Fan News

Every season, there are a number of players in the MLB who put up disappointing numbers. They are coming off of strong seasons and either their power numbers, batting average or ERA fails to match what they did in the previous year.

Players regress for a number of reasons, and there are some key indicators which may hint at the fact that a player will fail to replicate his numbers from the previous season. A very high batting average on balls in play is one such example.

You might consider the Oakland Athletics to be winners this offseason. You might say the flurry of moves they made were average. But each move had major implications—some good, some bad—for the individual players involved.

For example, certain guys held on to their role while others lost theirs. One guy in particular made out like a bandit with the money he'll make, while another essentially lost out on millions.

Then there's a certain piece of offseason news that affects the fans.

The New York Yankees have been on a shopping spree this winter, committing $300 million in new contracts to players such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann, Carlos Beltran, Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts among others as well as re-signing Hiroki Kuroda and Derek Jeter. 

As the MLB offseason winds down and the pickings get slimmer and slimmer for every team, each club figures to have a couple of more players on their Christmas wish list that didn't quite make it for the holiday season. For the Chicago Cubs, there are two remaining players that could land in Chicago by the time the snow melts in the spring. 

Los Angeles Dodgers phenom outfielder Yasiel Puig was arrested on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 28, in Collier County, Fla. for reckless driving—his second such charge of 2013. 

NBC 2 News in Florida has the report:

The holidays have nearly run their course, but MLB hot-stove action is still going strong and figures to play out weeks into the new year. Offseason dealings can bleed into February, so this isn't entirely novel, but this year's strangely forming market can be attributed mostly to the circumstances surrounding Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka.

While there are still a number of MLB free agents available, most of the top options are already off of the market. This has caused teams around the league to look toward trades to improve the roster for next season.

Of course, franchises are smart enough to avoid giving away a player for nothing. This will keep potential deals from moving quickly as the negotiation process continues through the start of the regular season.

Looking at an MLB player's stats alone, it can be difficult to distinguish between simple disappointment and the onset of a decline.

However, evaluating these 10 individuals within the proper context suggests that their 2013 seasons fell into the former category. They're due to bounce back strong this coming year.

Brandon Belt is set for a breakout year in 2014. The San Francisco Giants first baseman posted incredible numbers in the second half of 2013, batting .326 after the All-Star break after hitting .260 before. His OPS went from .784 to .915, a 131-point increase. But if you followed the Giants in 2013, you already knew that.

With the end of a year comes the final chapter of the season that nearly was. For the second year in a row, the St. Louis Cardinals were inches away from their 12th world championship.

The arrival of 2014 means it is time to put the season fully in the past and move forward to the future of the organization.

The 2013 season brought to the forefront many new faces within the organization that made an impact on 2013 and will in all likelihood continue to do so next season.