The biggest moves of the MLB off-season

Note:if you are reading Hooters Magazine in March/April and see the following piece, don't freak out! Wait, why do I doubt you'll be reading the articles in Hooters magazine? Hmmmm

The Major League Baseball off-season was once again full of big moves and address changes, but for what could be the first off-season in quite some time, the New York Yankees weren’t the ones making all of the big moves. It seems the Evil Empire of the New York has given way to the rising super power just a few hours southwest of NYC, the Philadelphia Phillies, and to New York’s AL East rival Boston. The Yankees made headlines by re-signing Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. Boston and Philadelphia seemed to live on ESPN.com’s front page though ever since the World Series as both try to get back to the LCS and beyond.

In an attempt to return to the playoffs, the Red Sox outbid the Yankees and the Angels to sign Carl Crawford to play leftfield. The Red Sox gave the former Tampa Bay Ray a seven-year/$142 deal which weakens the Rays and gives Boston one of the best Sabermetrics players in the game. Crawford can swipe a base, hit for average and hit for some power. The Red Sox may have overpaid for Crawford, but it will be hard to imagine the BoSox missing the playoffs with Crawford in the lineup, along side Adrian Gonzalez. The biggest trade piece from 2010 was finally swapped after the 2010 season was over and the San Diego Padres struck a deal with Boston to send the first baseman east. With the move suddenly Boston has its first legit slugger in the middle of the order since Manny Ramirez was calling Boston home. Last year Gonzalez hit 31 home runs while hitting .298. Over his career, Gonzalez has slugged 168 homers and driven in 525 runs while making three all-star teams. With his acquisition, Boston will move Kevin Youkilis to third, and David Ortiz will have a bit of pressure taken off as he can move down in the order.

The Boston Red Sox did lose two major players this offseason as Adrian Beltre signed with Texas and Victor Martinez left for the Motor City and the Detroit Tigers. While Beltre’s signing helps the defending AL Champs with some pop from third base as well as some defense, Martinez may help the Tigers get back on top of the AL Central. The Tigers boast one of the most potent lineups in baseball and Martinez’s addition as a catcher/DH option will only add more power to the lineup featuring Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, Austin Jackson and perhaps Carlos Guillen.

The Tigers will of course have competition from the Minnesota Twins but also the Chicago White Sox for the AL Central title. The White Sox brought Paul Konerko back into the fold while also signing Adam Dunn to serve as a DH and reserve outfielder. Dunn crushed the ball all year last year for the Washington Nationals but this will be his first foray into the American League and as a DH. The White Sox are hoping that Dunn can replicate his 38 home runs as he has done the last two years. Dunn has gone for at least 38 every season since 2004, striking 40+ five times. Dunn will offer some protection for Konerko, Carlos Quentin and Alex Rios.

The National League landscape also shifted as the already-rich Philadelphia Phillies rotation got richer with the signing of Cliff Lee. The lefty returned to Philadelphia after a one-year hiatus to Seattle and Texas, where he pitched the Rangers to the World Series. Lee will join 2010 NL Cy Young award-winner Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt in a powerful rotation that could rival the 1990s Atlanta Braves rotations of John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Steve Avery. Lee returns to Philadelphia where he won seven games in twelve regular season starts in 2009 while tossing three complete games including one shutout. Lee was even better in the 2009 postseason for the Phillies, going 4-0 including two wins in the World Series against the Yankees. His postseason resume includes a 7-2 record.

In an attempt to keep up with the Phillies, NL East rival Atlanta made a serious move to bolster its lineup to combat Philadelphia’s rotation by acquiring Dan Uggla from the Florida Marlins. The Braves then inked Uggla to a five-year deal to keep the second baseman in Atlanta for the foreseeable future and cranking 30+ home runs as Atlanta tries to make the playoffs for the second straight year. Atlanta won its division for fourteen straight seasons starting in 1991, but the Phillies have claimed the last four division crowns. If Atlanta is to end that streak, Uggla will have to come in and contribute immediately along with Jason Heyward, Brian McCann, Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe.

Trades were the name of the game in the NL Central as the Chicago Cubs recently acquired Matt Garza to bolster its rotation as the Lovable Losers try to win the franchise’s first World Series since 1908. Garza pitched a no-hitter last year for Tampa, the first no-no in Rays’ history, but was moved as he will likely would have been too expensive for the Rays to hold on to long term. Garza should immediately move into the ace’s role of the rotation, ahead of Ryan Dempster, Jeff Samardzija and the expensive Carlos Zambrano. Though he went just 15-10 last year and has reached double digit wins just twice in his career, Garza’s stuff is electric and he has 572 strikeouts in a little more than three full seasons.

Zack Greinke was also on the move just one year after winning the Cy Young award for the Kansas City Royals. Greinke was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers and will move to the National League for the first time in his career. The 27-year-old righty made the all-star team in 2009 but “slumped” to just ten wins and a 4.17 ERA last year and has just two years left on his four-year contract he signed prior to the 2009 season. Greinke has had some personal issues that perhaps led to his being dealt to Milwaukee instead of New York or Philadelphia.

With every off-season though comes one head-scratching deal. This year it was Jayson Werth signing with the Washington Nationals for seven years/$126M. You have to wonder why Washington broke the bank for Werth after letting Adam Dunn go. Perhaps Werth will be the piece that helps the rest of the young Nationals get over the hump, but you would think that the Nats would have been better off re-signing Dunn to go with Werth. Otherwise Werth is going to get bored finishing last in the NL East every year of his seven-year deal.

Another off-season, another mint printed and distributed to free agents. This year was no different and several teams made some big moves with the playoffs in mind. Too bad the pesky marathon of a regular season gets in the way.