MLB Free Agency

Forget the silly chatter of abolishing defensive shifts or the fact that James Shields is still a free agent. The biggest storyline in Major League Baseball right now is when and where Cuban phenom Yo

Major League Baseball's offseason has been bananas, right? Perhaps the wildest and most active in recent memory—or maybe ever. At least, that's how it feels while we're right in the middle of it.

But how does this offseason stack up with hot stoves past?

Let's start with a quick table that ranks the past nine offseasons in terms of total spending on free-agent contracts, according to ESPN.com:

Free agent starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong has been garnering interest from multiple teams in the free agent market in recent weeks. The Houston Astros appear to be the front-runners to land the veteran starter, but the Rockies and Rangers have also been linked. 

Continue for updates. 

Astros Nearing Vogelsong Deal

Tuesday, Jan. 20

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN reported that the Astros are nearing a deal with Ryan Vogelsong: 

The MLB free-agent market now consists of Max Scherzer, James Shields and everyone else. But beyond Scherzer and Shields, there are still a handful of valuable players to be had. And as the market gets thinner, those assets will only become increasingly valuable as teams try to fill their remaining roster voids.

A handful of Major League Baseball teams are scheduled to have pitchers and catchers report Feb. 18, which means only one thing: We're barely a month out from the official start of spring training.

That makes right about now as good a time as any to update the winners and losers of this active offseason so far.

Now that it's mid-January and spring training is just about a month away, the hot stove has started to settle down, at least a little.

Sure, there's still a pair of big-name free-agent arms available in Max Scherzer and James Shields, and a trade or two tends to come to fruition every few days. But for the most part, the wave of transactions reached its peak in December.

The 2014-2015 MLB offseason is coming down the homestretch, but there are still more than a few things to be sorted out between now and the time pitchers and catchers start to report to spring training roughly a month from now.

1. January Will Bring the Max Scherzer Thaw

Spring training is little more than a month away, which means the biggest marquee free agent this side of Jon Lester is about to sign with…

"The two sleepers all along for me were St. Louis and Washington," one American League executive said of Max Scherzer's possible destinations. "They're just guesses. I can see him with the Yankees, too, or going back to Detroit."

There's less than three months remaining until Opening Day, and the Los Angeles Dodgers look decidedly different than they did at the beginning of the offseason.

For starters, the front office was stripped down and replaced with a new regime headed by president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi.

The biggest questions surrounding the Boston Red Sox in 2015 concern the starting rotation.

Is pitching coach Juan Nieves' staff good enough as presently constructed to contend for a World Series?

Can top prospect and left-handed pitcher Henry Owens be an impact midseason call-up?

Will general manager Ben Cherington acquire an ace to anchor the five-man unit? 

Given the curiosity, let's project the rotation for the coming season with a rundown of each starter.