Opinion

With the New Year almost upon us, the Seattle Mariners have yet to truly make the splash that most of the baseball world expected them to this offseason. General manager Jack Zduriencik has been turning over every stone in an effort to find an answer for the lack of offensive production that has plagued the Mariners for years.

The 2013 offseason has been relatively busy for the Chicago Cubs.

Despite the fact that the Cubs are still in a rebuilding phase, they went out and signed starting pitchers Scott Baker (h/t ESPN Chicago) and Edwin Jackson (h/t ESPN Chicago).

Last year, the Oakland A's went on a run for the ages, and they almost snuck into the ALCS.

The A's won their last six regular season games to stunningly capture the AL West, before rallying from down 2-0 to force Game 5 of the ALDS. They lost Game 5, but it let Oakland experience a run for the ages.

The Rangers' offseason has pretty much been universally labeled as a big whiff. Some have even gone as far as saying it is the worst in franchise history—although that is still debatable.

What is certain is that all the big-name free agents have been snatched up by other teams, leaving the front office with a lot of blank checks.

Basically, there is a lot of subtraction and little addition to the roster that won 90-plus games these last three seasons.

The Detroit Tigers need to make a strong effort in attempting to sign closer Brian Wilson who is coming off Tommy John surgery but yet expected to be healthy by Opening Day according to Tim Brown at Yahoo! Sports.

Source: Brian Wilson has been told by surgeon James Andrews that he will be cleared for spring training and ready by opening day.

Somehow this winter Mike Napoli, a man who has played 511 of his 727 career games as a catcher, is being revered as a free-agent first baseman.

Either that is a shining example of how versatile of a player Napoli is, or an indictment on how poor the free-agent market is in terms of first basemen this winter.

If you chose the latter, you're correct.

The Boston Red Sox have already deemed Napoli worthy of a three-year and $39 million contract. Well, sort of.

Although the Boston Red Sox spent heavily this offseason to improve a team that lost 93 games in 2012, they could trade many of their players this summer if the team doesn't play as expected.

After posting a .435 OPS in 34 games with the Tampa Bay Rays last season, Hideki Matsui has decided to retire.

When you get past all of the hyperbole, all of the advanced metrics and creative ways of saying the same thing, baseball is a game where everyone involved is ultimately judged by the same, basic principles.

Wins and losses.

That's it.

Too many losses cost people jobs, from the players to the coaching staff to the front office.

Too many wins, well, there's no such thing.

While we think of wins and losses as only having to do with the action that unfolds on the diamond, that's only part of the equation.

In case you haven't heard, the Miami Marlins have traded away most of their experienced big league talent. This could lead to the promotion of their top prospect, Christian Yelich, ahead of schedule.