MLB winter meetings: Free agency intel from Olney and Passan - ESPN

MLB's winter meetings begin Monday in Orlando, Florida, signaling the time when baseball's offseason activity is likely to take off.

What's the latest on free agent hitters, including coveted sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Kyle Tucker? Will Framber Valdez find a new home now that fellow top free agent pitcher Dylan Cease is off the board? What's the latest on a trade market featuring stars such as Ketel Marte and Steven Kwan? And which teams could surprise the sport by making a big splash in Florida?

Here is the latest intel Buster Olney and Jeff Passan are hearing on the players, teams and themes that will rule this year's meetings.

Olney: Some agents and execs are saying the money for free agents is generally locked down. There are outliers, of course — the Toronto Blue Jays are doing their thing, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, A's and Miami Marlins are all angling for a We Are Trying posture.

The very elite guys, such as Kyle Schwarber, will get their money. But there are early indications that a lot of the teams that are traditionally aggressive might be more conservative this winter, perhaps because of the looming labor situation — and that could lead to more trades, rather than investments in free agents, as teams look to plug holes.

Passan: When does the Kyle Schwarber dam break? Several teams' fortunes — from Philadelphia to Cincinnati to Pittsburgh to Boston to Baltimore to the New York Mets — depend on where Schwarber goes. The belief among teams is that it will take five years to secure the 32-year-old, and once that happens — perhaps sometime during the meetings — teams will start pivoting, and the action will pick up demonstrably.

Olney: In recent winters, the Blue Jays wanted to spend big and couldn't entice