Rankings/List

In any trade, the ultimate goal is for each team involved to get a positive return on the deal. This normally isn't the case, as it's fairly easy to go back and decide which team "won" an actual trade. And some trades involve multiple teams, which makes it even more difficult to end up with a "win-win-win" situation. 

This offseason has been particularly busy. But the winter meetings have traditionally been the greatest vehicle for wheeling and dealing.

Undervalued assets, in dollars or production, are the key to fielding a successful team.

The Philadelphia Phillies rebuild, it would appear, is on.

Following a lengthy stretch of success during which they won five straight National League East division crowns and the 2008 World Series title, the Phillies have stumbled the past two seasons, falling to .500 in 2012 and 73-89 last year—their worst mark since 2000.

The first day of the winter meetings brought very little in the way of transactions, but it did see one of the greatest pitchers in recent memory call it a career when Roy Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Blue Jays and announced his retirement.

Generally speaking, the MLB winter meetings tend to generate the most free-agent signings and surprising trades. But in 2013, the tides might have changed.

Over the past week, Robinson Cano, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Hiroki Kuroda, Curtis Granderson, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Joe Nathan, Mike Napoli and a slew of other free agents put pen to paper. There were also nine trades, with Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals perhaps being the most significant.

Even though baseball season is technically off right now, there is something particularly exciting about the winter meetings. Everyone converges at one location, and what you thought was going to happen at the beginning of the meetings is not at all what has happened by the end.

Even within the past five years, we have seen some pretty crazy stuff happen at these meetings. Here are the five craziest ones in my opinion, ranked in descending order.

Robinson Cano's ten-year, $240 million deal with the Seattle Mariners, which was first reported by Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes (spanish link) earlier in the day, ties him with Albert Pujols for the third-highest contract ever handed out to a major league player—Alex Rodriguez holds the record for the first two sp

Things have really been heating up on the MLB Hot Stove as of late. A number of big-name free agents have already signed, but there are more top players that are still on the market.

Teams will be competing over the remaining free agents, but there are some fits that are much better than others.

However, for one reason or another, there are many dream MLB free-agent fits that simply will not happen this winter. A player may be perfect for a team, but it might not be able to afford him.

Who needs the MLB winter meetings? 

Teams evidently didn't want to wait until the second week of December to complete major offseason transactions. Impact players like Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson and Carlos Beltran all made decisions about their baseball futures on Thursday and Friday.