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We're only a couple weeks out from spring training, so that means we're coming up on our last two editions of the Tuesday Talker List. And it's officially February, which means we can, for the most part, start assessing grades for each team's offseason.
I'm obviously not looking for a recap of the winters of each team, but here's my question to you today: Which team in baseball had the best offseason? And which team had the worst?
Leave your thoughts in the comments section, and I'll circle back with my own take later in the day.
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UPDATE AT 1:54 P.M.: OK, you've had your chance to weigh in, and there were some good takes in there - I have to admit I hadn't considered the Royals as one of the big offseason winners.
Here are my thoughts on the best and worst offseasons in the game:
Best: Red Sox. They traded for Adrian Gonzalez, rejuvenating a lineup that was showing its age, particularly in the middle. They also added Carl Crawford, and they watched the Yankees miss out on Cliff Lee while the Rays shoveled out players from their two playoff teams. They'll trot out a lineup that has six players with projected OPSes of .800 or higher, and they've got to be the favorite, once again, in the AL East.
I'd give honorable mentions to the Royals (who now have five of the game's top 50 prospects after the Zack Greinke trade), the Brewers (I like the gutsiness of the Greinke trade while they still have Prince Fielder), the White Sox (for adding Adam Dunn and Jesse Crain, and re-signing Paul Konerko) and the Phillies (for swooping in and getting Lee).
Worst: Mets: They overhauled their front office, but added nothing in a division where the Phillies, Braves, Marlins and even Nationals all made significant moves to get better. And now they're dealing with a potential ownership change in light of the Wilpon family's involvement with Bernie Madoff. They've still got a lineup full of aging players, and they're probably not even ready to begin a long rebuilding project until they shed some of their contracts.
Honorable mentions here go to the Angels (for missing out on Crawford and Jayson Werth, and taking on Vernon Wells' contract, while the A's got better) and the Yankees (who watched the Red Sox make some big moves, and might have overreached on the contracts they did give out).
