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The Texas Rangers are looking to put the 2013 season completely in their rear view as they gear up for 2014.

Last year was filled with both good and bad memories, from a near-perfect game to a trade that didn’t pan out. The team also made history during a July series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Texas didn’t get a chance at a playoff run, but it was still a fun season to watch.

We are going to look at some of the most memorable events from this past season, whether we want to remember it forever or erase it from memory.

What are the most memorable events for you from 2013?

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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There are only a few potential items left for the Los Angeles Dodgers to attend to this offseason. With the inking of Juan Uribe to a contract, only optional moves remain.

The Dodgers roster is basically set, so general manager Ned Colletti doesn’t need to panic or make any desperation moves. Instead, any transaction would be solely to improve a Dodgers team that won 92 games last season.

As the market has slowed down over the past couple of weeks, there are no hot rumors surrounding the Dodgers—aside from, of course, the general hubbub over Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.

Cited rumors compiled by MLB Trade Rumors.

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I am a firm believer that the Texas Rangers‘ 2014 offense is set for Opening Day. That means the club should turn away from making any further significant signings to upgrade the offense. 

Instead, the Rangers should be very pleased with the lineup they will field next season. There is a nice mix of high-paid star talent and value guys who outplay their contracts.

One of those high-value guys for the Rangers is Mitch Moreland, who figures to be Texas’ designated hitter. But Moreland is especially valuable to the Rangers.

For one, he is a dirt-cheap 20 and 60 hitter, who represents a legitimate power threat in the lineup. Secondly, he is an above-average defensive first baseman. His presence on the team provides manager Ron Washington with some options to fill the DH spot. If Wash wants to field a particularly strong defensive infield, he can pencil in Moreland at first while Prince Fielder is the DH. 

Meanwhile, I’ve heard many Rangers fans say that they’d like Jon Daniels to pursue Kendrys Morales and make him the full-time DH in the Texas lineup. If Morales were signed, it’s very likely that Moreland would be put on the trade block.

Texas should keep Moreland. Above all, his overall abilities help to balance the payroll. 

Let’s do a quick comparison of Moreland and Morales, and what each player brings to the club. 

Mitch Moreland

He’s almost two full years younger than Morales. The 28-year-old’s biggest plus to the team is his affordability—his extremely economic power and production. Granted, last year he really struggled at the plate average-wise. He posted career lows in both batting average at .232 and OBP at .299. That is an alarming number. 

But those were career lows that one would assume can really only improve. Especially with the patience and on-base skills of Shin-Soo Choo and Fielder, who will work to wear out the opposing pitcher by the middle innings. As a result, Moreland will usually be hitting against a pitcher who is slightly more worn down than he was facing the Rangers last season.

Again, the batting average and OBP can’t get any worse. Still, though, he hit 23 homers and 60 RBI in 2013, which was a bargain for just over $500,000 last season.

After the Rangers spent a combined $268 million on Fielder and Choo, it can easily be argued that Moreland‘s value to the team has increased because he is so cheap.

Defensively, Moreland is superior to Morales. He is a better athlete and has better range. He showed that on several occasions last season. He complements Fielder’s liabilities on defense beautifully. Still, I expect Moreland will DH around 90 percent of the time.

He’s arbitration-eligible in 2014, and he should definitely make less than Morales per year. Unless he makes $10 million in arbitration—he shouldn’t get even close to that—he’s an overall better value, all things considered, than Morales.

Kendrys Morales

Yes, Morales is a better contact hitter than Moreland. He’s also a switch-hitter. But their power ability is close to even. Signing the 30-year-old would be expensive in both cash and by surrendering a first-round pick—to the division rival Seattle Mariners. I don’t think that’s a wise option, considering Seattle seems like it’s poised to make at least one more major move this offseason. 

Last season, he hit .277 with 23 homers and 80 RBI with the Mariners. It’s true that his batting average was 45 points higher, while his OBP was 37 points higher.

But think about this: If Moreland is the DH the vast majority of the time, does he need to have superior on-base skills? It would be nice, but I think just the additions of Choo and Fielder will help trickle down a better OBP through the lineup.

As long as Moreland is hitting a home run here and there, and can drive in between 55 and 65 runs, that is completely acceptable. 

Morales is older, more injury-prone and a weaker defensive player than Moreland. He isn’t athletic and would be another slow body in the middle of the order hitting behind Fielder and hamstring-hobbling Adrian Beltre.

Remember most of the Rangers’ speed is at the top and bottom of the lineup. Moreland isn’t fast, but he can move well for being a fairly big guy. 

Put it this way: With the offense Texas already has, which might be the best in baseball, is just 20 more RBI worth the additional money and draft pick Morales would cost? I don’t think so.

Having another switch-hitter along with Jurickson Profar is a great advantage, but at what cost? Keep in mind that signing Morales means a Rangers’ first-round pick going to Seattle. I don’t like the sound of that. 

One thing is guaranteed here. Moreland, as long as he is making less than $2 to $3 million per year, will always be outperforming his contract. It’s no guarantee that Morales will outperform or even live up to what he could be paid this offseason. 

Like signing Masahiro Tanaka, this is a question of a need versus a desire. Moreland is sufficient for the role he’ll play this season. Morales, if signed, would likely be the full-time DH like Moreland. I expect Morales will command between $12 and $15 million per year for two to three years. Also keep in mind that Scott Boras is his agent. You know Boras will find a way to squeeze more money out of whichever club signs him. There’s no debating that. 

No, Texas should stand pat with what it currently has offensively. It would be a better option, if anything, to sign Jeff Baker and DH him against lefties. Moreland and Baker combined would likely cost less than Morales, while the Rangers would keep their draft pick.

All stats provided by ESPN.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The St. Louis Cardinals represented the National League in the World Series in 2013. They put together the best regular season record in the National League to get there. Since the close of the season, they have improved their roster by making moves by both trade and in free agency.

Along the way, there have been some headlines worth noting. Combined, they form a subscript of the calendar year and help to define the current state of the franchise.  

What follows is the top five stories from the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013.

Statistics in the following article are sourced from Baseball-Reference.com.

Transaction information can be found on the Cardinals’ official transaction page.

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For every Josh Donaldson or Matt Carpenter, there’s an Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton. Even as comparatively predictable as baseball is to other sports, perfectly projecting all of the breakouts and disappointments is too tall of an order for even the savviest of sabermetricians. 

And that’s why the opposite ends of the production spectrum either dread or relish “next season.”

Take Matt Kemp, for instance. After almost winning the 2011 NL MVP Award and posting a park-adjusted 147 OPS+ in 2012, Kemp was a gimpy dud this past season. In fact, his 105 OPS+ and 263 plate appearances were his worst showings since his rookie year. Needless to say, Kemp is eager for the 2014 season to arrive.

Read on to see the rest of MLB players who are thrilled or devastated to see 2013 end.

All statistics sourced from Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs.com.

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Make no mistake about it, the Texas Rangers have a top lineup for the upcoming 2014 MLB season, but they should still pursue a designated hitter in Kendrys Morales.

The DH spot is regularly used by manager Ron Washington to give an everyday starter some time off from playing the field. And going into the 2014 season, the Rangers are planning to use a platoon at the offensive position, per columnist Drew Davison of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram in his late December article:

Daniels said the plan is to go with a platoon at designated hitter, with Mitch Moreland facing right-handers and Michael Choice or another right-handed bat against lefties. A caveat to that, Daniels said, is when manager Ron Washington uses the DH slot to give regulars a “mini” break.

Recently acquired outfielder Michael Choice has plenty of room to grow. Twenty-eight-year-old first baseman Mitch Moreland is yet to establish himself as an everyday starter. In fact, the Rangers trading for a first baseman this offseason, in Prince Fielder, exemplifies this.

Bringing in a player to fill the DH role for the Rangers wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Yes, there was the failed Lance Berkman experiment in 2013, but he was much older than the prospective Morales. Notably, Boston Red Sox power hitter David Ortiz has made a career out of the position.

Enter the switch-hitting Morales.

In November, Morales turned down the Seattle Mariners‘ qualifying offer of $14.1 million for one year, per baseball insider Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. And per Jon Morosi of Fox Sports, a team would have to surrender a draft pick by signing Morales.

In his Dec. 19 article, he highlighted that Morales could potentially be a good fit, but that the Rangers were looking elsewhere at the time:

Morales appears to be a good fit for the Rangers (DH), Athletics (DH/first base), Pirates (first base), or even Brewers (first base), but each of those teams would need to give up a first-round draft pick. And those clubs seem to have other priorities at the moment.

Two days after Morosi‘s article, Shin-Soo Choo agreed to a deal with the Rangers. And more than a week later, Morales is still available.

As the days continue to grow for Morales, who doesn’t have a new home yet, the price could drop on a new contract. He’s 30 years old and is primarily a DH. That certainly won’t make a team’s mouth water. But he has power and is a switch-hitter, which means that the Rangers wouldn’t constantly worry about playing the matchup.

That’s salivating.

Not having a guaranteed spot in the lineup could work one of two ways when platooning players. Either one player steps up or both players struggle without having a chance to get in a groove all season.

Morales could be the replacement in the lineup to former Rangers slugger Nelson Cruz. He could also find success in Texas much like Mike Napoli did, a once-tenured Los Angeles Angels player just like Morales was. Napoli hit for a batting average of .320 and 30 home runs in his first year in Arlington.

Could Morales replicate that? See if the embedded video reminds you of Napoli‘s high-flying home runs.

Morales spent six seasons with the Angels and hit 34 home runs in 2009. And in 2010, he had 11 home runs through 51 games before breaking his leg in a game-winning celebration. Morales bounced back by hitting 22 home runs in 2012 and 23 home runs with the Mariners in 2013. He also had a batting average over .270 in both of those years.

The bat is there. So what about Moreland and Choice?

As stated before, Choice is a great prospect who can make an impact in a year or so. But Moreland is excellent trade bait to lure in a starting or relief pitcher. The Pittsburgh Pirates, per Heyman on Twitter, and the Tampa Bay Rays, per staff writer Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times in a November article, believe that Moreland could be a good fit for their respective teams.

If there is one thing to be learned from this offseason, it’s that Daniels is putting the Rangers in a position to be a contender for a long time. Morales should be the next target that can help them further compete, especially in October 2014. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

I’m sure I am not alone when it comes to the excitement I have about the 2014 season and what it holds for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Coming off their second World Series appearance in three years, the Cardinals appear primed to make a deep run into October in 2014.

Their roster is pretty loaded, and they actually reduced payroll heading into next season. However, no matter how loaded a roster may be, there are always injuries, slumps and unforeseen circumstances.

Here is a look at some of the prospects from the Cardinals’ pipeline that may have an impact in 2014.

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Lose 10 pounds. Do more volunteer work. Pay off credit card debt. Hit 30 home runs?

Baseball players probably have different New Year’s resolutions than the rest of us common citizens. But the basic idea of setting an attainable goal for a new year still applies to the stars of America’s pastime. Plus, since baseball is the only sport of the Big Four with a season contained entirely within a calendar year, New Year’s resolutions seem all the more appropriate.

With all that in mind, here are some statistical goals for some key members of the New York Yankees as we move into 2014. They are meant to be reasonable in scope—no one’s asking Alfonso Soriano to launch 50 round-trippers—but also challenging and integral for the continued development of each individual’s career.

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The New York Yankees made a big splash during the early stages of free agency by signing free-agent center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to a seven-year deal worth $153 million. It was a deal that was first reported by the New York Daily News‘ Mark Feinsand with the financial information later confirmed by Feinsand.

Ellsbury is a good player, but he is unlikely to be productive enough to give the Yankees a good return on their investment over the course of the entire contract. Ellsbury is being paid like he is a $20 million-a-year player, but his production over his career doesn’t warrant that type of investment. 

The Ellsbury signing is made all the more curious due to the fact that the Yankees already had a comparable player on their roster in Brett Gardner. While Gardner may not be the exact equal of Ellsbury, the gap between the two players is not vast. New York is going to pay a ridiculous premium for a slight player upgrade, more than five times more than the player it already had under team control. 

The 30-year-old Gardner is only 18 days older than Ellsbury. Both players are used to playing in the competitive AL East. Gardner’s career slash line of .268/.352/.381 is not too far off from Ellsbury‘s line of .297/.350/.439, as Ellsbury‘s higher slugging numbers are somewhat inflated by his near-MVP season in 2011 when he hit 32 home runs.

On the basepaths, Gardner has an 80 percent success rate stealing bases while Ellsbury is closer to 84 percent. Defensively, according to Fangraphs, Gardner has a career UZR/150 of 23.0, while Ellsbury sits at 10.2. 

Ellsbury is scheduled to make $21.1 million in 2014, the first season of his new seven-year deal. Gardner is projected to make $4 million by MLB Trade Rumors’ Tim Dierkes next season. Ellsbury had a 5.8 WAR last season while Gardner had only a 4.2 WAR. But Gardner actually has a higher WAR over the past four years, coming in at 15.7 over Ellsbury‘s 14.8. 

Injuries have obviously had a big impact on Ellsbury‘s career numbers with the Boston Red Sox and injury concerns can’t be discounted moving forward. Ellsbury has shown that he is a tough player, but he has played in only 59 percent (384-648) of Boston’s schedule over the past four years. 

The numbers for both players are very comparable across the board and that’s the problem: New York reached for a player when it didn’t need to. 

In retrospect, the Yankees would have been better served looking at extending Gardner to a contract that would have paid far less than what New York just spent on Ellsbury. New York could have then taken the money that the team just spent on Ellsbury and improved other areas of the roster, specifically the pitching staff and infield. 

Ellsbury was the shiny new toy this winter, and New York has struggled recently when it comes to signing the right big-name free agents. It has repeatedly placed name recognition over value in its decision-making process. Gardner is a good enough player to have provided New York with the production it needed short-term and long-term.

The Yankees wanted Ellsbury, but he didn’t fill an immediate need on their roster. For a team looking to get back on top, spending big money on the wrong player is a surefire way for the Yankees’ long-term struggles to continue.

 Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, Fangraphs

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Boston Red Sox might not want to trade John Lackey, given his strong 2013 season and his extremely team-friendly $500,000 club option for 2015. But, in all likelihood, they’ll want to clear up a crowded rotation situation before the start of the season, and there may not be a better time to trade the veteran right-hander. 

At two years and $15.75 million for the next two seasons—he’ll make $15.25 million in 2014; his $500,000 club option for 2015 took effect when he missed significant time due to elbow surgery between 2010-2014, according to Baseball Prospectus—Lackey is a great value for any team. That includes the Red Sox, who, as Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe pointed out in his weekend column, aren’t particularly motivated to deal him right now. 

That could change, though.

Freeing up $15.25 million of salary from the 2014 payroll while getting something of value in return for the 35-year-old, who posted a 3.52 ERA with a 1.9 BB/9 and 7.7 K/9 in 189.1 regular-season innings last season, is enough of a reason to at least listen on offers. 

Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com reported during last month’s winter meetings that the Sox were gauging interest in their veteran starting pitchers. 

Here’s why Lackey might be the one to be traded. 

Jon Lester proved during last year’s playoffs that he was the staff ace and one of the more valuable players for the World Series champs. At $13 million, he’s a bargain for 2014, the last year of his current deal. The soon-to-be 30-year-old would likely net the Sox their biggest return in a trade, but they’re more likely to try and sign him to a contract extension. 

Jake Peavy, who is due $14.5 million in 2014 before becoming a free agent, is coming off of a solid season split between the Red Sox and White Sox. He’d certainly draw interest on the trade market. But at that salary and considering he’s only been able to make more than 27 starts in one season (2012) since 2007 due to a long list of injuries, teams aren’t likely to offer enough in return.

If the Sox were ever going to trade Clay Buchholz, it wouldn’t be after a season in which he only made 16 starts due to injury. While he did go 12-1 with a 1.74 ERA and an impressive 6.2 H/9, teams aren’t going to offer the package of players they would had he been healthy the entire season. You don’t trade a potential staff ace when his value isn’t at its peak.

Ryan Dempster will be 37 in May, is due to make $13.25 million in 2014 and had a 4.57 ERA last season. That’s not a good combination for teams looking to add starting pitching on the trade market. The Sox would have to take on some of his remaining salary, and the return wouldn’t be great, anyways. 

Felix Doubront is a 26-year-old with four years of club control and a 4.36 ERA in 59 career starts. Moving him now isn’t a bad idea, although it’s likely that the Sox would rather trade Lackey over a young lefty who could potentially move to the bullpen if they needed to clear a spot for one of their top young prospects or even Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka, whom Cafardo thinks the Red Sox could make a run at.

Trading Lackey could make that a more likely scenario. Here’s a look at some potential suitors that can offer the best potential trade packages. 

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