What are the MLB Winter Meetings and when did the term originate?

With the World Series near its end, the offseason will soon officially be underway.

The most important point of the offseason is typically during the Winter Meetings. This is where a lot of the heavy lifting is done by teams as they try and set their rosters for the upcoming season.

But what are the Winter Meetings and why are they so important?

What are the Winter Meetings and when did the term originate?

For context, the Winter Meetings always take place during the first week of December. Major League Baseball allows a little bit of the offseason to pass before things start to ramp up.

Representatives from all 30 Major League clubs and 120 minor league affiliates meet for four days to discuss league business and conduct offseason transactions such as trades and free agent signings.

Owners, general managers, team scouts and other personnel attend these meetings.

The first Winter Meetings took place in 1876, which was the National League's first offseason. William Hulbert, who had been selected as the NL's president, expelled the New York Mutuals and Philadelphia Athletics from the league for not playing all of their scheduled regular season games and refusing to make them up.

However, the Winter Meetings did not become an annual event until 1901. But since then, Major League Baseball has selected a city in which to hold these meetings each year. Dating back to 1927, the meetings have taken place in cities such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Indianapolis, New Orleans, San Diego, Nashville, Dallas, and others.

Last year's meetings took place in San Diego. This year, the meetings will be held in Nashville.

Again, this is often times the point when most of the heavy lifting is done by teams during the offseason, and teams often come away with some major signings or trades.

Last year, Aaron Judge re-signed with the New York Yankees while Trea Turner joined the Philadelphia Phillies and Willson Contreras signed with the St. Louis Cardinals.