Opinion

Back in November, it seemed the San Diego Padres were taking a risk when they offered $15.8 million to pitcher Ian Kennedy. It seemed like Kennedy was taking just as big a risk when he turned it down.

Seriously, $15.8 million for one year, for a guy who lost 15 games and served up home runs at a higher rate than any other full-time major league starting pitcher? Seriously, he thought he was going to do better than that, especially after the Padres' offer guaranteed he would cost the signing team a draft pick?

We're wading past the middle of January, and Justin Upton still doesn't have a job.

It seems crazy: We're talking about a five-tool 28-year-old here, and baseball is littered with teams that could use a power bat and an outfield upgrade.

More than two months into the offseason, Chris Davis got his payday. The Baltimore Orioles got an impact hitter. And the battle for supremacy in the American League East got even more interesting.

Few agents know how to make a splash like Scott Boras, so we really shouldn't be surprised that before much of the baseball universe awoke Saturday morning, Boras had found new homes for his two biggest remaining free-agent clients.

Throughout the offseason, we've named a handful of winners and losers at various times based on the latest happenings both in free agency and on the trade market.

Obviously we won't know exactly how moves made this offseason will work out until the season gets underway, or in some cases, not until several years down the road, so think of these opinions as a gut reaction of sorts.

Baseball, like all sports, is a cruel mistress. Sometimes she smiles, sometimes she frowns. But eventually, the game grinds everyone—including the greats—into oblivion.

Baseball also offers shots at redemption, however; opportunities for an unexpected second act. In fact, successful comebacks happen nearly every year, though they're hard to predict and even harder to chart.

In a baseball winter, it's easy to fall in love. It's harder to see when that love will let you down.

But we know it often will.

The San Francisco Giants' offseason shopping spree is almost certainly over. After adding outfielder Denard Span and a pair of starting pitchers in Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto, the club has plugged its most glaring holes.

If there’s a pitfall to success, it’s that sustaining it bears a financial burden. In baseball, almost universally, the teams that are most successful boast underpaid players that exceed the expectations of their contracts.

Just this week, baseball's public relations folks sent out a handy list of spring training reporting dates. Yes, it's getting to be that time of year.

So why doesn't Justin Upton have a job yet?