On January 27th, the Pittsburgh Pirates traded star center fielder Starling Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks, creating a hole in center field. Since then, general manager Ben Cherington has said on record that the team is still looking to acquire a player to play center field via the trade market or free agency.
Something that has become more popular in Major League Baseball has been the idea of absorbing a player on a bad contract in order to acquire another asset with him. For example, earlier this winter, the San Francisco Giants acquired Zack Cozart and his contract from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim along with highly-touted prospect Will Wilson in exchange for pitcher Garrett Williams.