The Dodgers, Yankees and Brave...

Well, it's 2023, and much of baseball's offseason business has already been completed. While Carlos Correa's position remains uncertain — he's supposedly in agreement with the New York Mets but is again in limbo due to doubts about his physical — the impact players in this free-agent class have already been signed. With just over a month until pitchers and catchers report, the trade market has been fairly quiet, save for an interesting challenge deal between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Toronto Blue Jays.

There are three major reasons to believe that activity will soon erupt to fill the trade void: Los Angeles Dodgers require a center fielder. The New York Yankees are in desperate need of a left fielder. And the Atlanta Braves may require.

Big spenders with big ambitions, these teams raise eyebrows when they leave room for lineup questions. Sometimes there are clear, if unproven, answers. For instance, the Yankees are leaving shortstop open for top prospects Anthony Volpe and/or Oswald Peraza to seize. But these three holes aren’t necessarily going to be filled internally. Which means this winter might get a second wind.

Let’s take a deeper look at the calculus for each team.

Who’s playing center field for the Dodgers?

Los Angeles cut ties with Cody Bellinger earlier this winter after his offensive decline made his arbitration salary too rich for his current level of production. But one thing Bellinger still did was play defense — he was one of the best center-field defenders in baseball. And right now, it’s not clear the Dodgers have anyone on the roster who should play center field for a contender.

The most obvious answer is Mookie Betts, a superlative defender in right, but the Dodgers have shown little interest in moving the franchise player off his usual position to remedy the current situation. At the moment, the internal candidates are surprise 2022 success story Trayce Thompson (brother of Golden State Warriors star Klay) and the strapping 25-year-old rookie James Outman, who got a cup of coffee in 2022 after belting 31 homers across two levels of the minors. Outman, a left-handed hitter who runs well, played about a third of his minor-league innings in center field last season while mostly manning the corners.

Who’s playing left field for the Yankees?

Another reason Reynolds could prove expensive? He’s also the best answer to the Yankees’ lineup hole. Right now, the bulk of the left-field at-bats in the Bronx are projected to go to Aaron Hicks. The one-time center fielder was displaced by deadline addition Harrison Bader in 2022 — and by his miserable second half at the plate (.185/.279/.252).

Oswaldo Cabrera, who popped up as a key contributor for the Yanks in 2022, is the other factor already on the roster, but GM Brian Cashman almost certainly would prefer Cabrera work as a utility player filling in around the infield. DJ LeMahieu and Josh Donaldson are both injury risks who could benefit from time off.

Who’s playing shortstop for the Braves?

With Dansby Swanson joining the Chicago Cubs in free agency, the Braves are faced with replacing a franchise mainstay for the second straight season. And it does not appear that this year’s solution will be as elegant as last offseason's Matt Olson trade and immediate extension.

In truth, this is the least likely of the major lineup gaps to be filled via trade. Swanson’s seven-year, $177 million deal with Chicago came relatively late in the free-agent cycle, leaving Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos little chance of snagging a major free-agent replacement, but that never appeared to be the plan, anyway.

Maybe a more realistic option is to hedge on Grissom by targeting a less glamorous player whose game focuses on defense. The Tampa Bay Rays might have one in Taylor Walls, a 26-year-old whose bat was abysmal when he filled in for Wander Franco last season but whom scouts love at short. The Baltimore Orioles have several infield prospects rising up the ranks, potentially making impact defender Jorge Mateo expendable. Mateo struggles to hit for average, but he plays defense and stole 35 bags in his first crack at regular playing time in 2022.