Opinion

The saga of Sammy Sosa could have gone much differently had the Cubs traded him to the Yankees in 2000. At the time, Sosa was coming off of two historic seasons in which he hit 66 and 63 home runs, respectively. 

The Baltimore Orioles are taking a chance on 26-year-old right-hander Jair Jurrjens, and there's a fair chance that it will pay off in a big way for them.

Ahead lies the grand holiday (for baseball fans) known as Pitchers and Catchers. Behind lies one of the strangest offseasons in recent Major League Baseball history.

On the one hand, there was the usual. Trades were made, bargain players were found and more than a few players got overpaid. This is baseball, after all. 

Delmon Young has been a Phillie for a very short time, and per Ruben Amaro Jr., already Young is being penned in as the Phillies' starting right fielder in 2013 (h/t hardba

The Miami Marlins and owner Jeffrey Loria ticked off a lot of people by gutting their roster and trading five of their best players to the Toronto Blue Jays in one of the blockbuster deals of the offseason.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have made some drastic acquisitions this offseason because they have the money to do it.

Most of the moves the front office has made is to bolster a certain position in their lineup. 

Adding pitchers like Zack Greinke and Ryu Hyun-Jin were important for making their starting rotations one of the best in the majors.  

These acquisitions have made them one of the preseason World Series favorites.

Getting a right-handed bat for the outfield was one of the offseason priorities for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Pitchers and catchers will report any day now, but until then there's still plenty of unfinished business to tend to out on the free-agent market.

Here we are in late January, and notables like speedy center fielder Michael Bourn and veteran starting pitcher Kyle Lohse still don't have contracts. Proven closers like Jose Valverde and Brian Wilson are also still looking for work, and I suspect all of us are waiting for the Texas Rangers to do something.

While the level of excitement in Toronto about baseball has not been this high since the World Series runs of 1992 and 1993, the level of expectation is considerably high. For close to two decades, franchises like the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers continuously had very high payrolls with no championship to show for it.

Just how desperate were the Philadelphia Phillies to sign a right-handed, power hitting corner outfielder with Major League experience? Desperate enough to forget what solid defense looks like? Desperate enough to jeopardize the playing time and development of a pair of young outfielders with a lot to lose by sitting on the bench (or wasting away in Triple-A)?