Opinion

The Washington Nationals are in a spot where they can glance back and see a less-than-awesome 2015 season and also look forward at a future that could take both of their biggest homegrown stars away.

An enviable spot? Well, no. But if nothing else, it's a spot that should spur the Nationals into some serious action this winter.

At best, Johnny Cueto for six years and $130 million gives the San Francisco Giants the bargain of the winter.

This is not going to be the National League West of recent memory.

For the past four seasons, the San Francisco Giants, with two World Series titles (three in the last six years), and the Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of three consecutive West championships, have run the division. Those clubs spent the most and won the most.

Fortunately for Jason Heyward, the Atlanta Braves thought they had a chance to win in 2010. Unfortunately for Stephen Strasburg, the Washington Nationals knew they didn't.

Both Heyward and Strasburg were young phenoms that spring. The Braves put Heyward on their Opening Day roster. The Nationals had Strasburg make 11 minor league starts before calling him up for a much-hyped major league debut on June 8.

St. Louis Cardinals fans have every right to feel jilted by Jason Heyward. He didn't just spurn them, after all. He ran into the arms of their longtime division rival. So the jersey-burning antics, while a touch melodramatic, are somewhat understandable.

At a time when Major League Baseball is silly with cash to spend on free agents and young talent to swap in trades, the hot-stove season has a dial that skips right past 11 and goes to 12.

It is, however, still possible for teams to be both quiet and productive on the offseason market. And we can prove it!

The news was stunning, unexpected but completely understandable.

The Houston Astros completed their trade with the Philadelphia Phillies to acquire closer Ken Giles, a flamethrower with huge upside and under club control for the next five seasons. The trade happened Wednesday but was not made official until Saturday afternoon.

The Chicago Cubs haven't won the World Series in 107 years. If they have it their way, the counter won't reach 108 years.

And man, oh man, do they appear to be serious about that.

Fresh off a thrilling 97-win season and a trip to the National League Championship Series in 2015, Cubs bosses Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer have been busy making moves meant to take them even further in 2016. By far the biggest of these went down Friday. 

The 2015 MLB winter meetings are officially in the books, and they will likely be remembered for a flurry of activity and nonstop rumors.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: We told ourselves we were only going to deal with transactions during the winter meetings, which ended Thursday afternoon. But some things are too big to ignore, so with the news that free-agent outfielder Jason Heyward has chosen the Chicago Cubs (first reported by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times), we've added an 11th transaction.