Another offseason ... I thought I'd start this thread to give us baseball fanatics a place to talk about the various issues that pop up.
As a Yankee fan, I was happy to see the Yankees reach agreement with CC Sabathia, who could have exercised an option to opt out of his contract. Instead, he re-upped for five more years.
The Yankees still have issues with their starting pitching, especially since it's unlikely that either Garcia or Colon -- two aging arms that saved the Yanks in 2011 -- will be back. That leaves a rotation of Sabathia (a rock), Burnett (totally unreliable), Hughes (great in 2010; lousy in 2011), Nova (coming off a great rookie year -- but will he have the same sophomore slump that plagued Hughes?) and one of the kids -- Cashman says Noesi gets the first chance, but a lot of people think Betances and Banuelos will be ready. At least the bullpen should get better with the return from injury of Feliciano and Chamberlain, plus maybe Brackman.
On the whole, I hear that the Yankees will stand pat in the offseason. Reportedly, they will not go after CJ Wilson (the best free agent starter on the market) or that ridiculously expensive Japanese pitcher (Darvish or something like that?). They won't bid for Pujols or Prince Fielder. They might make a movie of Casey Blake if Eric Chavez decides to retire (he's still young, but he's had a lot of injuries).
For the big free agents, I'm guessing: Wilson to Boston; Fielder to the Cubs and Pujols stays in St. Louis ... if not, then he goes to the Angels. It's bad timing for Pujols and Fielder that the three most free-spending teams (the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies) all have relatively young, expensive first basemen on hand.
Happy to see the Braves cut away some deadwood. I think they have plenty of good young pitching ... but I think they have to add a bat. I think it should be an outfielder -- ideally it would be a slugging shortstop, but the Rockies aren't giving up Tulowiski, Reyes will be too expensive and Hanley Ramirez is too much of a head case (and has issues with Gonzales). Easier to find a quality outfield bat -- then use Prado as a fourth outfielder and an every-other-day relief from Chipper at third base.