Editor's note: Yahoo! Sports will examine the offseason of every MLB team before spring training begins in mid-February. Our series continues with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

MLB Springboards: No. 30 Astros | No. 29 Marlins | No. 28 Mets | No. 27 Rockies | No. 26 Twins | No. 25 Pirates | No. 24 Indians | No. 23 Mariners | No. 22 Padres | No. 21 Cubs | No. 20 Brewers | No. 19 Red Sox | No. 18 White Sox | No. 17 Royals | No. 16 Orioles | No. 15 Phillies

2012 record: 81-81
Finish: Third, NL West
2012 final payroll: $77.2 million
Estimated 2013 opening day payroll: $89 million
Yahoo! Sports offseason rank: 14
Hashtags: #uptonabbey #theuptonslinger #bauerless #gibbyball #desertbloomquist #eightmenoutfield #ross4less #didican #seeyacy

OFFSEASON ACTION

The Diamondbacks picked up an astounding 29 wins and an NL West title in the first full season in the desert for general manager Kevin Towers and field manager Kirk Gibson. Sustaining 94-win seasons proved a challenge, however,

Read More »from No. 14 D'backs: Pressing on without Justin Upton

Editor's note: Yahoo! Sports will examine the offseason of every MLB team before spring training begins in mid-February. Our series continues with the Philadelphia Phillies.

MLB Springboards: No. 30 Astros | No. 29 Marlins | No. 28 Mets | No. 27 Rockies | No. 26 Twins | No. 25 Pirates | No. 24 Indians | No. 23 Mariners | No. 22 Padres | No. 21 Cubs | No. 20 Brewers | No. 19 Red Sox | No. 18 White Sox | No. 17 Royals | No. 16 Orioles

2012 record: 81-81
Finish: Third, NL East
2012 final payroll: $169.7 million
Estimated 2013 opening day payroll: $158 million
Yahoo! Sports offseason rank: 15
Hashtags: #chooo…what? #kraaaaaatz #teamplatoon #DariDom #Nixberry #whatsupdoc #utleysknees #howardsOPS

OFFSEASON ACTION

There is a great challenge – some might say paradox – to Ruben Amaro Jr.'s professional pursuit these days, and that is to build a baseball team around a core he cannot be sure still exists.

Age, fragile bodies, and the price of stacking playoff teams upon

Read More »from No. 15 Phillies: Sunset on Utley-Howard-Halladay core puts Philly behind in NL East

LOS ANGELES – The question put to David Price was about where it all leads, which was somewhat unfair, because he couldn't possibly know.

He is 27, has an American League Cy Young Award coming to him this weekend in New York City, is 61-31 over the past four seasons and just agreed to a salary of $10.1 million, the most his organization has paid a player for a single season.

While that tells the pleasant story of a young man who, like the team he plays for, became a small-market winner in a large-market world, he perhaps has initiated the unavoidable and unpleasant process of un-becoming a Tampa Bay Ray, simply by being among the best at what he does. David Price is headed to New York this weekend to collect his Cy Young hardware. (AP)

The Rays near a season in which one-quarter of their payroll will go to Price and third baseman Evan Longoria, and nearly one-third to Price, Longoria and shortstop Ben Zobrist. Under that burden, over time, an otherwise working business model begins to rattle.

This is not simply a Rays problem, of course. Plenty of teams in

Read More »from Can Rays afford to keep ace David Price in Tampa? 'I don't want to sell myself short'

Editor's note: Yahoo! Sports will examine the offseason of every MLB team before spring training begins in mid-February. Our series continues with the Chicago Cubs.

2012 record: 61-101
Finish: Fifth, NL Central
2012 final payroll: $107.7 million
Estimated 2013 opening day payroll: $103 million
Yahoo! Sports offseason rank: 21
Hashtags: #1908 #105yearplan #teardown #rebuild #again #sveumtimenextyear #taooftheo #stillcursed #hexorcism

OFFSEASON ACTION

Competency is out there somewhere, we assume. Too many intellects in the front office. Too many prospects in the system. Too much revenue to burn. Too much bad luck, bad leadership, bad karma, bat at-bats, bad everything … not to turn. Right?

Wind-whipped for more than a century, the Cubs again seek the leeward side of the game. Remember those two NL Central titles from late last decade? All that momentum? Well, 97 wins became 83, which is when the Tribune Company bolted, selling to Joe Ricketts and clan. Then 83 became 75,

Read More »from No. 21 Cubs: In full rebuilding mode, Chicago won't be much better but it has Anthony Rizzo

Editor's note: Yahoo! Sports will examine the offseason of every MLB team before spring training begins in mid-February. Our series continues with the San Diego Padres.

MLB Springboards: No. 30 Astros | No. 29 Marlins | No. 28 Mets | No. 27 Rockies | No. 26 Twins | No. 25 Pirates | No. 24 Indians | No. 23 Mariners | No. 22 Padres | No. 21 Cubs | No. 20 Brewers | No. 19 Red Sox | No. 18 White Sox | No. 17 Royals | No. 16 Orioles | No. 15 Phillies | No. 14 Diamondbacks | No. 13 Athletics | No. 12 Rangers | No. 11 Yankees | No. 10 Rays | No. 9 Cardinals | No. 8 Giants | No. 7 Tigers

2012 record: 76-86

Finish: Fourth, NL West
2012 final payroll: $62.9 million
Estimated 2013 opening day payroll: $65 million
Yahoo! Sports offseason rank: 22
Hashtags: #headleycompany #grandalseizure #intimatePetco #Qrating #chasefield #overyonder #gyorkopark #fowlerball

OFFSEASON ACTION

In a winter in which they had options, the Padres chose to believe in what they are. They re-signed

Read More »from No. 22 Padres: Chase Headley's breakout season a sign of club emerging as NL sleeper?

Editor's note: Yahoo! Sports will examine the offseason of every MLB team before spring training begins in mid-February. Our series continues with the Seattle Mariners.

Other MLB Springboards: No. 30 Astros | No. 29 Marlins | Mets | No. 27 Rockies | No. 26 Twins | No. 25 Pirates | No. 24 Indians

2012 record: 75-87
Finish: Fourth, AL West
2012 final payroll: $84.5 million
Estimated 2013 opening day payroll: $71 million
Yahoo! Sports offseason rank: 23
Hashtags: #619runs #ibanez3 #solongfiggy #lagginballZ #wheresichiro #thekingandi(wakuma) #sendalimoforastros #kendryspop #blamethefences #baywatch

OFFSEASON ACTION

After four seasons spent dead last in the American League in runs, the Mariners experienced an epiphany: it was the ballpark's fault. (And Chone Figgins'.)

Actually, for the first time in that period of offensive listlessness, the 2012 splits clearly supported such a notion. So, by 4 to 17 feet and from foul pole to foul pole, Safeco Field's fences were dragged

Read More »from No. 23 Mariners: Road to relevance begins with altering Safeco, trading for Kendrys Morales

Editor’s note: Yahoo! Sports will examine the offseason of every MLB team before spring training begins in mid-February. Our series continues with the Cleveland Indians.

2012 record: 68-94
Finish: Fourth, AL Central
2012 final payroll: $69.2 million
Estimated 2013 opening day payroll: $72 million
Yahoo! Sports offseason rank: 24
Hashtags: #swishalicious #supernatural #returnoftito #thedrummer #trevortime #kip #theU #butnoO #orP

OFFSEASON ACTION

When the promise of 80 wins in 2011 became the reality of 94 losses in 2012, when the headiness of July relevance became a five-win August, when a crappy division still wasn’t enough to keep them around, the Indians needed change. As in, something new. As in, that stuff clanging around in Larry Dolan’s pocket.

Ubaldo Jimenez finished the 2012 season 9-17 with a 5.40 ERA. (AP)

The third winter of Chris Antonetti in the GM seat has, in fact, seen the Indians reconsider their middle management and, to some degree, a roster that presented a pitching staff and offense that were among the American League’s

Read More »from No. 24 Indians: Now equipped to score runs, Cleveland's rotation takes center stage

Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton blocked a trade Thursday that would have sent him to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for four players.

The Diamondbacks have long sought to trade the talented, 25-year-old right fielder and appeared to find a match with the Mariners, who possess one of the deeper farm systems – and one of the weakest offenses – in the game.

Justin Upton doesn't seem to like the direction the Mariners are headed. (Getty)

Upton's contract, which will pay him $38.5 million over the next three seasons, allows him to veto trades to four teams. The Mariners are on that list. It is not known if Upton has time to reconsider, given the alternative is to play for an organization that is eager to trade him.

Fox Sports first reported Upton had nixed the trade. According to CBS Sports, the Diamondbacks were to receive infielder Nick Franklin, relievers Charlie Furbush and Stephen Pryor and one of three pitching prospects: Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen or James Paxton.

[Related: Bryce Harper lobbies for MLB '13 cover]

The Read More »from Arizona's Justin Upton nixes trade to Mariners