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The Masahiro Tanaka sweepstakes have officially taken over baseball headlines. But the question remains: Is he worth all the hype?

Get your popcorn ready, folks.

When it comes to the free-agent tour for Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, expect a whirlwind of rumors, news and excitement over the next two weeks. By the end of January, the top pitcher on the market will pick a team, starting a domino effect for the rest of baseball's available players.

Is anything going to stop the deep-pocketed Los Angeles Dodgers from signing Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka? And if they do land the coveted right-hander, is anything going to stop the Dodgers—period?

It might be a likely assumption that the Boston Red Sox are set with the team they hope to carry into spring training in 2014.

The Red Sox have seen a number of changes from the roster that won them the World Series the year prior—the most notable being the losses of Jacoby Ellsbury and Jarrod Saltalamacchia via free agency.

Marlon Byrd, Bartolo Colon, Scott Feldman, Francisco Liriano, Mike Napoli, Hyun-jin Ryu and Koji Uehara all signed free-agent deals last offseason. All seven made the general manager who signed them look like a genius because their performances far exceeded their contracts.

Which free-agent signees from this offseason will be part of the "Biggest Bargains" group for 2014? Here are my top seven picks. 

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One year ago today, the San Francisco Giants used their offseason to re-sign existing players while making few moves to sign any new faces. 

After signing outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran this offseason, it was clear that the New York Yankees needed to make additional moves in order to make room.

In professional sports, smart, forward-thinking organizations have the ability to project ahead, anticipate the future, yet still focus on the present. For Major League Baseball general managers, deciding on which arbitration-eligible players to extend before free agency arrives is a yearly right of passage. 

The Baseball Writers' Association of America thought it was fixing a problem.

Instead, with one swift, sweeping act of judgement it revealed its true nature—the BBWAA, at its core, is nothing more than a frightened dictator.

By releasing a statement that Dan Le Batard would be banned for giving his vote to Deadspin, the BBWAA flaunted its power to show the baseball world that its word is final, to cast fear into the eyes of anyone who even thinks of rebelling against it.

The New York Yankees have had a busy offseason to date, but the effectiveness of their offseason exploits will ultimately be defined by the moves general manager Brian Cashman makes in the weeks leading up to spring training.