The with outfielder that will guarantee him $365 million. The deal coincides with the midpoint between two important dates: 1) when the Dodgers acquired Betts in a February trade with the , and 2) when they Malik Fitts Jersey could have lost him to the winter's free-agent market.With Betts now spoken for and the start of the regular season just hours away, this is an opportune time to provide a refresher on the upcoming free-agent cla s. Below, you'll find four storylines worth knowing and monitoring over the ensuing few months.1. Realmuto is now No. 1It's to be seen whether or not the will be able to retain catcher J.T. Realmuto. Recent reports suggest the two sides have engaged in preliminary talks, but that no deal is imminent. The Phillies have plenty of time and incentive (ahem, keeping happy) to get something done before the winter, so there's no sense panicking just yet.Should Realmuto reach the open market, he's all but certain to be the top player on our board. How could he not be? He's a star-caliber backstop who won't turn 29 until next March. Realmuto is a quality contributor on both sides of the ball. In addition to hitting for a 115 OPS+ over the last three seasons, he's worked to become an above-average receiver. He also has one of the position's strongest arms, making him a major deterrent to basestealers. Outside of a potential injury, there isn't much else that can happen that will prevent Realmuto from cashing in at some point over the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Jersey next six to eight months.2. Quality shortstops in supplyRealmuto isn't the only prominent up-the-middle player slated for free agency. Both and are impending free agents, meaning games between the and will provide teams with ample scouting opportunities.We'll start with Semien, who finished third in AL MVP voting last fall after he homered 33 times and posted a 138 OPS+. The key question here is how much of his power breakout is real? His .237 ISO last season blew away his previous career-high of .197. Outside of those two years, he's never had an ISO higher than .150. Semien did improve his exit velocity to a personal best (88.9), but that mark is much closer to the league-average tally (88.2) than the home-run total would suggest. He showed growth in other regards, too: he sliced into his strikeout rate for a third consecutive season, and he did so while Luke Kennard Jersey walking at a career-high clip (over 11 percent). Even if Semien doesn't profile as a 30-homer hitting moving forward, he has enough going for him to make up for it.Describing Simmons as Semien's inverse would be unfair: Semien has improved defensively, and Simmons has had quality offensive seasons -- last year just wasn't one of them. By now, the book on him is on its fourth printing: he's an elite Patrick Patterson Jersey shortstop and a skilled bat handler, as it pertains to literally making contact; he just isn't a safe bet to do much else with the stick.Quality shortstops on either (or both) ends will never want for work. Expect Semien and Simmons to be in demand this winter. 3. Springer, LeMahieu lead other notable hittersBut wait, there could be even more high-grade offense available this winter.The odds are against every single one of , , , , , and so on reaching free agency and/or being as attractive as they seem at present. Some of those will make it through and remain marketable to contenders looking for a little extra in the run-production department.4. Plenty of intriguing starters, tooLest you thought we forgot about pitching .There's no or in this year's cla s. There are instead a number of starters who could appeal to teams as a solid to strong No. 2 or No. 3.That group includes, in no particular order, , , , and . And that's without mentioning some other intriguing veterans, such as , , Nicolas Batum Jersey or even . This season will go a long way in fleshing that group out, but there's reason to believe teams after arms will have choices.