Kuzul

The Atlanta Braves started the process a year ago.

The plan, wisely implemented and shrewdly executed by a new front-office regime led by president of baseball operations John Hart and general manager John Coppolella, was to build the franchise into a youthful contender by the time it opened its new suburban stadium in 2017. That meant trading away much of the club’s core and stockpiling young pitching.

Gone are Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Evan Gattis, Craig Kimbrel and now shortstop Andrelton Simmons, a defensive wizard and fan favorite who hauled in two pitching prospects from the Los Angeles Angels. All the moves were necessary for this rebuild, and a couple of others may be on the horizon as the Braves still have coveted pieces in first baseman Freddie Freeman and right-hander Julio Teheran.

“The focus for me is to get really good talent,” Coppolella told reporters after the Simmons trade last week. “I’d be happy if we got arms in every deal. We’re built around pitching and defense. The more arms we can get, the better off we’re going to be.”

Freeman has questions surrounding him regarding a lingering wrist injury, but he is just 26 years old, could eventually be a 30-home run bat and has a 140 OPS+ over the last three seasons. Those are reasons why Freeman possibly being on the trade market was “the talk of the [Arizona] Fall League,” as one club official told Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal.

Rosenthal also said officials from three teams told him the Braves are shopping their first baseman. However, Coppolella shot down that report Sunday, telling David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he has no intention to trade Freeman or Teheran.

I asked again about Freeman and Teheran, was told no talks and no intentions to move either of them. https://t.co/e9eJWd8LyZ

— David O’Brien (@DOBrienAJC) November 15, 2015

Teheran also would carry huge value. He will be 25 next season, has been durable and in 2014 had a 2.89 ERA. Even though he had a down year in 2015, he is under control through 2019 at $29.6 million, so his contract is quite manageable.

Also, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported there is “a good chance” the Braves make Teheran available at some point during this offseason.

If the Braves were to move out Freeman, who is owed $118.5 million over the next six years, or Teheran they could certainly ask for more pitching prospects in return. That would add to what is already recognized as the deepest pool of pitching talent in the game.

Rosenthal’s report also quoted another team official as saying the Braves are “shopping everyone owed money.” That would mean players like Nick Markakis, Cameron Maybin, Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn might be dangled. O’Brien speculated the Baltimore Orioles might have interest in bringing back Markakis, and Roch Kubatko of MASN reports people within Baltimore’s organization have interest in broaching the subject with the Braves.

The problem with such a sell-off is that Coppolella has already told reporters he wants the team to be competitive next season. He believes the Simmons trade makes the Braves better because pitching prospects Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis could be in the rotation in 2016 and shortstop Erick Aybar, also acquired in the deal, is an offensive upgrade.

“We can’t have a year like we had last year,” Coppolella told reporters, referring to the team’s 95 losses.

That makes it possible that the Braves do not deal Freeman or Teheran and instead flirt with free agents, especially if they shed the contracts of guys like Swisher and Bourn. It would be feasible for the team to add payroll in free agency since chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk said the Braves could end up with a top-10 payroll by the time they open their new ballpark in 2017, according to Phil W. Hudson of the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

However, because the Braves have the third overall pick in next June’s draft, they likely will not want to sign a free agent tied to draft-pick compensation. And if they decide to deal a player like Freeman, it would put them in line for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft as 100 losses could be a serious reality.

The Braves are clearly building around pitching, much like they did in the 1990s when they eventually won 14 division titles and a World Series. The Simmons trade showed they were committed to that plan, and the next deal or deals they make are likely intended to do the same.

They are clearly in full rebuild mode now, and while they might publicly say they aren’t willing to trade Freeman or Teheran, everyone can be had for a price. If a team comes calling for either, they better be prepared to offer top pitching prospects in return.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Before all the confetti and empties were picked up from the streets of Kansas City after the Royals had their World Series parade, the Major League Baseball hot-stove season had its first blockbuster trade. 

When the Los Angeles Angels decided to give up a significant return package to acquire all-world shortstop Andrelton Simmons from the Atlanta Braves, it was the kind of deal that could result in both clubs receiving game-changing players.

The Braves might end up with a pitching gem in prospect Sean Newcomb, but we already know the kind of defensive impact Simmons can have on a team. For the Angels, he could become the kind of player who alters the franchise’s fortunes, especially within an era that better understands and values defensive wizardry.

After all, Ozzie Smith is in the Hall of Fame with similar below-average offensive numbers, and Simmons might end up being a better defensive shortstop when his career comes to a close.

The question now is this: What other trade targets on the market, or potentially off the market, are the kind of franchise game-changers Simmons could become? There does seem to be a group of them to choose from, but, like Simmons, they are going to cost a team potentially great young talent.

This is when organizations have to balance their futures with the need to win now.

Begin Slideshow

Euphoria eventually wears off. It fades like a glorious fog that can be thick enough to mask a flawed landscape within.

That is not to say everything is bad once things clear up. Things might still be attractive to certain onlookers, just not as wonderful as the oasis that once existed.

This is sort of the way Yoenis Cespedes’ free agency has developed. Not that he won’t have a market, and not that he might not command something north of $100 million by the time he puts pen to paper, but the euphoria of his post-trade production with the New York Mets faded through the postseason and could result in some teams becoming unwilling to commit nine figures to him.

“The World Series exposed his occasional inattentiveness and other flaws, but some of those struggles perhaps stemmed from a shoulder injury,” Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal wrote this week. “The bigger problem for Cespedes might be generating enough interest from high-revenue clubs.”

But it only takes a single mega-money agreement to sink a player’s value, turning him into a rip-off going forward.

The Mets, the Detroit Tigers (Cespedes’ former team), the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs do not appear to have interest in him right now. If Cespedes was looking for a deal that topped Jacoby Ellsbury’s $153 million total, taking those teams out of the mix puts a huge dent in that plan.

However, as we have seen time and time again in free agency, it only takes one team to want a guy enough that it offers him the years and dollar amount he is seeking. There does not have to be a bidding war, only one general manager looking to price out the market and secure the player’s signature.

And with the San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels possibly in the market for an impact bat, Cespedes still could land that kind of huge contract.

“He was hurt by makeup questions in Boston and little things have cropped up in New York,” the New York Post’s Joel Sherman wrote about Cespedes recently. “He is a great athlete with righty power (that pays) with an industry worried if he shuts down with long-term security.”

Cespedes turned his production to volume 10 after his July trade from the Tigers to the Mets, which was the third time he’s been traded in the previous three years to give him four employers since the July 2012 trade deadline. That movement has some believing Cespedes will continue to be driven even after locking in a rich, long-term deal.

“In my view, he’s developed a pretty big chip on his shoulder from being traded so many times in recent years,” a scout told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. “I think that will drive him for a while.”

Upon getting to New York, Cespedes hit .309/.356/.691 with a 1.048 OPS, 17 home runs and 42 RBI in his first month and a half (41 games, 188 plate appearances) with the Mets. Those numbers even drew in supporters of him as a National League MVP candidate.

He cooled down dramatically over the last 16 regular-season games, and during the postseason, he hit .222/.232/.352 with a .584 OPS and 17 strikeouts in 56 plate appearances. He also played some shoddy defense, though it came in center field, where no courting team would consider making him a full-time occupant.

Cespedes has been a productive player to this point in his career since coming to the majors from Cuba. Since his debut in 2012, he ranks 12th among all outfielders in FanGraphs’ wins above replacement, and his 121 wRC+ is 21st among qualified outfielders.

Defensively, he is also one of the better left fielders in the game. His 32 defensive runs saved rate third since 2012, and his 33.3 ultimate zone rating ranks second, as does his throwing arm.

The red flags are that Cespedes gets on base only about 32 percent of the time, and a guy like Alex Gordon, while he is older, might come cheaper with better defense. Gordon also gets on base more, though he has less power.

Cespedes probably will never recreate those stunning first six weeks he spent with the Mets, but he will almost certainly be better than what he was in the postseason. Teams also have to consider that Cespedes is 30 years old, the prime time for hitters to start their career decline.

For Cespedes to reach the $150 million range, it means some team is paying him for his best past production and praying he will duplicate it in the years to come. That is a dangerous precedent, and one that could turn Cespedes from a trade-deadline god to a free-agent bust.

The euphoria has faded for Cespedes, but the coming weeks will tell if enough of it can still blind some team to pay him beyond his actual worth.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The sure thing is present on the ballot.

So are a couple of guys who will spark debates about who was better over the course of their storied careers. There is also a fan favorite with plenty of clips for his highlight reel among the first-timers appearing on Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame ballot.

Baseball’s Hall of Fame released its ballot for 2016 induction Monday, and 15 newcomers are on it along with holdovers such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling and Tim Raines among others.

Ken Griffey Jr. is the no-brainer inductee among the first-time candidates. Closers Trevor Hoffman and Billy Wagner might not get in on their first try, but both have strong cases for eventual inclusion into the Hall. So does Jim Edmonds, who was not the great all-around player Griffey was but is certainly deserving of his share of votes to accompany his highlight-worthy catches.

Aside from those four ballot newcomers, the Hall of Fame included Garret Anderson, Brad Ausmus, Luis Castillo, David Eckstein, Troy Glaus, Mark Grudzielanek, Mike Hampton, Jason Kendall, Mike Lowell, Mike Sweeney and Randy Winn.

Some of those players ended their careers as very good major leaguers but not Hall of Fame-worthy ones. A decent number of them could fall off the ballot after one year because they won’t get the necessary five percent of the vote to remain in the running.

While chances are slim for many, Griffey could end up being a nearly unanimous pick. What might hold him back from 100 percent? That would be the second half of his career, which was good—he had a 117 OPS+ in his final 11 seasons—but far from great.

The first 11 campaigns of Griffey’s 22-year career were nothing short of spectacular. He was an All-Star in 10 of those 11 years, missing out only during his rookie season of 1989. He led the American League in home runs four times and hit 398 total. He won the league’s MVP once and finished in the top 10 six other times. He also won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves and seven Silver Slugger awards. 

More intangible things tell us that Griffey helped change the way baseball marketed itself to the general public. His memorable “Griffey In ’96” Nike advertising campaign, which featured him in his signature backward Seattle Mariners cap, was the stuff of marketing legend.

And there was his line of baseball video games for Nintendo, the first of which sold more than one million copies, and his unforgettable guest appearance on The Simpsons’ “Homer at the Bat” episode in 1992.

Those things should not be discounted when considering Griffey’s impact on the sport and especially on an entire generation of baseball fans.

Griffey’s numbers speak for themselves, but he meant more than just his on-field exploits during his prime. His deserving status as a first-ballot Hall of Famer is an easy call.

Hoffman is considered one of the best closers to ever pitch a ninth inning. His 601 saves, 2.87 ERA and 141 ERA+ speak to how effective he was. He also had nine seasons of at least 40 saves.

Hoffman will almost certainly get into the Hall of Fame eventually, but a few things are working against his getting in on the first ballot. First, he was not very good when the stage was at its biggest, as he blew two of his six career playoff save opportunities, had a loss in another game and blew the save and took the loss in a Game 163 loss to the Colorado Rockies in 2007.

Second, Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters typically have a more difficult time evaluating relievers more than any other position. Hoffman knows that will make things tough.

“There’s going to be that group [of voters] that won’t vote for somebody in their first year,” Hoffman told MLB.com’s Barry Bloom in a recent interview. “Is that going to be indicative of where the vote goes after that? I don’t know. Then there’s another group that doesn’t know how to handle relief pitchers. There are no guarantees.”

A third thing stifling Hoffman’s first-ballot chances is Wagner’s presence. He was the more dominant closer, though he did not have the counting stats Hoffman accumulated—most notably saves. Wagner had 422. 

Despite trailing Hoffman by 179 saves, Wagner had a better ERA (2.31), a lower opponents’ slash line (.187/.262/.296 against Hoffman’s .211/.267/.342) and a higher strikeout rate per nine innings (11.9 against Hoffman’s 9.4). Wagner also had a better end to his career, posting a 1.43 ERA, 275 ERA+ and 13.5 strikeouts per nine in his final season.

This gives Wagner a strong case for Hall of Fame election, though he is highly unlikely to make it on the first ballot. Working against him, aside from his status as a reliever, is that Wagner had similar results to Hoffman in the postseason with his 10.03 ERA in 11.2 innings.

Edmonds is the second-best position player of the newcomers. Some voters like longevity; others look at a player’s prime seasons as a better gauge of his greatness, and Edmonds appeals in both categories, for the most part.

In the five seasons from 2000 to 2004, Edmonds was truly great. Aside from being an elite defensive center fielder, he had a .298/.410/.593 slash line, a 1.003 OPS, 181 home runs and 157 OPS+. He also averaged 6.4 wins above replacement, per Baseball-Reference.com, and 6.8 WAR, according to FanGraphs, per season during that span.

That is a small sample of campaigns, but from 1995 through 2005, Edmonds ranks third in FanGraphs’ WAR behind Bonds and Alex Rodriguez with 58.8. That makes Edmonds’ Hall of Fame case quite impressive, though his chances at inclusion after one year on the ballot still seem slim as increasing votes for some of the holdovers and the 10-player voting limit may hold down his total.

This ballot is loaded with Hall of Fame-worthy talent, but the performance-enhancing drug issue still clouds the voting and probably will not allow for more than Griffey and maybe Piazza this time around. However, of the first-timers on this ballot, the aforementioned four players have the strongest cases.

Now we wait to see how the voting pool swings when results are announced January 6.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired first-hand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Jason Heyward is a different kind of elite baseball player.

His traditional statistics are not the stuff of legend. He doesn’t bang balls off of scoreboards, and he might never be the all-world run producer traditionalists fawn over. His name has never been instantly recognizable by the casual sports fan, and his jersey might never crack the top five in Major League Baseball’s sales rankings.

Jason Heyward is not that kind of superstar. He’s built in the mold of the Kansas City Royals, a single-player embodiment of athleticism, instincts and non-traditional production. Simply put, he does what he does well so incredibly well that he helps his teams win without jaw-dropping home run, RBI or slugging-type numbers.

As of Saturday, he will be a free agent at 26 years old in line for the kind of fat contract typically reserved for the 40-homer, 100-RBI types. And there is a great chance Jason Heyward will be worth every single cent.

When Heyward broke into the big leagues, he did so with the lofty expectations of being the Atlanta Braves’ next franchise pillar, a right fielder with a bazooka arm, a stick-em glove and light-tower power while also capable of snatching 20-30 bases a season. He was that kind of all-around threat, but as the Braves sank into National League obscurity, Heyward became expendable.

Last November, the Braves traded Heyward to the St. Louis Cardinals as he entered his contract year. At that time, he had proven to be a valuable player, posting two six-win seasons by way of Baseball-Reference.com’s module, but he hit more than 18 home runs only once, drove in more than 75 runs only once and posted an OPS higher than .800 just twice in his first five seasons.

Those are reasons why Heyward was one of the most polarizing players in baseball while with Atlanta. Depending on which lens one viewed him through, he was either a potential MVP or a bust.

Despite that, he went to St. Louis with quantifiable value and was just what the club needed as it dealt with injuries across its roster in 2015.

Heyward hit 13 home runs and drove in 60 runs, but his .293/.359/.439 slash line and 116 OPS+ was enough offense. Teamed with his great defense and outstanding baserunning, Heyward ended up finishing in the National League’s top 10 in Baseball-Reference.com WAR and FanGraphs WAR.

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak spoke about Heyward at his end-of-season press conference last month, per Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.

He was as advertised. On a personal level, he’s just a genuinely nice person. I think he’s one of those guys who could really fit in anywhere. He’s a great teammate and very likable. When you think about bringing players into an organization, there is always that risk. He far exceeded that.

Just because Heyward’s power numbers are not elite does not mean he won’t appear atop leaderboards. Since his major league debut, he has easily—easily—been the best defensive outfielder in the game over the last six seasons.

Alex Gordon, a career Royal and current free agent with similar attributes as Heyward, is considered an elite outfield defender, and Heyward demolishes him in all the meaningful defensive metrics. He is that good.

He is also a great baserunner despite getting picked off in Game 4 of the National League Division Series. According to FanGraphs’ BsR statistic, which is a catch-all for baserunning, Heyward was fifth in the majors last year, and since 2012, he ranks 12th in the majors.

Those numbers are real, and they will hold massive weight in contract negotiations this winter. So will his age.

At 26—he will be 27 on Aug. 9 next year—Heyward is the rare player to hit free agency in his mid-20s. That means his agent, Victor Menocal, can realistically argue to suitors that his client’s best seasons are still within the life of whatever deal he strikes before next season. This is not a 30-year-old whose legs and arm will decline in the next couple of years.

Heyward is a player who could actually get better by the time his next deal is halfway through. That also means he might flash more power to go with his defense and baserunning, and it’s not like he’s never shown pop in the past. He hit 27 home runs in 2012, so the power is in him.

There is no player on the market quite like Heyward this offseason, and in an age of advanced metrics, valuing and emphasis on non-traditional stats, he stands to rake in a deal that could top $200 million. That for a player who does not average 20 home runs a season.

Jason Heyward is a different kind of elite baseball player. The market knows it, and soon his salary will prove that to be true.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

This was Matt Harvey’s second beginning. 

The right-hander busted into the major leagues and immediately became the ace of the New York Mets as a 23-year-old rookie in 2012 after spending just one full season in the minors. That was the first beginning—Harvey’s breakout into the realm of top-flight starters.

But after 2013, his first full MLB campaign, solidified him as one of Major League Baseball’s true aces, Tommy John surgery hit and buried Harvey for all of 2014, leaving questions about his ace-hood entering last spring.

Harvey answered just about all of them, sans late-season inquiries about his innings limit that ended up as back-page drama for the New York tabloids. And on Thursday, the 30 beat writers for MLB.com awarded the now-26-year-old the National League Comeback Player of the Year Award after he finished with a 2.71 ERA and 188 strikeouts in 189.1 regular-season innings. Texas Rangers designated hitter Prince Fielder won the honor in the American League.

Harvey didn’t need the award as validation for his success, but now there are no lingering doubts about his status as a bona fide ace even after he missed a year because of his significant elbow injury.

Harvey had his struggles this season as the Mets attempted to tamp down his innings from the outset. Three times he allowed seven runs in a 2015 outing. But he also showed more than just the occasional flash of brilliance by shutting out his opponent nine times—though he was never allowed to throw a complete game because of those innings limitations.

Harvey also had his share of controversy this year. In late August his agent, Scott Boras, emailed Mets general manager Sandy Alderson to inform the team that the pitcher was on a hard innings cap—180 maximum—that was not to be overshot. The strict limit was news to the organization, which was already carefully monitoring Harvey’s pitch counts and innings anyway.

Harvey did not help matters by refusing to take a definitive side in the days after the controversy broke. Instead, he issued veiled comments that seemed to side with his agent, potentially leaving the team down one of its aces as the postseason approached.

“As far as being out there, being with my teammates and playing, I’m never going to want to stop, but as far as the surgeon and my agent having my back and kind of looking out for the best of my career, they’re obviously speaking their minds about it,” Harvey told reporters on Sept. 5, a month before the Mets started their playoff run to the World Series.

Those comments and Harvey’s refusal to come out and say he would pitch for the Mets in the postseason regardless of where his innings total stood led to this epic New York Daily News front page:

Today’s New York Daily News front page: “Harvey Two-Face.” #Mets pic.twitter.com/NnIh5hFj27

— Rich MacLeod (@richmacleod) September 6, 2015

Harvey ultimately pitched without hard limits in the postseason and allowed nine earned runs in four starts (3.04 ERA in 26.2 innings). Those turns brought his total innings to 216, the most in major league history for a pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

“As a starting pitcher and being a younger guy, I think getting to that 200-innings limit is something you always look for,” Harvey told reporters a day before he started Game 5 of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals. “You kind of want to be a horse and go out there, and you look at guys who have thrown 230 innings year after year after year, that’s kind of somebody who I’ve always wanted to be.”

Harvey ultimately pitched eight-plus innings and allowed two runs in the Mets loss, which clinched the World Series for the Royals. But he had gone eight shutout innings before talking manager Terry Collins into letting him pitch the ninth, something Collins had not allowed him to do since April and rightfully drew criticism for afterward.

Regardless, Harvey proved he was back.

He proved he would pitch for his team with the season on the line regardless of the tax on his surgically repaired elbow. He proved he was still an ace even with a missing season on his resume, and that going forward he is capable of leading the Mets’ ridiculously talented rotation.

The injury is now in Harvey’s past. So is the crazy controversy sparked by his agent and, for a time, facilitated by himself. And unless something completely unexpected happens in his future, he is no longer easy fodder for malicious back and front pages of the New York papers.

For the Dark Knight, the future seems bright.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Let the rumors fly…as if they haven’t been already. 

Following one of the most eventful and entertaining offseasons in recent memory, which was followed by a busy and surprising non-waiver trade deadline, this fall and winter has quite a billing to live up to. Based on the free-agent class and potential trade targets, it is not likely to disappoint.

Because those markets are so rich, and with the influx of television money still impacting payrolls, there is plenty of reason to speculate on players and teams as the free-agency period starts Saturday and the trade market gets simmering.

The difficult part can be sifting through all the rumors and innuendo as things change hourly, if not faster, during this time of year. So, as an early primer to this offseason, we help sort through what is likely to be fact and what is probably fiction as this hot stove season gets underway.

Begin Slideshow

Free agency always goes into the Major League Baseball offseason as the belle of the winter ball, snatching the headlines and hogging the discussions and debates during the fall. 

With this offseason’s crop of starting pitchers and power hitters, that early trend will spike in the days after the World Series and into the start of free agency.

However, the trade market should not be ignored through it all. The likely available pieces are abundant, and there are impact players that could wind up significantly altering the game’s landscape going into next season as blockbuster trades steal the show in a carryover from July’s memorable non-waiver deadline.

While the star names are going to be thrown about in rumors, Cincinnati Reds All-Star third baseman Todd Frazier could end up as the under-the-radar trade chip that is the steal of the offseason trade party. Any potential deal for him will not come from the clearance rack, but considering the kind of production he is capable of and the team-friendly contract he is bringing with him, he becomes quite attractive to teams needing offense.

Prying away Frazier could be a difficult task for a pursuing team. The Reds refused to move him in July when his stock was the highest it’s ever been after a first half that saw him hit .284/.337/.585 with a .922 OPS and 25 home runs in 374 plate appearances.

Those first 85 games had people believing the 29-year-old was finally breaking into superstardom. Those people included the Reds front office.

“No, I wouldn’t trade him,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty told reporters in July, via John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I think all that talk is coming from the New York media.”

At the time, that seemed like a logical accusation as New York Mets third baseman David Murphy was still on the disabled list and the team needed a shot of offense, which they eventually got from healing players and Yoenis Cespedes.

ESPN Insider Buster Olney helped fan the flames a month earlier when he suggested the Reds should consider offers for Frazier because his value would never be higher. Also, Olney noted, Frazier’s most attractive attribute, power from the right side, is “the most coveted asset” in the game. 

Other media outlets were backing Jocketty’s statements rather than flying the flag for trading Frazier. In the days after the Reds hosted the All-Star Game and Frazier put on an electric show in winning the Home Run Derby, CBS Sports insider Jon Heyman cited people in the industry as believing the Reds would try to lock Frazier into a contract extension.

That has yet to happen, and as it stands, Frazier will make $7.5 million next season before hitting arbitration. He will become a free agent after the 2017 season. Assuming Frazier is even a 20-25-homer player over the next two seasons, there would be a deep market for his services if the Reds dangled him.

The red flags come in Frazier’s age—he will be 30 next season, but hardly over the hill—and his second half last season. The age can be overlooked because an acquiring team is under no obligation to sign Frazier to an extension.

His second-half collapse cannot be ignored, however. Frazier hit .220/.274/.390 with a .664 OPS and 10 home runs in his final 304 plate appearances. Those dips are glaring after such a gaudy first half, and after combing through the trends, Neil Weinberg of FanGraphs realized Frazier was swinging more while not upping his contact, and pitchers were throwing more inside fastballs. Frazier did not adjust.

That hardly means Frazier is done as a productive major league hitter. It could be a simple correction of a hitter performing above his head in the first half and the law of averages taking over in the second. While it diminishes the trade value he carried through the All-Star break, it does not strip him of all of it.

Frazier’s power has not deserted him, and teams have not stopped wanting it. That, the potential to hit at an elite level clearly present, his attractive contract for the next two years—arbitration could get him a significant raise, limiting the value—and his being a solid defender at third base means if the Reds put him on the block, teams will come hunting.

Assuming he costs a team at least one of its top prospects, as Charlie Wilmoth of MLB Trade Rumors predicts, Frazier could easily make such a deal worthwhile. He is a two-time All-Star and is capable of providing middle-of-the-order power, though his home-road splits indicate a hitter-friendly park is a necessity.

The trade market could be deep, and for teams not wanting to shell out the money or years for the likes of Cespedes, Chris Davis or Justin Upton, Frazier is a strong alternative. The Reds just have to decide to put him on the market, which should develop in the next month as the winter meetings approach.

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

There was a time, about a year ago, when Jordan Zimmermann was to be the prince of this winter’s dynamite class of free-agent starting pitchers. 

The right-hander was coming off a career year last offseason, putting up the best marks of his career in terms of ERA, ERA+, strikeouts, WHIP, FIP and strikeout-to-walk ratio. He finished fifth in National League Cy Young Award voting for the Washington Nationals and earned a second consecutive All-Star selection.

With one more season to produce before entering free agency, it seemed Zimmermann just had to stay healthy in 2015 to become the head of the class. Another season like the one he had in 2014, and he would become the first Tommy John survivor to put a nine-figure salary next to his name.

Well, Zimmermann stayed healthy enough. He just did not produce anywhere near the ace-like numbers expected of him this past season, and he became a fairly mediocre pitcher with a 3.66 ERA, a pedestrian 110 ERA+ and his strikeout rate dropped significantly from 22.8 percent in 2014, a career high, to 19.7 percent, good for 48th among qualified major league starters in 2015.

“Feel like I took the ball every time they asked, did what I could,” Zimmermann told reporters in late September, glossing over his career with the Nationals. “Some days I didn’t have it, some days I was good.”

Zimmermann needed to be better than good to land top-tier money this offseason, the kind that allows an ace to fill out some team’s blank check. With a deep pool of starting pitchers on the market this offseason, his numbers in a contract year do not stand out—his 3.66 ERA was easily a career worst for any of his full seasons—and leave him bunched in with the likes of Jeff Samardzija, Mike Leake and maybe Yovani Gallardo, if not just a tick above that trio.

Whoever might reside in Zimmermann’s echelon, one thing is certain: He pitched himself out of the group containing David Price, Zack Greinke and maybe even Johnny Cueto, depending on how the market views Cueto’s late-season/postseason struggles and injury concerns. Price and Greinke, who is expected to opt out of his current contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers within the next week, will command the majority of the money on the market.

Price, the ace of the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays this past season, has a 2.90 ERA and 133 ERA+ over his last four seasons while averaging more than 200 strikeouts a year in that time. He turned 30 in late August, but he has been durable throughout his career, is left-handed and remains one of the game’s true aces. That resume, despite his 5.46 ERA over his last nine postseason outings, could command a deal in the $180-200 million range.

Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors thinks Price’s goal could be to exceed the $215 million extension Clayton Kershaw signed with the Dodgers, and that is certainly a possibility considering Max Scherzer got $210 million from Washington as a 30-year-old last winter.

Greinke, who will be leaving three years and $71 million on the table when he opts out, could look to raise his average annual value with a four- or five-year deal, or he could try to get as much as six years and more than the $155 million, similar to what the Chicago Cubs gave Jon Lester last offseason.

Greinke is 32, but he has relatively no injury issues, could win a Cy Young Award for his work this past season—19 wins, 1.66 ERA, 225 ERA+, 0.844 WHIP—and is not the kind of ace that relies on a power fastball, so a sixth year might not scare away every suitor.

Postseasons matter, though. That could work against Price and Cueto, who struggled down the stretch of the regular season and was wildly inconsistent in the playoffs for the Kansas City Royals until his complete-game gem in Game 2 of the World Series.

Cueto also missed time this summer with elbow stiffness and discomfort, but seems to have ended the World Series in ace form. However, everything considered, his price could be affected unless Price signs early and for a ton of money, which would drive up numbers for other guys. 

With Price and Cueto struggling during this postseason, Zimmermann’s stock could see a boost without throwning a pitch in October. Even though his summer was not as great as expected, he could pick up the money lost, if any, by those two.

Seems like two big free-agent winners from postseason are: A) Zack Greinke, and B) Jordan Zimmermann, who hasn’t thrown a pitch.

— Phil Rogers (@philgrogers) October 29, 2015

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal believes the San Francisco Giants will stick their toes in Zimmermann’s pool, but he also thinks the Wisconsin native would like to stay in the Midwest. That puts the Cubs and possibly the Tigers into play. 

The Dodgers, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are going to have interest, obviously, as might teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels. Zimmermann will be a thick market. 

He is no longer among the best the market has to offer, and his ace title has been stripped from his negotiating leverage. Still, whatever deal Zimmermann signs will go well beyond $100 million, and while hitting the $150 million mark is iffy, if he regains something close to the form he showed in 2014, Zimmermann will end up being one of the steals of this offseason.

Advanced stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted. 

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

To examine the data, skim over the analytics and listen to the brains that have firmly entrenched themselves in every single major league front office, clutch does not exist.

It is not tangible. It is not readily quantifiable. Players do not perform better, over time, in certain situations. Other players do not fold, over time, in the same ones.

“Clutch” does not exist.

But then there are the Kansas City Royals, a team that has come from behind to win seven postseason games this October, and over the last two postseasons one that has used that improbable and usually ineffective strategy to earn 10 of their 21 total playoff victories. The Royals have a patent on late-inning heroics lately, from their dominant bullpen throwing up zero after zero to their defense saving hides to the offense finding ways to take extra bases and plate winning runs.

That was the formula they again used Halloween night to come back from a two-run deficit, taking Game 4 of the World Series 5-3 over the New York Mets at Citi Field. The win gave the Royals a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, with all three victories being pulled out after they had fallen behind.

Comeback Kids did it again! Royals’ 7th come-from-behind postseason win. #TakeTheCrown #Royals pic.twitter.com/tEbQqJdl65

— Jason Lamb (@jasonlambkc) November 1, 2015

“That’s just what our team does. We feel like if we can keep the game close, we’re going to find a way to win it,” Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters in his postgame press conference. “Our bullpen is so dynamic, they give us a chance to win those type of games.

“It’s a team that just looks for a little crack. If we find a little crack, they’re going to make something happen. It’s amazing how they do that. And they do that in a number of ways.”

That they do.

Years of living at or near the bottom of the major league standings earned the Royals a flood of high draft picks. And because they had little to play for when they did find themselves with a bona fide major league star, they were able to trade him for young players they deemed future stars.

Now, many of those players are the core of this dynamic Royals roster. While it might not be consistently capable of shutting down opponents with starting pitching or thumping them with overwhelming power, it plays the best defense of any team in the sport while not striking out and pitching with uncanny deft out of the bullpen.

The bullpen is the highlight of the list. Often a mistakenly overlooked part of many clubs, the Royals paid special attention to their group and built it to throw hard and with an ability to strand runners. Over the last two seasons combined, only the Pittsburgh Pirates have a better bullpen ERA and left-on-base rate than Kansas City, according to Fangraphs.

And now, a year after posting a 2.74 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 62.1 playoff innings, Kansas City’s relievers have a 2.76 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 58.2 innings while the only soft spot has been them allowing nine home runs, though they have gone through the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays, the two top power-hitting teams in the majors based on home runs.

On Saturday, the relievers gave the Royals five innings of one-run production. And closer Wade Davis, arguably the best reliever in the sport with his major league-leading 0.97 ERA over the last two seasons, threw two innings to close out the Mets and put the Royals on the brink of the World Series title that escaped them last fall.

“He’s the best,” Royals left fielder Alex Gordon told MLB Network after the game. “He’s been doing it for two years, and he just steps up in big situations and gets it done. He did it again tonight.”

But a team needs to score to come from behind to win, and in the fateful three-run eighth inning that led them to the victory, the Royals drew two walks and did not strike out once. They capitalized on a fielding error and got a couple of singles to plate their runs before handing the ball to Davis for a second inning.

During the regular season, the Royals were the only major league team not to strike out 1,000 times, and they also had the second-fewest walks in the majors. And with the game on the line, they continued to do what they typically do well and they stepped up a part of their game they typically do not rely on.

“But the most important thing is they put the ball in play,” Yost told reporters. “They make things happen by putting the ball in play, and it’s just a phenomenal group.”

Most of what the Royals do can be measured, quantified. It has a number that correlates to their success. We know why and how they win. We know where they succeed and fail.

But what they seem to do during the postseason, that is a little less certain. They win when you do not expect them to win. They force you to never give up on them because recent history tells us we’d be stupid to do such a thing, and time after time they prove the faith to be justified.

They show that maybe “clutch” actually does exist.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com