There is growing speculation among those in the industry that the San Francisco Giants will take a serious run at Zack Greinke when he opts out of his deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Milwaukee Brewers have reportedly been telling other teams they are willing to listen to offers for anybody on the roster.

That means Jonathan Lucroy could be available, adding depth to the market of stars that could change teams this winter.

The Atlanta Braves wlll look to fortify their bullpen this offseason.

Atlanta's relievers struggled in 2015, especially after Jason Grilli was lost to injury.

One rival executive expects Dave Dombrowski to blow up the Boston Red Sox's farm system this offseason in search of Major League talent.

Dombrowski acted similarly when he was general manager of the Detroit Tigers.

"Dave is going to make some moves," the executive said. "He'll be busy."

As a way to create and add flexibility to their roster, the New York Yankees might consider trading Brett Gardner this offseason.

As the roster currently stands, the Yankees would open the 2016 season with an outfield of Gardner, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran. Alex Rodriguez would monopolize the team's at-bats at designated hitter.

Gardner was an All-Star over the first half of the season, but slumped badly from late July on. He was likely hampered by injuries in the second half. He had a .561 OPS after July 29 and essentially stopped trying to steal bases from June 12 and to August 11.

Brian Cashman said after the season that the Yankees need to get their "dynamic duo" of Gardner and Ellsbury firing on all cylinders again, but that doesn't mean a trade won't be explored.

Gardner is heading into the second year of a four-year, $52 million deal.

Theo Epstein addressed the media on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the New York Mets swept the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS.

The team's first priority this offseason will be to add pitching.

"We want to continue to add impact pitching, we want to continue to add starting-pitching depth at the big league level," Epstein said.

Chicago signed Jon Lester last offseason and they will likely be linked to most top-level starters this winter.

"Some good things are happening with the pitching," Epstein said of the organization, "but we have to continue to be aggressive and add as we did last winter."

They have seemed like a good match for a trade in recent years, but Sandy Alderson says the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs have never been close to a hitting-for-pitching trade.

The Cubs have built their organization around a wealth of young position players, while the Mets have been lauded for their young arms.

It took several years, but Dayton Moore has built the Kansas City Royals into a perennial contender.

Kansas City hired Moore as their general manager in 2006 and nine years later they are in the ALCS for the second-straight year.

"When we hired Dayton, that was the plan all along," owner David Glass said. "We weren't interested in just getting there one year and not getting back.

"That required a lot of patience on his part, along with [club president] Dan [Glass], despite the criticism to the contrary from some people in the media. He stood in there and built something that is here to last."

After losing to the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the World Series last year, the Royals won the American League Central and will host the ALCS after trading for Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist at midseason and signing Kendrys Morales and Alex Rios in the winter.

"Just a credit to our scouts, and they get the credit for recommending them," Moore said. "And then the players themselves get credit for going out and performing.

"The truth is, they blend in well with the other guys in that clubhouse. And it's an environment created by the core group of guys and [manager] Ned [Yost] and the coaching staff that allows them to succeed."

The Boston Red Sox have made finding a front-line starter a priority this offseason.

Dave Dombrowski said "depth is not an issue," but the club needs a "horse."

Some free agent options this winter include Johnny Cueto, Yovani Gallardo, Zack Greinke (opt out clause), David Price, Jeff Samardzija and Jordan Zimmermann.

The New York Yankees may consider trading away Brett Gardner this offseason after he struggled in the second half.

Clearing out Gardner would also give the Yankees room for a power bat.

Gardner appeared to be affected by health issues.

“He didn’t look patient at the plate and he seemed a little jumpy,” the scout said. “He just didn’t look real comfortable. I kept thinking, ‘He’s hurt.’ The first half, he was so good even with the wrist issue, so I kept wondering if it was starting to come back. He’s too good a player to just fall off like that.”