MLB Free Agency

From the Chicago Cubs bringing in Joe Maddon to the Toronto Blue Jays handing out a monster deal to Russell Martin, MLB teams have made some good decisions and some not-so-good ones this offseason.

What follows is a look around the league at the best and worst moves that each squad has made so far. In certain cases, "best" and "worst" were relative terms.

The New York Yankees have had an eventful offseason despite not making any major splashes, yet there is still some work to do.

They have already found Derek Jeter's successor in Didi Gregorius, traded for young starter Nathan Eovaldi, re-signed third baseman Chase Headley, brought in reliever Andrew Miller and made a handful of other smaller moves, so it has not exactly been quiet on the Yankees' front.

One of the Los Angeles Dodgers' biggest weaknesses last season was their bullpen.

It was no secret, and the numbers didn't lie. Los Angeles relievers in 2014 surrendered more earned runs than 18 other bullpens in the majors, and only four other relief corps finished the year with a higher walk rate.

There's no other way to put it: The MLB offseason market for bats is looking bleak. 

While the offensive options are extremely limited, there are still some prominent pitchers up for grabs on the free-agent and trade fronts. Max Scherzer headlines the class of remaining free-agent arms, and aces like Jordan Zimmermann and Johnny Cueto have been the subject of trade buzz. 

Nothing marks the dawn of a new year quite like listing good and bad things from the previous year.

Maybe everyone just thinks too much about Santa Claus' naughty or nice lists around December because the Internet devolved into a wasteland of "best" or "worst" of 2014 lists. Much like baseball's first- and second-half splits, the calendar's arbitrary endpoint sends everyone into reflection mode.

While James Shields is a very good starter who can handle pitching at the top of a rotation, he's not quite the prize that fellow free-agent right-hander Max Scherzer is. That's why for all the intrigue, guesswork and speculation over where Shields might wind up, everything in that realm is much more compelling when it comes to Scherzer.

Let's be honest: New Year's resolutions almost never work out. Of course, that's no reason not to make them in the first place. 

Looking around the big leagues, there are resolutions—both big and small, bold and not so bold—that all 30 MLB clubs need to be making. 

If you happen to have sneaked a peek at the position players still available in free agency lately, you probably noticed something right away—there's not much left out there worth getting excited about. Except for Yoan Moncada, the next Cuban phenom.

Max Scherzer and James Shields still need homes for 2015 and beyond.

The two starting pitchers remain untouched on MLB's free-agent market, waiting to select a new employer before Opening Day. While action predictably intensified once fellow ace Jon Lester made his decision, the other premium hurlers did not budge on expediting the process.