The New York Yankees have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons, but executing a quick rebuild is almost impossible.

Teams generally rebuild by trading older, expensive players and capitalizing on high draft picks. The Yankees don't have high picks coming and the older players they have are extremely expensive.

"Who exactly could the Yankees trade? Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira have bloated contracts, deep injury histories and declining performance (not to mention blanket no-trade clauses and no desire to leave). The Yanks are stuck with them," writes Joel Sherman.

Spending money, perhaps on Max Scherzer and/or Victor Martinez, is another option, but not a smart one with neither considered young at this point.

The San Diego Padres appear to have a stable pitching staff, but the offense may be shuffled this offseason.

"If you look back a year ago, and you look at our roster, it looked pretty steady at what was going to happen the following spring," Bud Black said, before listing this season's originally projected starters, position by position.

"We were pretty set, and I think that's definitely changed this year. I don't know whether uncertain is the word. But I do think there will be some roster construction more so than last year."

Jedd Gyorko, Will Venable and Everth Cabrera have struggled after solid efforts in 2013.

"We had a lot of guys that had down years," Black said. "Can you bounce back? Of course. Are they going to? I don't have the crystal ball."

Matt Joyce, who was born in Tampa, expects to be playing elsewhere next season.

Joyce's salary for next season will likely increase to around $5 million through arbitration, which he believes will be too much for the Tampa Bay Rays. He expects to be dealt this winter.

"I think there's a good chance, just knowing the organization and how they operate and how many young guys that they have in the outfield and coming up through the system," the 30-year-old said.

"But it's not anything I'm bitter about or anything like that. I think it's just part of the game and part of how they operate, how they do business, and I understand that. It's something that I just try to be thankful for all the time I have had."

Joyce, making $3.7 million this season and a free agent after next, is hitting .252 with eight homers and 51 RBIs.

Jeremy Hellickson may become a target for teams in search of pitching this offseason.

The Tampa Bay Rays may be unsure, but an American League executive believes that they could make another Wil Myers-Jake Odorizzi for James Shields-Wade Davis type of deal centering around Hellickson, who is still just 27 and inexpensive.

Hellickson is arbitration eligible and won’t be a free agent until after the 2016 season.

The Texas Rangers should be able to turn things around with a healthy roster next season, but they also need two starting pitchers, a righthanded power bat and maybe even a catcher.

The Rangers have the prospects to put together a trade for someone like Cole Hamels or Johnny Cueto, but teams will ask for third baseman Joey Gallo, and even with Adrian Beltre, Texas is unlikely to put with him.

Gallo hit 42 home runs in the minor leagues this season.

Colby Rasmus, who has hit .225/.287/.448 with 18 home runs in 376 plate appearances this season, isn't expected to return to the Toronto Blue Jays next season.

Rasmus will be a free agent for the first time this winter.

"I look at it like there's nothing I can do about it. The ball's in their court and they have all the power over me and that was their decision to do that," Rasmus said.

"Nothing I can really do. I'll look at it like, man, I was able to make it through another season in the big leagues. Maybe it wasn't the way that people or myself thought it was going to go but there's been other seasons like that too. I just feel that I tried to handle it the best way I could. I didn't try to blow up on nobody or make a scene because I know we had a chance to maybe have a little chase to the playoffs."

Rasmus has been coming off the bench as of late.

"I didn't understand why they would take me out, especially as hard as I've played this year, even through some aches and pains with the body but that was their decision and like I said there's nothing I can do about it. But as far as going into the offseason, I'm just going to keep my head up," he added.

"After this year I'll have six years in the big leagues and if you would have told me I would have six years in the big leagues when I was 15, 16, 17 years old I'd have told you you were crazy, there was no way I was going to be able to do it."

Mark Trumbo has produced a disappointing season with the Arizona Diamondbacks, leaving the club to make a decision about his future this winter.

Trumbo has been a poor defender in left field. He has played first base with Paul Goldschmidt (hand) sidelined. If he remains with the Diamondbacks, he'll start the 2015 season in left field.

Entering Tuesday, Trumbo had just a .239 average, .303 on-base and nine home runs. Arizona expected more when they gave up outfielder Adam Eaton and left-hander Tyler Skaggs to acquire him last winter.

Trumbo also figures to be pricey next season, when he could make north of $6 million in his second year of arbitration.

Ryne Sandberg won't say anything bad about Ryan Howard, but a suggestion for Chase Utley's future could have an impact on the declining slugger.

The Philadelphia Phillies would like to trade Howard, but his contract and production make that a difficult task.

Utley has chronic knee problems, which are only made worse by the wear and tear of playing second base.

"I think playing first base would eliminate a little wear and tear at that position," Sandberg said. "Whether that's a consideration or not has yet to be seen."

The Tampa Bay Rays will lower their payroll next season.

Stuart Sternberg said the payroll is "clearly going to be lower" than the franchise-record $80 million it was this year.

The Philadelphia Phillies will look to trade Domonic Brown this offseason.

Matt Gelb writes that Philadelphia will look for "a similar change-of-scenery-type player."

Brown, who was an All-Star in 2013 when he hit .272/.324/.494 with 27 home runs, has a .234/.284/.347 line with just eight homers this year.