Rick Weiner

0 of 3 Kathy Willens/Associated Press Only a few weeks away from the start of spring training, you'd think that MLB clubs were done looking to make trades—at least until an unfortunate injury during the exhibition season forced their hand. But the rumor mill tells a different story, with some notable names—not All-Stars, mind you, but notable names all the same—the subject of trade chatter and speculation.

0 of 51 Chicks might dig the long ball, but it's pitching that wins championships. While relief pitchers might throw harder, nobody is more important to a team's fate than the guy who takes the ball every fifth day—or in some cases, more often than that. It's no coincidence that two of the stars of that Nike bit, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, were elite starting pitchers during their careers.

“I think it’s reasonable sometime within the next week,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told Mike Mazzeo of the New York Daily News of Bird’s 2018 debut before the team’s 10-1 Sunday trouncing of the Kansas City Royals. “I think it’s just continuing to bounce back and get into the rhythm of playing nine innings every day. But I would say he’s getting very close.” That’s great and all, but how many times have we been down this road before?