Preview/Prediction

It is officially the year 2015, and with the holiday season in the rearview mirror, the countdown to spring training, as well as Opening Day, has begun.

The offseason is just over halfway through at this point, and many free agents are off the board. What's more, plenty of trades have been made, making that market a little bit tougher for interested teams as well.

Every year, a handful of Major League Baseball players emerge from relative obscurity to become key contributors for their respective teams and household names to baseball fans across the country.

The breakout performance of guys like Jonathan Lucroy and Corey Kluber stole the headlines in 2014, but those two were relatively well-known around the league heading into the 2014 season.

The Washington Nationals are almost three months into the offseason and general manager Mike Rizzo's finger is still resting on the trigger of nearly all of the team's biggest potential maneuvers. 

Max Scherzer and James Shields still need homes for 2015 and beyond.

The two starting pitchers remain untouched on MLB's free-agent market, waiting to select a new employer before Opening Day. While action predictably intensified once fellow ace Jon Lester made his decision, the other premium hurlers did not budge on expediting the process.

As we get closer to 2015, the New York Mets can now begin to predict what the Opening Day starting lineup may look like with just about every hitter at every position pretty much set to start there.

Recently, manager Terry Collins mentioned what he thought the lineup could look like in April.

Here is what the Mets lineup will probably look like on Opening Day.

Through their signing of Jon Lester, trade for Miguel Montero and other various moves this offseason, the Chicago Cubs have made one thing clear: They plan to compete starting in 2015. Whether they're truly competitive this upcoming season remains to be seen, but for the first time in several years, the team actually has an expectation of success.

Several MLB teams already completed their holiday shopping for 2015, crossing items off their wish lists early in a frantic offseason.

Yet with a week left in 2014, several high-profile storylines loom large across the diamond. Most involve marquee names far from guaranteed to stay put before Opening Day. If this offseason has taught fans anything, few players are truly off limits.

The San Francisco Giants have won three World Series titles in the past five years. Manager Bruce Bochy guided his team through several peaks and valleys in 2014.

His calm demeanor was a soothing influence when the Giants struggled in the middle of the season. Bochy then pushed all the right buttons, and the Giants produced, enabling them to win it all.

Not even the holidays can completely halt MLB trade talk.

The offseason doesn't shut down, but don't expect another flurry of deals before New Year's Day. After all, general managers are actual people with families, so landing that left-handed reliever can probably wait a week. 

The Washington Nationals are taking a noticeably patient approach this offseason, but last week the team put a clock on it with the announcement of spring training dates. 

Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Viera, Florida, Feb. 19 with position players arriving five days later on Feb. 24. To put it in more dramatic terms, the preseason is less than two months away.