Fan News

February can be a rough time to be a big-name MLB free agent. In fact, it can be a rough time to be any kind of free agent.

There are still plenty of teams searching for that one final piece. The problem, of course, is that by this point in the offseason nearly every club has long since surpassed its respective budget. 

Anybody interested in a guy who has logged at least 199 innings in nine straight seasons and has posted ERAs under 4.00 in four of the past five?

Knowing that the guy those numbers belong to is still floating on the free-agent waters, apparently not. And figuring out why that's the case is harder than it should be.

Infielder Michael Young fittingly announced his retirement in a Texas Rangers uniform Friday, after playing 14 seasons in the major leagues, 13 of those with the Rangers.

The five-player trade between the Houston Astros and Oakland Athletics involving Jed Lowrie and Chris Carter, who both went on to have highly productive seasons for their new teams in 2013, was the lone "blockbuster" trade from last February.

It doesn't mean that we won't have an eventful month ahead of us, with the potential for multiple impact trades to happen. Several big names have already been discussed in trades this winter and it wouldn't be a big surprise to see a few of them head into spring training with a new team.

When it comes to spring training, every fan is interested in getting an early look at baseball’s top prospects.

Alex Rodriguez finally learned his fate when arbitrator Fredric Horowitz dropped his suspension from 211 games to 162 games, first reported by USA Today's Bob Nightengale. In the process, it has given the New York Yankees salary relief for the 2014 season by wiping A-Rod's money off of the books. 

In baseball terms, "file and trial" is a way of describing teams willing to go through the arbitration-hearing process with their young, ascending talents. With salary numbers exchanged, the real fun begins for the players still without a final salary for the 2014 MLB season.

As the season approaches, the following players have one more hurdle to clear before workouts, exhibition games and preparation for the 2014 season can commence: a battle for salary against their employers.

It's no secret that the only hope that exists for the Chicago Cubs is in their farm system. Top to bottom, they're one of the best in baseball; they were ranked No 4, according to Keith Law of ESPN Insider (subscription required).

Given how the market in Major League Baseball works today, prospects have become more valuable than ever. 

Teams are finding that it costs less to promote, say, a back-end starter who will only cost $500,000 in pre-arbitration years from the minors than to give $45-50 million to a mid-rotation pitcher like Ricky Nolasco or Matt Garza. 

Because of this new market inefficiency, teams are less likely than ever to trade prospects they have multiple years of control over.

The Cleveland Indians' pitching and catching units underwent some substantial changes this offseason.

In the rotation, the team parted ways with starting pitchers Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir. In the bullpen, it allowed Joe Smith to leave via free agency, and cutting closer Chris Perez opened up another spot.