Victor Martinez

Since I first did this list, several catchers have changed teams (while the biggest name was Victor Martinez, players like John Buck, Miguel Olivo and others also packed their bags).  Let’s take a look at the impact of these moves on our rankings for the upcoming year:

One of the orchestrators of the biggest deal of both the 2007 and 2009 winter meetings, many were shocked not to hear from Dave Dombrowski and the Detroit Tigers at the meetings this past week.

The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy recently entertained the idea the Red Sox would make a serious run to sign free agent shortstop Derek Jeter.

Let’s get one thing clear, the Red Sox cannot find replacements for Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre, and improve offensively. Martinez batted .400 against lefties, Beltre was the best player on the team. Good luck finding that level of production on the trade market.

As far as replacing Victor Martinez, there is one thing everyone should remember: The Red Sox have Jarrod Saltalamacchia right now. It would not take much to be an improvement.

The Red Sox are kicking the proverbial tires on veteran backstop Rod Barajas, according to FoxSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi and MLBTradeRumors.com.

While the Red Sox reportedly made a bid to retain Victor Martinez behind the dish for at least the next couple seasons, they lost him to a more aggressive Detroit Tigers' organization early last Wednesday.

Detroit Tigers General Manager, David Dombrowski, has already signed two free agents to help the team that finished at .500 in 2010, which was a huge disappointment.

You had Jim Leyland as the manager, so it was even a bigger, busted team.

All-Star catcher Victor Martinez was signed to be the middle of the order guy, and help protect slugging Miguel Cabrera in the lineup.

The 2010 Free Agent class for hitters is similar to many Free Agent classes of the past.  It contains many aging sluggers nearing the end of their careers, players coming off outstanding years; or terrible ones, and then the three guys that every team wants to have suit up for them.  Everyone knows the headliners of this years class, the speedy Carl Crawford, the shaggy power threat Jayson Werth, and the talented slugger Adam Dunn.

The Red Sox lost Victor Martinez to the Tigers because they were outbid by $8 million dollars over four years. That amounts to just $2 million per season. While the Red Sox were willing to offer Martinez the four-year deal he wanted, they weren't willing to go to $50 million for him. But the Tigers were. 

The Red Sox made two separate offers to Martinez: a three-year deal worth $36 million and a four-year deal worth $42 million.

As the 2010 season wound down, people like myself couldn't help but check the transaction wires around the league. The playoffs serve as a chance for some teams to be victorious, but for most, it's a chance to jump start their 2011 campaign.

In the following pages, I have outlined nearly every move that every club has made since their season ended.

Keep in mind, as the off-season progresses, so will this article. I will update it weekly, adding notes to every team with every new transaction or roster move.

Victor Martinez is one of the best catchers in baseball.

No one is going to argue that. But when he signed with the Detroit Tigers, you have to wonder if it was a positive move for his fantasy value.