Opinion

If the designated hitter comes to the National League, baseball and life as we know it will change forever.

And not just on the field, either.

First, let's catch up on why we're even having this discussion. We owe it to St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak, who set the baseball world atwitter with his comments at last week's Cardinals fan fest.

Word is Jonathan Lucroy would welcome a trade to a team that has eyes on winning. All he needs now is a team that's willing to bet he can be a star catcher again, which is hardly the craziest notion.

You won't find the likes of Ian Desmond, Dexter Fowler or Howie Kendrick on the pages that follow. For while they all might ultimately sign contracts for salaries far less than they earned in 2015, all three have draft pick compensation attached to them, the result of their decision to turn down a qualifying offer.

There's no bargain to be had when a team has to surrender a few million dollars—and a draft pick—to sign a player.

An eternal hope exists among Cubs fans that every year is “their year.” Even when the Cubs were rebuilding in the first years of the Theo Epstein era, it didn’t dent their optimism.

But 2015 rookie stars Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber gave Cubs fans a hope never seen before in Wrigley Field, sports’ version of a psychological torture chamber.

The offseason isn't over. Just ask Yovani Gallardo, Ian Desmond, Dexter Fowler and the small boatload of other free agents still drifting on the open market.

The biggest names, however, have fallen off the board along with a lot of the smaller ones. And, concurrently, the balance of power has shifted across both leagues.

The 2015-2016 Major League Baseball offseason has kicked up quite a storm, but it's just about settled. With spring training on the horizon, the peak months of the Hot Stove season are nearly over.

So let's take a minute or two to talk about what we've learned.

It's obviously a lot, but we're going to file the really important stuff into seven key takeaways. These range from interesting new wrinkles that the winter brought to how the free-agent and trade markets behaved to how much money was spent. On that last point, prepare for some big numbers.

The love affair between Yoenis Cespedes and the New York Mets may not turn out to be a long-term relationship. But it'll be more than a fling.

Like a college student who crams for a test he knows he will fail, the Chicago White Sox have created some artificial hope this offseason with a few creative moves.

The team was almost obligated to double down on a disappointing 2015 season in which the organization thought itself equipped to make a World Series run. It finished the 2015 campaign with a paltry 76-86 record.

This season?

With the 2016 Major League Baseball season getting closer every day, it's a good time to talk about some offseason losers.

Fortunately, not that many teams across the MLB landscape fit this particular bill. Many players have changed addresses this winter, and many teams have gotten in on the action. It's been an offseason of winners much more than it's been an offseason of losers.

For a week, play-by-play broadcaster Josh Maurer struggled to control his nerves. He hardly ate or slept. His body only wanted to focus on the job, which he kept reminding himself was basically the same thing he had done hundreds, if not thousands, of times before. All he had to do was call the games.