With Boston hiring former Toronto manager John Farrell to run the club in 2013
and beyond, Aviles will reportedly serve
as compensation and go to the Blue Jays, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.

But the Red Sox shouldn't be in too much of a bind without 2012's starting shortstop. Aviles, who
started 130 games for the Red Sox in 2012 — all but seven at shortstop — did
what was required of him on a daily basis, but he never performed beyond that.

Aviles hit .250/.282/.381 with 13 home runs and 60 RBIs for
Boston last season, playing solid defensively as well. He provided much-needed
offense when several key hitters in the lineup went down with injuries and
managed to stay healthy for nearly the entire season. His overall production,
however, started to drop as the season dragged on, and he was often sat in favor of
Jose Iglesias down the stretch.

Now, with Iglesias and Pedro
Ciriaco under team control for the near future, the Red Sox will be more
than fine without Aviles going forward.

Iglesias is the shortstop of the future — and has been for
the last several years now — and it seems as if the future starts in 2013. His
failures at the plate have kept him from being the everyday
shortstop in the Boston lineup in the past, but his defensive prowess has kept him the
long-term favorite.

Going 8-for-68 isn't pretty, no matter how you look at it,
but Iglesias will get better offensively — he has to. He'll have a full offseason
to train on his own and should come into spring training looking to clean
up his remaining holes. Farrell has yet to name who his hitting coach
will be, but working with Iglesias will definitely be a priority.

Even if Iglesias still can't figure out what he's doing with
the bat, the Red Sox have Ciriaco to pick up the slack. Ciriaco flourished in
more ways than one last season, his first in Boston. He hit .293/.315/.390
with 19 extra-base hits, 33 runs and 16 stolen bases in 76 games, and he seemed to
perform best against the rival Yankees — hitting .415 with 12 runs in 14 games
against them.

Ciriaco is the ultimate utility player and will compete with
Iglesias for the starting shortstop job. Although he isn't as slick of a
shortstop as Iglesias, he holds a strong advantage over him at the plate. He
provides excitement in the Red Sox lineup, which is exactly what the team needs.

One thing to keep an eye on, however, is who the Red Sox
will receive from Toronto in the Farrell deal. That player has not been
announced yet, but it would make sense for the Blue Jays to part ways with
shortstop Yunel Escobar now that
they have Aviles and Adeiny Hechavarria.
Escobar underperformed in 2012 and also had a controversial
non-playing incident as well. Throwing him into the mix, though, wouldn't
hurt.

Boston really just needs to survive until 2014 or 2015, when the team can promote shortstop prospect Xander Bogaerts to the big leagues. Bogaerts is flying through the Red Sox' minor league system and could be in Boston in no time. It's still early, but he could be the guy who has Red Sox Nation forgetting about some guy named Nomar Garciaparra — nonetheless Aviles.

Aviles could be playing shortstop at Fenway Park on May 10,
but he won't be wearing a Red Sox uniform if he does. And that’s just fine.

Click here to read an opinion on the John Farrell hiring>>

Oakland shocked the Texas Rangers — and the baseball world — this season. At the beginning of July, the A's were still four games under .500 and 12 games back in the AL West. Then they caught fire and started to eat away at the Rangers' lead. By the time the final series of the regular season came — against the Rangers — Oakland was in striking distance, just two games behind.

The A's swept Texas, taking all three games to win the division for the first time since 2006. Yes, they were somewhat exposed in the playoffs against the Tigers, where they fell in five games, but this team showed heart like no other and always refused to go down without a fight.

Oakland may seem like the beneficiary of a lot of luck, a team that's primed to return to a statistical mean in the coming years, but that's a false statement. General manager Billy Beane traded away some of Oakland's top pieces at the end of last season but strengthened his franchise by doing so. He dealt Gio Gonzalez, Trevor Cahill and Andrew Bailey all away in return for what looked like nothing at the time. As it turns out, that nothing turned into something, and something special at that.

Beane is finally where he needs to be: in a position to make the postseason on a yearly basis.

Only a handful of A's from this year's team will enter free agency — unless Beane gets to them before they hit the market. Brandon McCarthy is one upcoming free agent whom Beane may look to keep in his starting rotation to compliment those who led the team down the stretch while McCarthy was on the disabled list. Other candidates for new contracts include Stephen Drew and Grant Balfour, both of whom made huge contributions during the year. Other than those three, most of the roster should be back in 2013 — as nearly all are eligible for arbitration. 

Beane also has the ability to go into free agency as a buyer, especially since Oakland had one of the lowest payrolls in baseball this past season. Don't expect him to go after the likes of Josh Hamilton or Zack Greinke — he'll want players like McCarthy instead. Beane hasn't spent a lot of money on free agents in the past — with the exception of Cuban defector Yoenis Cespedes — and it's not time to start.

Oakland's riches go beyond the big league roster. Some of the best prospects in the organization are about ready to make the jump to the majors. Minor leaguers such as Michael Choice, Dan Straily, Brad Peacock and Sonny Gray all could see time in Oakland next season. 

While the A's continue to have questions about whether their stadium can support the team financially, Beane won't have to do many tricks to keep his team in good shape. He has a cost-efficient ballclub and young players who know what it's like to win.

The A's should have no trouble making more postseason appearances going forward.

Mike Trout

That is, if the voters don't get in the way.

Trout has played at an insanely high level this season, both
offensively and defensively, and he didn't even start the year on Los Angeles' 25-man roster. Trout made his 2012 debut on April 28, missing the team's first
20 games.

Looking at Trout's statistics for the year, though, no one could guess that he missed nearly a month's time.

Through 123 games in the big leagues this year, Trout is
hitting .331 with 27 home runs, 77 RBIs, 116 runs scored and 45 stolen bases. That
came after he torched Triple-A pitching in early April, hitting .403 with 10
extra-base hits and 21 runs over a 20-game span.

He leads the American League in batting average,
runs and steals going into Sunday — over some bigger names such as Derek Jeter, Josh Hamilton
and Miguel Cabrera.

Trout is the clear-cut choice for AL Rookie of the Year. He
has virtually no competition in the category.

The issue that voters will have with Trout is that he's a
rookie, and his team is unlikely to make it to the postseason.

Only Suzuki and Fred
Lynn have won both the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season. And
those two aren't just the most recent — they're the only two in the history of
the game. Is it that other first-year players haven't had better seasons than
other players in the league, or that voters just don't vote for them?

Another unruly bias is toward players who have outstanding
seasons, but their team falls short of a playoff berth. Since 2005, only two of
the 14 MVP recipients weren't on a postseason roster — Albert Pujols in 2008 and Ryan
Howard in 2006.

The Angels are 7 1/2 games back of the Rangers in the AL
West and 2 1/2 games out of a wild card spot with just 16 games left to play.

Could the Angels still make the playoffs? Sure — a wild card
isn't out of the question just yet. Would a postseason berth secure Trout
for the MVP? Probably, but that shouldn’t matter.

No player in the AL has performed like Trout has in 2012,
and he deserves be rewarded for it.