Major League Baseball's Off-season Review

Although the weather couldn't be worse in the Midwest right now as temperatures are expected to creep to below zero tonight, it has a spring like feel as pitchers and catchers report to big league camps throughout Arizona and Florida today.

It's not quite the same feeling as opening day, but it is a sign that winter is nearing an end, and that the six month marathon to October is about to begin.

The off-season wasn't lacking any excitement as the Tigers hope they have what it takes to contend now after acquiring Migueal Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins for the farm. The Tigers look to be the most complete team in the AL other then the Red Sox. The Tigers also have their entire rotation coming back from last year, and Dontrelle Willis should have more success in the AL as most AL teams have not seen his deceptive motion.

The Johan Santana situation stole a lot of headlines around baseball websites during the past month, and the deal was finally consumated a few weeks ago. The New York Mets may have been the biggest off-season winners by sneaking into the Santana negotiations and prying him away from the Twins for four prospects, none of which is expected to be a superstar.

The last big deal during the off-season just occured over the weekend when the Seattle Mariners acquired Erik Bedard for four prospects. The headline of the deal was OF Adam Jones, and pitcher Chris Tillman who Baseball Prospectus writer Kevin Goldstein has listed in his top 100http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7092

The Orioles also were involved in another blockbuster deal this off-season as Andy Macphail dealt the teams franchise player Miguel Tejada to the Houston Astros for a package that included OF Luke Scott, and pitcher Matt Albers. This deal was not nearly as successfull as the Bedard deal, but the timing of the deal couldn't have been better for the Orioles. The team dealt Tejada a day before the Mitchell report was released, and although Tejada is unlikely to face suspension, he would've been difficult for the Orioles to move if Houston would've known his name would've surfaced in the report.

The Astros on the otherhand will be one of the more exciting teams to watch this season, unfortunately they won't be one of the winningest teams to watch this season unless Roy Oswalt is able to pitch all 162 games for the team. The Astros lineup will consist of Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman, 2nd year star Hunter Pence, and the newly acquired Miguel Tejada. The team will be involved in a lot of 10-7 type games this season so if you like offense make sure to tune into the Houston Astros games on the MLB Ticket this season.

Those are just a few of the deals that were made this off-season, I will be evaluating each team, and will post a preview on each division throughout Spring Training. Baseball fans, especially those of you who are braving through extremely cold temperatures right now, be assured that Opening Day is a little more than a month away.