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This year’s free agent crop is solid, especially for teams looking for starting pitching (and isn’t everyone always looking for starting pitching?). There are elite starting pitchers available, back-of-the-rotation guys available and even several roll-the-dice options, too. MORE: Five potential landing spots for Gerrit Cole So let’s take a look at this year’s group. We tried to include players with opt-outs who will exercise those clauses (Hello, World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg) and we left off guys who aren’t likely to exercise those clauses (Hello, Jason Heyward)....

He also wants the proposals to detail how teams plan to use him as he attempts to pitch and hit at the major league level. FAGAN: Ranking the top 101 free agents this offseason Because Ohtani’s unique free agency won’t be about who throws the most money his way, teams are going to have to get creative when it comes to their proposals. With that in mind, here’s a totally serious pitch for every team....

Start with this: Pitcher CC Sabathia, who left the team at the end of the season to enter treatment for alcoholism, may not have a large role on the 2016 Yankees — if he has one at all. TOP FREE AGENTS: 25 best | C | 1B | 2B | SS | OF | Daniel Murphy destinations “I’m not guaranteeing anybody anything,” Cashman said when asked about the starting rotation and Sabathia’s place in it, via the New York Post....

RUMOR: The Astros and Orioles have entered the race to sign Yovani Gallardo, the top remaining free-agent starting pitcher. MORE: 10 story lines to watch until pitchers and catchers report REPORTED BY: MLB Network’s Jon Heyman DETAILS: Teams have shown varying interest in Gallardo throughout the offseason, but whether they didn’t like what they saw or Gallardo wasn’t impressed with their offers, he remains on the market. Both the Orioles and Astros have holes in their rotation that desperately need filling if they’re going to contend this season....

From time to time throughout the offseason, we’ll update this list to add signings, and offer a comment or two about those signings. FOSTER: Why MLB can’t afford a work stoppage now A quick note on Eric Thames, who signed a three-year, $16 million deal with the Brewers : Because he played in Korea the past couple seasons, he wasn’t on the MLBPA free-agent list, so he’s not on this ranking....

Try to dress it up however you want. The weather was suboptimal Thursday. The teams aren't as good as they were at the inception of interleague play. The finale of the four-game, split-stadium set featured two pitchers, Jacob deGrom and Chase Whitley, making their major league debuts. Tickets are too expensive. Whatever. New York is a metropolitan area of more than 22 million people, and a game between its two teams sold 40,133 tickets, one night after an attendance figure of 35,577 that was lower than the draw for a Friday game in April against the Reds....

Thursday’s MLB schedule was light with just nine games, but the Braves and Padres provided plenty of drama in the first action of the day. MORE: Mets manager seeks out Smoltz for Harvey advice | Red Sox pitcher yells at manager in dugout First, there was the brouhaha after Padres outfielder Matt Kemp was hit by a Julio Teheran fastball. Then the Padres got a two-run single from Yangervis Solarte in the top of the 11th to go ahead 6-4....

This season, 391 players have hit at least one home run. That list includes pitchers like Madison Bumgarner, last-year-in-the-majors guys like Derek Jeter and had-never-hit-a-homer-before guys like Ben Revere. And, somehow, J.J. Hardy hasn’t joined this hardly exclusive club yet in 2014. Hardy has five major-league seasons with at least 129 games played, and in each of those five seasons he’s hit at least 22 home runs, including a high of 30 in 2011, his first in Baltimore....

Chris Sale’s ninth-inning dominance and the champagne-soaked Red Sox celebration that followed on Sunday means that we will have to wait about five more months until pitchers and catchers report. While there will not be any MLB games for some time, it should be an exciting offseason that could see moves that change the landscape of the league. Here are important dates to keep an eye out for regarding awards, free agency, and more while we all wait for baseball to return....

*=If necessary American League Wild Card Game A’s at Royals, 8 p.m. ET, Tuesday, Sept. 30 | TBS National League Wild Card Game Giants at Pirates, 8 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 1 | ESPN American League Division Series 1 Game 1: WC Game winner at Angels, 9 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. (depending on winner of WC game), Thursday, Oct. 2 | TBS Game 2: WC Game winner at Angels, 9:30 p....

They would need him to pitch like he did in the 2013 postseason, when he was a fresh-faced 22-year-old rookie who crushed opposing fans’ dreams every time he took the mound. In his first four playoff starts that year, Wacha allowed a total of three runs and only 11 hits in 27 brilliant innings. He was October’s breakthrough star. MORE: Top NLDS photos | Hammel to start Game 4 for Cubs...

Hector Rondon closed out the victory with a scoreless ninth inning, striking out three and allowing just a two-out single to Matt Carpenter. Chicago won the series three games to one. MORE: Top NLDS photos | Ten greatest Cubs players of all time The Cubs fell behind 2-0 in the first inning when Stephen Piscotty drilled a home run into the left-field seats off Cubs starter Jason Hammel. Anthony Rizzo put Chicago ahead for good with a solo home run off Kevin Siegrist in the sixth....

That Utley was suspended at all is a point of contention for Los Angeles, expressed by ace Clayton Kershaw, who will start Game 4 on three days’ rest. MORE: Dissecting Utley doubletalk | NY media play Utley drama to the hilt “I feel like MLB got, you know, maybe a bit bullied into suspending him,” Kershaw said. “I’ve seen slides a lot worse. And then, you know, the main thing I want to say is we all feel bad for what happened to Ruben....

It’s a question that might keep manger Buck Showalter up at night after he opted for Ubaldo Jimenez instead of Britton to pitch in the bottom of the 11th inning. The result was an Edwin Encarnacion walkoff home run and a 5-2 loss to end the O’s season. MORE: Ranking 50 best players in ‘16 playoffs It begs the question: Was something wrong with Britton, who warmed up in the bullpen multiple times?...

The dilemma: Give the ball to 20-year-old rookie Julio Urias, as was originally the plan, or start ace Clayton Kershaw on short rest. See, Roberts and his Dodgers lost on Monday night, 8-3, to the Nationals. That was their second consecutive loss, which isn’t a big deal in June but is a major problem in a best-of-five playoff series. This was Game 3 of the NLDS, and Roberts and his Dodgers are behind, 2-1....

It’s hard to live up to expectations in the postseason, even for 100-win teams. Of the last 27 teams with at least 100 wins in the regular season, only two went on to win the World Series (Yankees in 1998, 2009). Can the Cubs buck the trend, or will it be the Giants heading to the NLCS looking for their fourth consecutive World Series title in an even-numbered year?...

The two starters matched zeroes inning after inning in Game 1 of the NLDS. Lester survived a couple scary moments with runners on base — especially a two-on, two-out situation in the top of the fourth — and Cueto didn’t even allow a Cubs batter to reach until Kris Bryant doubled with one out in the fourth. This was the fourth playoff baseball game of the day, and in the first three, home runs were flying out of the ballparks with great regularity....

Maybe you could carp a bit about the unbalanced schedule, but you’d really be grasping at straws. The teams that are here are the teams that deserve to be here, and they are seeded appropriately. So, who’s going to go all the way and win the World Series? MLB PLAYOFFS: Every team’s worst postseason memory Here’s how each team can do it, and how each team is poised to fail....

Aaron Boone told reporters Monday he plans to make Game 4 “kind of a bullpen day” for New York and deploy his cast of top-flight relievers against a tough Houston lineup. “Obviously depends a lot on what happens tomorrow,” Boone said hours after the Astros tied the series a game apiece in 11 innings Sunday. “J.A. Happ could very much be in the mix, as well as I picture our bullpen being unleashed on that day....