Zack Greinke got his “Welcome to Milwaukee” press conference yesterday and he seemed genuinely happy to be there. He had made it very clear over the past year or so that he wanted to play for a winner and now he has his wish.

I don’t have a problem with Greinke wanting to play for a winner and eventually forcing his trade. Over the years, many star players were stuck on bad teams and several ultimately demanded a trade to get the chance to win.

I get it.

This week on the McCovey Chronicles, a debate roared whether Gary Monseigneur Brown would be spectacular in the majors.

While his draft position may not be Posey like, he can become Rondell White and span fourteen major league seasons.

Think of Brandon Belt; he was a fifth round pick, but came in second in the minors in batting in 2010.

The Cubs managed to get Carlos Pena for only $5 mil this year ($5 mil deferred until 2012) and stole Kerry Wood for $1.5 mil.  Factoring in arbitration raises though, they only have a few mil left to work with, so what are the rest of the possibilities for the Cubs offseason?  In this article I’ll look at free agent possibilities and later will look at trade possibilities:

The position players all look set and will probably break down to 13 people:

Just about every single fan across Dodgertown is elated the 2010 campaign is now in the past, yet Matt Kemp, although his season was not a total bust, holds both higher hopes and expectations for the journey ahead.

Although he led the Dodgers in RBI, extra-base hits, runs scored and home runs (setting a career high in the process), it was a tough year in many other ways—his batting average dropped dramatically over last season, he was caught stealing 15 times on the basepaths, he set a club record for strikeouts and at times his defense was much less than stellar.

Rarely is it the case that one baseball player can change the entire fate of his division. But it could happen when a star player leaves one contender for another, as Crawford did, from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Boston Red Sox.

We can start by looking at the 2008 and 2010 Rays. In 2008, the team had a bunch of "stars", including Crawford, and a few superstars. But just about every everyday player was "league average" or better, except for Ben Zobrist (who has since become a star) and Willy Aybar, still a "utility" player.

We've all heard the whining and crying about the Yankees and Red Sox, with a few other "minor" offenders thrown in. Unless you're a fan in Boston, New York or Philly, you've almost certainly wrung your hands over the lack of parity, and been ready to sacrifice a rubber chicken to the baseball gods for a salary cap. "Please, Dear Gods, parity is all I ask..."

Since I first did this list, several catchers have changed teams (while the biggest name was Victor Martinez, players like John Buck, Miguel Olivo and others also packed their bags).  Let’s take a look at the impact of these moves on our rankings for the upcoming year:

Initially, when hearing a productive and established player such as Jayson Werth signed with the Washington Nationals, it was bewildering.

Yesterday, I heard that the Mets would not make any moves until sometime into January. Sandy Alderson and company have decided to wait out the market rather than throwing their money at uncertainty.

Surprisingly, several good starting pitchers are still available, yet teams appear reluctant to pull the trigger.

I figured that once Cliff Lee signed, the other starters would fall like dominoes, since teams in need for starting pitchers would not want to be left in the dust.

After the Milwaukee Brewers acquired Zack Greinke, it became much more unlikely that they will look to trade All-Star first baseman Prince Fielder. However, there is a chance he still could be had for the right price, since he is slated to become a free agent after this season.

Fielder could serve as a piece to bring in more players to build around for the future. If the Brewers are not in contention at the trade deadline, they could focus on acquiring players to help them in 2012 and beyond.