reportedly available for the right price.

Many of the top free agents remain untouched thus far, and while those dominoes promise to fall in the near future, some of the biggest moves made this offseason may occur on the trade market due to an apparent willingness to orchestrate some blockbuster swaps.

The baseball world is about to descend on National Harbor in Maryland, as MLB's 2016 winter meetings are set to kick off on Monday. And things are sure to be rather interesting.

While there have been a few significant moves already in MLB since the World Series wrapped up roughly a month ago, things generally don't get going until the annual winter meetings, which are set for Dec. 4-8 in National Harbor, Maryland.

There figures to be no shortage of blockbuster trades and notable free-agent signings during the upcoming four-day event, but before that happens, let's make some predictions.

Labor peace has returned to baseball, ending the veiled threats of lockouts and boycotts of the winter meetings, which are set to begin next week. That's good news.

It's even better news—and a stone-cold fact—that sanity has returned to MLB's All-Star Game, which will no longer have any World Series implications associated with it. That alone makes the new collective bargaining agreement a rousing success.

Generally speaking, the annual winter meetings are when the MLB offseason really takes off.

While we've already seen a handful of notable free-agent signings and a few significant trades, there's still a lot of roster shuffling to be done between now and the start of spring training.

That wheeling and dealing will kick into high gear next week, as all 30 teams will converge on National Harbor, Maryland, from Dec. 4-8 for four days of excitement.

We're less than a month into the Hot Stove League and, already, five of the MLB free agents that appeared on our initial Top 25 Big Board at the end of September have come off the market.

The World Baseball Classic is back—or it will be this spring, with the fourth installment of the international baseball tournament scheduled to kick off on Mar. 6 and the championship game slated for Mar. 22 at Dodger Stadium.

The United States team enters the upcoming tournament still searching for its first World Baseball Classic title.

In fact, it has yet to finish higher than fourth, with that result coming back in 2009. It also has an eighth-place finish in 2006 and a sixth-place finish in 2013 to its credit.

Now that MLB teams drew first blood in the offseason's free-agency market, expect the floodgates to soon open.

This year's MLB offseason is shaping up to be a busy one on the trade market as teams turn their attention to potential blockbuster deals to offset one of the weakest free-agent markets in recent memory.

That should lead to plenty of talks of potential blockbuster deals during this year's winter meetings, which will take place from Dec. 4-8 in National Harbor, Maryland.

Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale will be a special case, as acquiring him will mean giving up young talent that would be otherwise untouchable.