Ryan Howard, one of just two holdovers from the 2008 World Series championship team, may or may not have a future with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Andy MacPhail anticipates that Howard will be with the team in spring training next season.

The New York Yankees called the Oakland Athletics about the availability of Josh Donaldson in the early part of last offseason.

Billy Beane assured Brian Cashman that Donaldson wouldn't be traded.

Alex Anthopoulos of the Toronto Blue Jays also called and simply wouldn't take no for an answer, using persistence to get Donaldson.

"Alex is and was certainly relentless," Oakland assistant general manager David Forst said. "That is his personality. But we didn't trade Josh to make Alex go away."

The Blue Jays eventually made an offer that the Athletics couldn't refuse.

The July 31 trade that saw the Detroit Tigers send Yoenis Cespedes to the New York Mets was agreed on just minutes before the deadline.

A few hours before the deadline Dave Dombrowski, then the top executive in Detroit, called owner Mike Ilitch asking if he could move Cespedes in the right deal.

"If we're going to get the guy we want for [Yoenis] Cespedes," Dombrowski told Ilitch, "this is going to come right down to the wire. Do I have your OK to make this deal? I know we can trade him for sure, but do you want me to trade him even if it isn't a good deal?"

Earlier that morning Dombrowski had received a call from Sandy Alderson expressing interest in Cespedes after the Mets' deal for Carlos Gomez broke down. Dombrowski told Alderson the Tigers wanted Michael Fulmer in a deal for Cespedes and Alderson agreed to be in touch.

Ilitch told Dombrowski to move Cespedes only if he could get the deal he wanted and until the phone rang at 3:45 p.m., 15 minutes before the deadline, the deal was far from certain.

"We were talking with other clubs, but the Mets, we always felt they were the best fit because they had good pitching and we felt they might give up a guy like Fulmer, who we really liked. They had so many starting pitchers, he was the one guy we identified from other clubs we liked the most," Dombrowski said.

A number of Miami Marlins officials would like to keep Marcell Ozuna, but an associate of Jeffrey Loria says the owner is disappointed in Ozuna and would move him this offseason.

The Marlins would look for a young, inexpensive pitcher in return.

Ozuna, 24, has hit .249/.296/.368 in 423 plate appearances this season.

The Washington Nationals and Texas Rangers discussing a trade involving Stephen Strasburg last offseason.

The talks never got close to an agreement, according to Major League sources.

Texas had interest in Steven Souza, who was later traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in a three-team deal.

David Price could sign a contract worth more than $200 million this offseason, according to an informal poll conducted by Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports.

Passan asked two general managers, two personnel men and two agents to forecast the market for the left-hander.

Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer have received $200 million-plus deal in recent years.

Billy Beane says he doesn't plan on trading away the Oakland Athletics' best prospects this offseason.

Oakland is hoping the young talent will develop into Major League production in the near future.

Since July of 2014, Beane has dealt a lot of young talent -- including top prospect Addison Russell.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired Justin Ruggiano from the Seattle Mariners.

Seattle will receive cash considerations and a player to be named later.

Ruggiano, 33, has spent much of the season at Triple-A after a slow start to the year.

The San Francisco Giants acquired Alejandro De Aza from the Boston Red Sox on Monday night in exchange for Class A pitcher Luis Ysla.

The clubs announced the deal about 40 minutes after Monday's midnight deadline for players traded to be eligible for postseason rosters.

The Red Sox reportedly will send $650,000 to the Giants as payment toward the roughly $833,000 left on De Aza's $5 million contract.