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While Stephen Drew, Ervin Santana and Kendrys Morales are still free agents as February comes to a close, the rest of Major League Baseball is in the full swing of spring training.

For now, most of the MLB rumor mill is filled with trade speculation and talks about possible contract extensions. Looking around the league, there are a few legit starting pitchers who are trying to be locked by their teams long term.

Here’s a look at a trio of quality hurlers who are in discussions with their respective clubs about new deals or are expected to be in the near future.

RHP Max Scherzer 

Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski shook up the core of his team this offseason, and it looks like there were several moves made with an extension for Max Scherzer in mind.

The reigning American League Cy Young winner is set to become a free agent following the 2014 season, unless the Tigers can lock him up to an extension before then. But with super agent Scott Boras representing him, history says Scherzer is a prime candidate to test his worth on the open market.

But that hasn’t stopped Dombrowski from putting his team in a position to make a serious run at Scherzer. The team shaved off about $76 million in payroll while trading away Prince Fielder for Ian Kinsler earlier this offseason and dealt away another extension candidate in starter Doug Fister. 

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports offered the latest on the Scherzer contract talks.

No surprise, early indications are that locking him up won’t be easy. There is said to have been little sign of common ground in previous confabs, with a major gap seen in preliminary discussions. Though the trend is that all teams lock up its ace pitchers, and Detroit’s M.O. in this regime always has been to secure all its best players, it may take a late March miracle to keep Scherzer, 29, from becoming baseball’s biggest free agent next winter.

Scherzer has been mum with the media on the topic, though, telling Heyman, “I’m just not going to get into it, really. That’s between me and the Tigers.”

Following an offseason when Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka secured a seven-year, $155 million deal for the New York Yankees and National League Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw signed a seven-year, $215 million extension, you can be sure Boras and Scherzer saw the dollar signs.

Tigers owner Mike Ilitch has a history of opening up his pockets for franchise players (see: Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera), and Scherzer is right up there in terms of importance to this team.

Then again, Heyman cites Tigers sources who say, “this is their toughest sign in years,” so it will be interesting to see if they can lock him up by Opening Day. If not, don’t expect Scherzer to let contract talks drag into the regular season, setting the stage for a big bidding war for his services next winter.

LHP Jon Lester

Joining Scherzer as another established veteran starter set to enter the final year of his contract in 2014 in Boston Red Sox southpaw Jon Lester.

According to Rob Bradford of WEEI in Boston, Lester’s agents have landed in Florida, where the Red Sox hold their spring training.

Lester’s agents, Sam and Seth Levinson, arrived in town Thursday to meet with their Red Sox clients and perhaps team officials. It was unclear if the Levinsons‘ appearance in camp will signal talks regarding an extension for the Red Sox starter. The agents also represent Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and pitchers Rich Hill and Drake Britton.

Lester said Friday morning he was unaware if talks were going to kick off over the weekend, having met with the Levinsons Thursday night. 

The Red Sox picked up the 30-year-old lefty’s $13 million club option this winter after he went 15-8 with a 3.75 ERA, 109 ERA+, 1.29 WHIP and 7.5 K/9 ratio in 2013.

What makes Lester such an attractive extension candidate is his consistency and durability. Since 2008, Lester has averaged 205 innings and 32 starts per year while posting an 89-54 record, 3.65 ERA, 120 ERA+, 1.27 WHIP and 8.2 K/9 ratio.

General manager Ben Cherington has established a reputation of signing players to short deals with high average annual values in recent years, but for the most part those contracts have been offered to hitters.

It will be interesting to see how he and the front office view reliable starting pitching in a market where they are getting paid handsomely. Given his credentials, Lester figures to be in for a bigger deal than the four-year, $50 million-range contracts signed by this year’s crop of top starters.

RHP Justin Masterson

The Cleveland Indians will be leaning heavily on Justin Masterson this year after losing 2013 starters Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir. 

Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer recently reported that Masterson and the club are in extension talks.

Masterson recently told Hoynes, “I figure somehow, someway I’ll end up still being here for a few more years,” which is an encouraging thing for Indians fans.

The two parties avoided arbitration earlier this offseason by agreeing to a one-year deal worth about $9.76 million, but Masterson‘s agent Randy Rowley told Hoynes that there is still an ongoing dialogue.

Over the past three seasons, Masterson has been a key contributor to the Cleveland rotation, posting a combined record of 37-35, with a 3.86 ERA, 100 ERA+, 1.31 WHIP and 7.5 K/9 ratio. Given Masterson‘s comments and Cleveland’s need to retain a proven commodity in their rotation, look for a deal to be announced in the coming weeks before Opening Day.

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Fresh off his new record contract, Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout hit a grand slam during the bottom of the fourth inning of Friday’s spring training game against the Chicago Cubs. 

It was Trout’s fifth RBI of the game and gave the Angels a 9-1 lead.

[MLB]

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Entering the official start of spring training 2014, one thing is clear: the New York Yankees are Major League Baseball’s most talked about team.

The newest edition of spring training in Tampa Bay for the Yankees took on an entirely different feel when Derek Jeter announced his upcoming retirement back on February 12th. The face of the sport (no offense, Eric Sogard) will arguably be the story of the season as the most recent era in team history comes to a close. Let’s just hope the Jeter Farewell Tour comes with better gifts than the Mariano Rivera one did (really, Texas Rangers? Cowboy boots for a guy from Panama?)

However, the truly most important story lines for the Bombers in spring training are to see what they can expect to yield from their off-season spending spree and how a roster with a surprisingly high number of question marks despite the payroll comes together.  

Can the trio of Jeter/Mark Teixeira/CC Sabathia bounce back from rough 2013? Can Jacoby Ellsbury stay healthy? What exactly can we expect from Masahiro Tanaka? Does David Robertson really have what it takes to replace Mariano Rivera? There’s only one place that has all these answers: Twitter. 

To make the playoffs this year, the Yankees will most likely need to build on last year’s 85-win campaign. That total might sound easy to build off considering the winter’s price tag, but as Ken Davidoff of the New York Post tweets, maybe the Yankees weren’t actually that good. 

A 79-win caliber team minus that team’s best player, one Robinson Cano? Sounds like a tough task to overcome for Joe Girardi. That’s why the quartet of Carlos Beltran, Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Tanaka could make or break the year for New York.

However, all four of those signees come with question marks (at this point, the question mark might as well be the team’s logo this year). We don’t know how Tanaka‘s stuff will translate. Ellsbury‘s games played per year have as been inconsistent as anyone in the league over the course of his career. Beltran is not exactly a spring chicken. McCann is probably the surest bet of the bunch, but even he is beginning 2014 on the wrong side of 30.

One of Ellsbury‘s former managers thinks that success will follow, as long as he stays on the field.

McCann is expected to be a staple in a Yankee lineup that could very well be formidable. Even if McCann has a “down year,” it would be almost impossible for his season to qualify as a positional downgrade from 2013, as MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch points out.

When Tanaka signed, there were two numbers that stood out: a 24-0 record last year in Japan, and a $155 million contract. Critics of the deal have theorized that Tanaka‘s performance won’t match the payday, but Sports on Earth’s Jonathan Bernhardt says even if he’s not great, it’ll be okay for New York.

“If it turns out that New York paid superstar money for a pitcher who is merely very good, fine; the Yankees are a license to print money, and young pitchers who are “merely very good” don’t grow on trees.”

One player who is no lock to make the Opening Day roster, but could make a difference is the enigma known as Michael Pineda. It’s been two full years since we last saw the right-hander in a Major League game, but ESPN’s Buster Olney says there is reason to be optimistic. 

There’s been much talk about Jeter’s last year and what it means for the franchise in the long-term, but in the short-run, no one really knows what to expect from the captain. 

Before his spring training debut on February 27th, Brian Cashman made it clear that on his list of concerns, Jeter is no where near the top, according to Newsday’s David Lennon.

In case you hadn’t heard, Rivera is no longer active. In his place is Robertson, a very good reliever in his own right, but someone who has little experience ending games in big spots. That won’t stop Robertson from thinking he can pitch at an elite level, according to ESPN’s Ian O’Connor.

There’s no doubt the Yankees have upgraded since the end of last season. However, they have some ground to make up in the division. The Red Sox are the reigning World Champions, the Rays have one of the best rotations in all of the league, and the Orioles made some moves late in the off-season to bolster their roster.

The most important Yankee might very well be Teixeira. The Yankees’ infield could potentially be a trainwreck, but if Teixeira can somehow re-create his first three years in the Bronx this year, that could theoretically change the entire lineup. 

Jeter’s last year will be a season-long parade of honors and accolades, but a 39-year-old who might as well not have played in 2013 with a severe ankle injury is as big of a question mark as it comes. It would be very Jeter of Jeter to hit .320 this year, but somewhere in the .280 range is more realistic, if not maybe a best-case scenario for New York. 

Sabathia made news in the off-season for his weight loss, but his season will ultimately come down to another type of loss: velocity. 2013 was arguably the worst season of Sabathia’s career, but he’ll still take the mound April 1st when the Yankees open their season in Houston. His development in spring training could be the most important thing for Girardi & Co. as the team tries to avoid a second straight postseason-less year. 

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The Los Angeles Dodgers entered spring training on the short list of World Series favorites following a 92-win campaign and a trip to the National League Championship Series in 2013. Last year’s success has led to heightened expectations for the 2014 MLB season. However, there’s already cause for concern coming out of the Dodgers camp in Glendale, Ariz.

Here are five storylines from the first two weeks of spring training that Dodgers fans should pay close attention to.

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C.J. Wilson‘s knowledge of the game as well as his stomach were pushed to the limit recently—and all for your entertainment. 

For the Win’s Ted Berg spotted this video of Wilson attempting to answer questions while flying with Kirby Chambliss, who Red Bull’s two-time Air Race world champion.

I guess pitchers will jump at any chance to infuse some drama during the normally mundane days of spring training. Chambliss, according to the YouTube description, took Wilson around his Arizona property in a “two-seater Edge 540 race plane.”

Chambliss started gently, asking Wilson about his playing days and what the best moment of his career has been thus far.

Wilson answers:

Hopefully I haven’t had it yet. I’m always looking for something new, something better. I’d like to throw a no-hitter. That’d be the goal. I’ve thrown like a one-hitter before. Making the All-Star team and pitching in the World Series was pretty exciting.

Getting out of the plane might be up there on his list of accomplishments. 

From there, Chambliss begins asking Wilson a series of extremely easy baseball questions. Spoiler alert: The 33-year-old left-hander doesn’t make it to the end of the five questions. 

It’s not because the questions get any more difficult but because any further examination under these circumstances would have resulted in what professional eaters like to call a “reversal of fortune.”

Right after Chambliss asks what a full count is, he performs a roll that nearly induces a cockpit full of Wlison’s lunch. Wilson explains, “We gotta chill. I almost lost it on that one.”

Hey, at least answered the questions correctly. 

Wilson is coming off a fine 2013 season. Last year he enjoyed a 17-7 record while garnering a 3.39 ERA and 1.34 WHIP, according to ESPN. He has now notched 15 or more wins in three of the last four seasons. 

That would be enough to assume Wilson is destined for great things in 2014. Now we know the pitcher can withstand an onslaught of aerial twists and turns; he even knows how far it is from the mound to home plate. 

Yup, you can go ahead and move him up on your fantasy draft boards accordingly.

Hit me up on Twitter:

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The New York Mets have finished below .500 in each of the past five seasons and haven’t made the playoffs since 2006, but hope springs eternal as a new crop of stars prepares to make an impact in 2014.

New York managed to finish third in the NL East last season with a record of 74-88, but the expectation seems to be that the Mets are destined for a fourth-placed showing this year ahead of only the lowly Miami Marlins.

One person who doesn’t agree with that assessment is general manager Sandy Alderson. According to John Harper of the New York Daily News, he has reportedly set a goal of 90 wins for his team this season.

All I’ll say is we have higher expectations than we’ve had in the past … Because I think it has to be a mind-set. Part of creating a winning environment is setting ambitious goals and working toward them. But it has to be systematic and it can’t be totally unrealistic. I don’t think it is in this case.

Some might view that as overly ambitious considering the Mets’ recent struggles, but with the addition of outfielder Curtis Granderson and veteran starting pitcher Bartolo Colon, along with the continued development of an elite prospect pool, perhaps the Amazins have a chance to shock the world.

Better-than-expected performances have been a hallmark of Mets baseball over the years, and simply finishing .500 or better in 2014 would be considered a massive leap forward with new potential stars on the horizon.

New York’s drive for 90 starts in Port St. Lucie, Fla., where it hopes to get off on the right foot during spring training.

Along with a look at the Mets’ spring training schedule and predictions on how they will fare during the regular season, check back here after every Mets spring training game for score updates, breaking news and much more.

March 1: Marlins 9, Mets 1

The Miami Marlins and New York Mets could very well find themselves battling to avoid the NL East basement this season, and while the result of their spring training game Saturday may not have any bearing on that, the Marlins struck the first blow.

Miami received production throughout its lineup to come out on top 9-1, but designated hitter Austin Barnes was the big star with two hits and two RBI, including a first-inning home run.

On a positive note for the Mets, Lucas Duda matched Ike Davis’ home run Friday with one of his own. Duda and Davis are battling to win the starting job at first base along with Josh Satin, and Duda was able to keep pace.

According to Marc Carig of Newsday, Duda’s homer was a gargantuan shot that surely got Mets fans excited.

Also, one day after both Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom did their best to stake claim to the Mets’ fifth spot in the starting rotation, John Lannan made his case as well.

The veteran pitched two scoreless innings and struck out three, although he was the recipient of luck with some hard-hit balls finding his fielders, per Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com:

New York struggled to generate anything offensively for much of the day, but the big issue related to the performance of the bullpen. Kyle Farnsworth allowed three baserunners and a run, which didn’t help his chances of making the team as a non-roster invitee.

Also, Josh Edgin was battered in one inning of work, giving up five hits, one walk and five runs, three of which were earned.

The Mets’ pen is very much unsettled, and Saturday’s showing made life even more difficult for manager Terry Collins.

Feb. 28: Nationals 5, Mets 4

The Washington Nationals and New York Mets have developed quite a rivalry over the years, and that was on full display in the Nats‘ exciting 5-4 win Friday. The two squads were evenly matched throughout, and an RBI triple by Nationals outfielder Michael Taylor in the top of the ninth inning ultimately proved to be the difference.

For the Mets, the big story in this game related to the battle for the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation. No less than six pitchers will vie for that coveted position, and two of them were absolutely fantastic against the Nats.

Rafael Montero got the start and pitched the first two innings. Not only was he perfect, but he showed impressive velocity as well, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com:

Montero was relieved by Jacob deGrom, who looked even better in his two innings of work. Per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, deGrom punched out four of the six batters that he faced:

New York’s lineup featured plenty of prospective starters, including first baseman Ike Davis. His struggles over the past couple seasons are well documented, but he got his spring off to an ideal start.

Davis cranked a two-run home run in the fifth inning, and the fans let their appreciation be known, according to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News:

Ultimately, it was a fantastic spring opener for the Mets. Montero and deGrom made their case for a spot on the team, and a handful of potential lineup stalwarts did some damage as well.

Pre-Spring Training Prediction for 2014 Season

Although the Mets certainly took their lumps during the 2013 season, the fanbase was seemingly energized by the emergence of starting pitcher Matt Harvey. At 24 years of age, Harvey started the MLB All-Star Game for the National League and seemed well on his way to a Cy Young Award.

But disaster ultimately struck.

An elbow injury forced the Mets to shut Harvey down for the remainder of the season before he underwent Tommy John surgery in October. That will keep Harvey out of action for the entirety of the 2014 campaign, although he is already able to play catch, as seen in this photo courtesy of SportsNet New York’s (SNY) Matt Dunn:

Harvey was someone the Mets faithful could latch onto and root for during an otherwise painful season, but that crutch won’t be available to them in 2014. Even so, there are plenty of reasons for fans to be excited about the 162-game slate that lies before them.

For starters, the Mets have already avoided disaster. There were concerns regarding projected No. 2 starter Jon Niese‘s shoulder, but it turns out that there is no structural damage to speak of, according to the New York Post:

With Niese now expected to be ready for the regular season, the Mets boast a formidable rotation that also includes the ageless Bartolo Colon, Dillon Gee and a player Mets fans hope is the next Harvey in the form of Zack Wheeler.

The fifth spot in the rotation is seemingly up for grabs, with Jenrry Mejia perhaps in the driver’s seat, although a pair of hot prospects could assume that role at some point during the season.

Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard may not make the team out of camp, but they have a chance to impress manager Terry Collins and perhaps receive a call-up later in the year.

At the same time, Collins didn’t rule out the possibility of one of the phenoms beginning the season with the big club, per Robert Brender of SNY:

There is a great deal of intrigue surrounding the lineup as well since this could be a make-or-break year for players like Ike Davis, Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada. All of them fell flat last season with the exception of Murphy, and another poor campaign might force Alderson‘s hand next offseason.

Third baseman David Wright is obviously the anchor as always, but he needs some support in order for New York to take a significant step forward this year. Maybe that will come in the form of catcher Travis d’Arnaud. Although he hit just .202 in his 2013 debut, d’Arnaud has the potential to be a great run producer.

With that said, d’Arnaud‘s performance behind the dish may be even more important. In order for New York’s young arms to develop, they must have confidence in who is receiving the ball. According to Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, d’Arnaud is already thriving in that capacity:

For many teams, spring training is just about going through the motions. But it is legitimately important for the Mets as the next generation of players prepares to make the leap to the majors.

There is no question that there will be some good things for Mets fans to hang their hats on in 2014, but with no surefire anchor in the rotation and a muddled lineup that will struggle to score consistently, a 70-92 mark seems realistic.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter

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You know the strike zone, right? That box-like thingamajig where pitchers prefer to throw the ball and hitters prefer to hit the ball?

Yeah, you know the one, and you probably have a pretty good idea of what it looks like: the width of the plate from side to side, and basically from midsection to knees from top to bottom.

Suddenly, however, here’s us with some debate fodder! Two ideas have come to light about how the strike zone should be changed, and it just so happens they completely disagree with one another.

A couple days ago, famed sportswriter Frank Deford said on National Public Radio that Major League Baseball should make home plate smaller, which, in turn, would shrink the strike zone.

So that’s one idea, and the other one out there comes from St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright. He told Derrick Goold and Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the size of the strike zone should actually be expanded.

There are the two ideas on the table. Now, here we come to ask the inevitable question: Which of these ideas should Major League Baseball actually consider?

Aha! You see, that’s a trick question. The answer is neither.

On to bolded subsections!

The Problem with Deford‘s Idea

In Deford‘s defense, his reasoning isn’t completely off base.

His argument is in response to the rising trend of strikeouts in baseball, which certainly is an actual thing considering that the number of strikeouts per game has been rising since 2008. With this going on, Deford‘s of the mind that pitchers don’t need a strike zone as wide as a 17-inch plate:

That’s too broad for the pitchers today, especially when so many strikes are on the corners, or even ‘on the black,’ the small fringe that frames the plate. If you cut, say, an inch and a half off each side, pitchers would have a 14-inch target. Batters would have a more reasonable chance to try to connect. They’d swing more, put more balls in play. It’d be more fun, a better game both to play and to watch.

When I first read this, I couldn’t help but wonder if Deford is a fan of Clubhouse Confidential.

I wasn’t able to find a clip of it anywhere online, but Brian Kenny recently did a segment addressing this very idea: that baseball is more fun when more balls are being put in play. And thanks largely to the rising strikeout trend, of course, balls in play are becoming an increasingly rare occurrence.

Hypothetically, shrinking the strike zone by way of shrinking home plate would help change that, as a smaller strike zone would create a situation where batters would get more hittable pitches.

But while that’s nice, the potential drawbacks of this idea are (a) obvious and (b) kind of a buzzkill.

While making the strike zone smaller would hypothetically cut down on strikeouts, it’s just as likely that it would also lead to an increase in walks. Thus, baseball would be exchanging one means for the ball to be kept out of play for another means for the ball to be kept out of play.

Problem…not solved. And another thing: Hey, at least strikeouts are somewhat exciting. Walks? Not as much.

Beyond that, you worry about what shrinking the strike zone would do to the pace of games. Extra walks would slow games down enough on their own. More baserunners by way of hits would slow games down even further. Pitchers having to throw extra pitches because of all these extra baserunners would mean more calls to the bullpen, which, yup, would slow games down even more.

Look at it this way: If baseball were to implement Deford‘s idea, it would be putting itself in danger of having too many games be like Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees contests. Baseball doesn’t need more of those. As much as fans love their baseball, I’ll wager they love a reasonable bedtime even more.

And while we’re on the topic of fans, they don’t seem to have a problem with today’s strikeout-heavy game. There may be less action, but at last check, MLB games were doing just fine at the gate. Also, baseball’s business in general is a-boomin’.

So let’s scratch this idea and move on to the next bolded subsection.

The Problem with Wainwright’s Idea

Since we gave Deford credit for his reasoning, we should also give Wainwright credit for his.

Wainwright’s idea came in response to a line of questioning about how the expanded use of instant replay will hurt the pace of games. Rather than scrap replay, Wainwright thinks MLB can speed games up by tilting the playing field even more in favor of pitchers (per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch report):

All of the talk for everybody, all the critics, is about the speed of play. Speed of play this and speed of play that. But really the only way to do that, to speed things up, is to expand the strike zone. … There are millions of dollars being made on the commercials. Millions. And yet they want to talk about the speed of play. If you want to keep the commercials, open the strike zone up.

He also grinned and said, “It would also help me a whole lot.”

Of course. But at the same time, Waino does have a point.

Baseball games proceed according to how quickly outs are recorded. It’s easier for pitchers to get outs when they get more strikes, as more strikes mean more strikeouts and more counts in which a hitter has to be on the defensive. Expand the strike zone, and baseball would indeed be signing up for more strikes and outs being recorded at a faster pace.

The problem with Waino‘s idea, however, is that it’s just coming at the wrong time.

Again, the way in which baseball continues to be successful at the gate suggests that fans are fine with today’s strikeout-heavy environment. But even knowing that, I feel safe enough in going out on a limb to say that fans still like watching hitters perform, too. And right now, I’d say there’s a solid balance in the league between the number of outstanding pitchers and the number of outstanding hitters.

That won’t be the case if baseball chooses to expand the strike zone. By way of a big increase in both strikeouts and defensive at-bats, the league would find itself in an environment too reminiscent of 1968.

The league had only six .300 hitters and seven 30-homer guys that year, and the league OPS was just .639. It was a year in which baseball drew two million fewer fans than it had in 1966, and one million fewer fans than it had in 1967, per BallparksofBaseball.com.

Fans just weren’t that nuts about the amazing pitching. As such, one fears that expanding the strike zone would hasten the arrival of a similar mass turnoff from the game.

So let’s scratch this idea too and move on to our last bolded subsection.

So What Should Baseball Do with the Strike Zone?

From my perspective, this: Just leave it be.

Baseball has a surprising trend on its hands in the increasing pitcher-friendliness of the game, but not a problematic trend. I say that partially because of a personal bias—pitching is more fascinating to me than hitting—but also because baseball fans as a whole have done enough to signal they’re not turned off by the current state of the game.

If it gets to a point where MLB starts seeing its revenues dip while pitchers are becoming increasingly dominant, that’s when the league should consider doing something. But even then, it wouldn’t have to mess with the strike zone. The simplest thing to do would be to just juice the ball, thus throwing hitters a bone without robbing pitchers of their ability to dominate by way of whiffs.

Or baseball could just remain patient. If pitching continues its increasing trend of dominance, you figure that at some point hitters will adjust. Right now, major league hitting is still largely defined by power and patience. Maybe it will go back to being contact-oriented, a league where hitters are just trying to find a hole and then take one base at a time.

Whatever the case, changing the strike zone isn’t any sort of big key to baseball’s survival. It can stay as is.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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While everyone wants Mike Trout or Miguel Cabrera on their team, the best way to win in fantasy baseball is by grabbing a sleeper on the brink of a big year.

Those who grabbed Chris Davis last season with a late-round draft pick or for minimal auction cost were certainly happy with his production. Adding a player like this to a roster full of big-time talent can make your squad almost unbeatable.

Although it is tough to predict anyone to come out of nowhere to lead the majors in home runs and RBI like Davis did last season, there are still a number of young players set for big seasons.

These hitters should be available in the later rounds and could end up giving you a lot of production.

Devin Mesoraco, C, Cincinnati Reds

Sometimes it takes a few years for a top prospect to truly reach his potential in the majors. Other times, all that is needed is an opportunity.

Devin Mesoraco has been waiting to take over the full-time job as the Reds catcher since making his debut in 2011. Unfortunately, Ryan Hanigan has kept the role, preventing the young player from getting regular playing time.

That will all end in 2014 as Mesoraco is slated to be the Opening Day starter. He discussed the opportunity with Mark Sheldon of MLB.com:

I was obviously sad to see Hani go, because we’ve been pretty close as a catching unit as far as sharing information and picking each other’s brain. At the same time, it’s a good opportunity for me. It’s a vote of confidence for me. They’ve seen me improving over the years and getting better. I’m getting to be the player I’m supposed to be and can be. It definitely pumps me up a bit to come into camp in shape and 100 percent prepared to be an everyday catcher.

Jim Bowden of ESPN sees this as a golden opportunity for Mesoraco to shine:

With his power, the catcher can easily hit over 20 home runs in his first full season behind the plate, giving fantasy owners the type of offensive production not often found in catchers.

Although it might not be smart to make him your No. 1 catcher, he is worth the roster spot to see if he can reach his potential.

Jurickson Profar, 2B, Texas Rangers

It was not too long ago we were talking about Jurickson Profar being the next big thing in baseball. After the 2012 season, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com listed the shortstop as the No. 1 prospect in the league.

A poor 2013 campaign certainly tempered expectations as he was only able to hit .234 with six home runs and two stolen bases in 286 at-bats.

However, baseball is a sport that requires rhythm and consistency, especially for younger players. Profar was asked to play only a few times per week, and that caused him to struggle at the plate and in the field.

A spot finally opened up when the Rangers sent Ian Kinsler in a trade to the Detroit Tigers for Prince Fielder. Cliff Corcoran of Sports Illustrated argues that Profar is the most important player of that trade due to the boom-or-bust ability:

As he continues to mature both physically and in his baseball abilities, Profar has the potential to grow into a 20-homer player who regularly flirts with .300 batting averages. Of course, there’s also the very real possibility that Profar will continue to struggle in 2014 despite his more consistent playing time and role. He will, after all, be just 21, and not every 21-year-old can be Mike Trout or Manny Machado. Still, the consensus around the game is that Profar’s total package, even if it lacks a singular elite skill, is that of a similarly elite talent.

Between these two options, the chances are greater that he finds success. He can easily become a 20-20 player who also hits for a high average with an even better on-base percentage. This is hard to come by for a middle infielder.

If he can reach his potential this season, he could be a huge help to your fantasy team. 

Khris Davis, OF, Milwaukee Brewers

Khris Davis hopes there is some magic in his name as he will try to replicate the success of the Baltimore Orioles star.

The 26-year-old outfielder got only 153 plate appearances last season, but he made them count with 10 doubles and 11 home runs. His slugging percentage of .596 would have ranked third in the majors last season if he had enough at-bats to qualify, trailing only Miguel Cabrera and Chris Davis.

At this point, all he needs is more playing time to put up even bigger numbers. Fortunately, the Brewers are doing everything in their power to make this happen. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel notes the lineup switch for the upcoming season:

Logan Schafer and Caleb Gindl will both provide tough challenges in spring training, but it appears to be Davis’ job to lose. Assuming he gets the starting spot, he has loads of potential for the upcoming season. 

The hitter has enough pure power to hit close to 30 home runs in his first full season in the majors and carry fantasy teams in the process.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks don’t necessarily have to trade either one of their two young shortstops currently battling for the starting job. 

Both Didi Gregorius and Chris Owings, the two talented players involved in the aforementioned battle, have minor league options and could be sent to Triple-A to start the season. They might even benefit from the experience. 

And for a playoff hopeful like the D’backs, it could be extremely valuable to have a strong option waiting in the wings in case the big league starter struggles or gets injured.

But young and controllable big league-ready shortstops like Gregorius and Owings, who have the potential to be very good offensively and defensively, are at a premium around the league and it’s rare that an organization has the shortstop depth to even consider trading one. 

This is why the D’backs, who have several good shortstop prospects throughout their farm system, could be open to moving one now, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic recently pointed out.

While Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers acknowledged that trade talks have been limited due to Stephen Drew’s presence on the free-agent market, he would trade one of his shortstops in the “right deal” and mentioned a “top-notch catching prospect” and upper level pitching as potential returns.

Here are four teams that might target either Gregorius or Owings in a deal this spring and the trade packages it could take to get a deal done.

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Despite the half-billion dollars the New York Yankees slammed down this summer, they still seem to have a half-baked idea of an infield.

For having only four infield spots, they appear to face a far greater number of realistic questions. They also carry more catchers on the 40-man roster (five) than they do MLB-caliber infielders whom they can trust for 162 games.

With the five-year signing of Brian McCann, the Yankees took the best free-agent catcher off the market. And with Gary Sanchez slated to be the starter at Double-A Trenton in 2014, they also have a premier prospect already waiting in the wings. 

The three others—Francisco Cervelli, Austin Romine and J.R. Murphy—are all more or less MLB-ready, but the Yankees don’t need all of them to bridge the longer-term McCann-Sanchez gap.

They definitely don’t need as many as three to compete for McCann’s 2014 backup job, and they’d be wiser to move one of them in order to bolster the infield in any way they can.

The Arizona Diamondbacks happen to have a surplus of infielders they’d conceivably want to reduce, and they appear willing to move one of their shortstops in return for an extra catcher.

“Our biggest needs in our system are catching,” general manager Kevin Towers explained to AZCentral.com’s Nick Piecoro when asked Thursday about the idea of trading a shortstop. “If it’s the right, top-notch catching prospect. Someone we could have right behind Miggy [Miguel Montero]. … We have a lot of bullpen depth, infielders.”

Arizona has two talented, young shortstops in 24-year-old Didi Gregorius and 22-year-old Chris Owings, who are competing this spring for the same Opening Day role that would send the loser to Triple-A Reno.

As of Friday, there’s no official word on discussions between the Yankees and D-Backs, but the match is a viable one for both parties and could be the smartest move for both before breaking camp.

In terms of the long-term investment, neither team would necessarily want to give up an asset from its talent pool. But if they both have pressing needs for 2014, those same assets ultimately become roster dead weight and positional excess if they aren’t starters, and thus represent ideal trade bait.

It was originally the New York team that plays in Queens, with concerns at shortstop, who were linked to the Diamondbacks’ two bright prospects.

Newsday‘s beat writer Marc Carig noted that Arizona and the Mets had been in discussions early on but that the talks had died down.

Source says Mets/Diamondbacks haven’t had any dialogue re: shortstops recently. Sides had checked in at winter meetings.

— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) February 27, 2014

He later noted the implausibility of the two as trade partners because Mets backup catcher Kevin Plawecki was not a strong enough pull for a Gregorius or Owings.

He said that a move would necessitate someone more of Travis d’Arnaud’s caliber—the projected 2014 starting catcher, making it a much tougher sell for the Mets. 

Source says Plawecki wouldn’t be enough for the Diamondbacks. They’re looking more for a d’Arnaud type.

— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) February 27, 2014

Diamondbacks want a young catcher in return for one of their young shortstops. But Mets don’t appear to be a fit.

— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) February 27, 2014

Back in early December, the New York Post‘s Joel Sherman noted that the Yankees had in fact had interest in Gregorius, and he brought up an interesting scenario to consider, which becomes all the more interesting given Jeter’s retirement announcement:

#Yankees like #diamondbacks Didi Gregorius. Wonder if could play at 2b this yr and have as Jeter insurance in ’14, replacement in ’15

— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 11, 2013

Neither Gregorius nor Owings takes the current 2014 Yankees on paper and turns them into AL East favorites. But they could trade for short-term insurance by shifting either Gregorius or Owings to second (or third).

Perhaps what makes this low-risk idea especially attractive is the potential for long-term upside in the Bronx at shortstop—the natural position for both. And ahead of the infield free-agent market in 2015, they’d already have someone in place to fall back on.

Here’s what Gregorius and Owings put up in the bigs in 2013:

For one outlook on their 2014 seasons, I’ve averaged the three sets of projections from Steamer, Oliver and ZiPS data found on FanGraphs:

It’s not flashy, but it’s premium insurance that could be had at a virtual minimum. 

And, again, Arizona is willing to move someone: Besides these top two talents for Arizona, the D-Backs also have six-year veteran backup Cliff Pennington and 23-year-old Nick Ahmed, who made it to Double-A in 2013. As Piecoro points out, “The Diamondbacks are loaded with shortstops.” 

For the Yankees, Cervelli is the favorite to win McCann’s backup job, so Arizona could be looking at Romine or Murphy. Neither has proven capable of handling major league pitching yet, but neither has come close to a full season and they’re 25 and 22, respectively.

They’ve both had solid minor league numbers that could plug them into Arizona’s 2014 backup duty—Romine is a career .280 hitter (.748 OPS) in seven minor league seasons, and Murphy is a .266 hitter (.738 OPS) in five years.

Murphy probably has greater upside, and you’d take a chance on him in the longer run given Romine’s .207/.255/.296 line in 60 games (148 plate appearances) in 2013.

Though based on Romine’s MLB experience, albeit limited, Arizona could also favor him for the immediate backup role and take a chance on developing his swing in a virtually pressure-free environment of Chase Field—we did begin to see flashes of improved ability to hit to all fields as he saw more pitches.

Yanks brass just spent $198 million on two new outfielders, $155 million on a new starting pitcher, $85 million on a new catcher, $9.5 million on two new relievers—but spent the least, just $5 million, on the new second and third basemen combined.

The issue with the offseason spending isn’t the large sum of all the contracts. It’s the imbalanced distribution of its parts, and how the cheapest fraction reveals the exact area where attention was lacking and where surefire answers are still not yet in place.

Johnson has played 14 games at third in his career, and new second baseman Brian Roberts has almost matched that number in injuries, totaling 192 games of a possible 648 across the past four seasons. And Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter played a combined 32 games in 2013.

There’s the inherent doubt of whether Johnson, a 32-year-old career utility man, can adapt to an everyday role at a position he virtually hasn’t played. There’s the added fear that he’d be called upon to back up first base where he’s played even fewer games (three). 

There’s the realistic question of whether Brian Roberts, a 36-year-old second baseman, can get through the majority of a full season for the first time since 2009. There’s the added anxiety of immediately turning to Eduardo Nunez should either Johnson, Roberts or Teixeira need more than just a few days off. And they have to wonder whether Brendan Ryan could be trusted if he were to see significant time at short. 

The Yankees certainly appeared to have spent enough for a championship, and winning or losing those championships, of course, is much more dependent upon the backbone of starting pitching, consistent offense and an effective, reliable pen.

They aren’t won or lost on a the basis of a premier infield, and if they ultimately fall short, chances are we won’t be lamenting the fact that the Yankees only spent $5 million on the second and third basemen for 2014.

But if and when any of the infield pieces—new or old—begin to fall, having an insurance plan in place can go a long way in six-plus months of everyday baseball.

The Yankees can make an extremely pragmatic move by trading for part of that plan this spring. 

All Statistics, metrics and 2014 projection figures courtesy of data from FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

Peter F. Richman is a Featured Columnist for the New York Yankees. You can join him on Twitter: Follow @Peter_F_Richman 

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