Rankings/List

The AL and NL Most Valuable Player awards will be announced on Thursday night, capping off award season around Major League Baseball.

While there is some debate as to who deserves the AL honor between Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson and Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout, there is little question who should be taking home the trophy on the NL side of things.

Despite a disappointing overall season from the Washington Nationals, right fielder Bryce Harper was an absolute beast, taking his offensive game to another level in his age-22 season.

From Zack Greinke to David Price, the MLB free-agent market is flooded with impact starters.

That's great news for big league general managers because revamping the rotation is the most pressing need for an array of teams across the league.

There's also an assortment of squads whose top offseason objective is to land that late-inning ace. As it so happens, there's plenty of prominent relievers up for grabs on the trade block.

The MLB offseason is an exciting time to be a baseball fan. All 30 teams are hard at work tweaking their rosters for the upcoming season, and the rumor mill gives fans plenty to debate on a daily basis.

However, it's also a time when costly mistakes tend to be made.

From overpaying for a free agent to failing to address a glaring need, there are plenty of opportunities to make a franchise-altering decision in the offseason, both for the good and the bad.

Sifting through all the rumors and whispers that take place during an MLB offseason can be tiring, but there are often trends we can draw conclusions from with the reports we hear during the winter.

A trend that usually ends up being pretty accurate is discovering which teams plan to be active and which don't. The teams that are involved in various discussions wind up with impressive offseason hauls more times than not.

Over the next few slides, we'll look at a few teams that are poised for significant upgrades this winter.

There has been no shortage of parity around Major League Baseball in recent years, and that was never more true than this past season.

The Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs all reached the playoffs after missing out the previous season.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants went in the other direction, as they all missed the postseason after reaching October in 2014.

Surprising blockbuster trades have become a big part of the Major League Baseball offseason over the last couple years. For clubs with payroll restrictions or weak win-loss records, pursuing trades is the best viable option over spending money on free agents.

Baseball is a fickle sport. 

Year in and year out, players scratch their heads as their performances fluctuate from exhilarating highs to frustrating lows. Over the next few slides, we'll take a look at some players in the current offseason market who are poised to bounce back in 2016. 

By digging deep into the numbers, there are trends that bode well for future production. ERA and batting average tell part of the story, but there are more telling numbers when looking at a player's stat sheet. 

After spending the last week or so going position by position, the B/R MLB Offseason 100 now arrives at its final destination. It6s time to rank the top 100 players available this offseason.

In case you're just now joining us, the idea of the B/R MLB Offseason 100 is to pluck players from the free agent and trade markets and rank them according to a scoring system that weighed their talent, durability and value outlooks. If you missed any of the individual positional rankings, here they are:

While most teams are focused on improving their rosters during the offseason so that they can put a contending club on the field the following season, the futures of a club's top prospects are certainly considered with each and every move a general manager may—or may not—make over the winter.

Before all the confetti and empties were picked up from the streets of Kansas City after the Royals had their World Series parade, the Major League Baseball hot-stove season had its first blockbuster trade. 

When the Los Angeles Angels decided to give up a significant return package to acquire all-world shortstop Andrelton Simmons from the Atlanta Braves, it was the kind of deal that could result in both clubs receiving game-changing players.