which organization do you think has had the best off-season so far? and which one has had the worst?
the marlins are disqualified in the latter category, by the way. only teams that are ostensibly trying to get better for 2006 are eligible. . . . you can however vote for marlins in the "best" category if you like the prospects they added
off the top of my head, i like what the padres, white sox, blue jays, and dodgers have done. san diego's winter has been particularly interesting, if quiet; they held on to two big stars (giles and hoffman), added a good-looking young pitcher in chris young, and created an outfield surplus from which they can make a midseason trade. i wouldn't be at all surprised if the cards swap a pitcher to the pads at midseason for an outfielder.
the blue jays did what they had to do to compete in their division --- ie, overspend. longer-term they may be better served to develop the farm system, but in the short run bulking up seems like the way to go --- and both new york and boston seem to be ripe. free-agent-built teams often flop, but i think the jays might be an exception.
white sox --- gotta love the attitude. they win their 1st champ'ship in 85 years and aggressively go out to address weaknesses. they thinned out their bullpen, but the rotation's so good it may not matter. i don't like the contract they gave to paul konerko --- too much $$$ and too many years.
the dodgers have a large crop of prospects who are nearly ready, so they signed some place-holder veterans --- garciaparra, lofton, bill mueller --- to affordable short-term deals; intelligent. they overpaid badly for furcal but seemed to do so advisedly --- the imminent arrival of cheap productive players from the farm system will take the sting out of his fat contract. if gagne comes back healthy i think that could be a good team.
worst off-season? put me down for the pirates. should be trying to develop young players but instead added pricey veterans like jeromy burnitz, sean casey, and roberto hernandez.