Which Team is MLB's Most Improved?

With a healthy part of the dust beginning to settle in free agency, we're roughly halfway through the offseason for Major League Baseball. So let's talk about which team has improved its roster the most.

The answer is not the Yankees.

Yes, the Yankees have spent a God's ransom this offseason on the biggest names (and, in CC Sabathia's case, waist bands) in baseball. They've added Sabathia and AJ Burnett to their starting rotation, Nick Swisher to the outfield, and Mark Teixeira at first base.

But consider what they're replacing.

Mike Mussina was 20-9 with a 3.37 ERA. Sabathia was 17-10 with a 2.70 ERA, including the second half of the season in the weak National League Central.

Andy Pettite, who turned down a one-year, $10 million offer from the Yankees, was 14-14 with a 4.54 ERA. Burnett was 18-10 with a 4.07 ERA.

Bobby Abreu hit .296 with 20 home runs and 100 runs batted in. He also had a .371 on-base percentage. Swisher batted .219 with 24 home runs and 69 runs batted in. He had a .332 OBP.

And at first, Jason Giambi batted .247 with 32 home runs and 96 runs batted in, with a .373 OBP. Teixeira batted .308 with 33 home runs and 121 runs batted in, with a .410 OBP.

Overall, the Yankees are replacing 34 wins with 35 wins. They're replacing 52 home runs with 57. They're replacing 196 RBI with 190.

And they spent a half a billion dollars doing it.

Meanwhile, the less heralded (and more appropriately thrifty) Cleveland Indians have made more significant changes in a weaker division.

They replace Joe Borowski with Kerry Wood as the closer. They today added Carl Pavano to the starting rotation, and will have Fausto Carmona healthy again after missing a portion of 2008 due to injury. They also replace Casey Blake with Mark DeRosa at third base. They have not yet brought in a substantial replacement for Franklin Gutierrez in the outfield.

Last year, the Indians finished in third place, just like the Yankees. They have traded away a handful of prospects and given only Wood a significant free agent contract. The difference of a solid closer and the leadership and versatility of Wood might be enough to overcome the White Sox 7.5 game advantage in the division last year.

At the same time, the Seattle Mariners traded away JJ Putz to the Mets. They could replace him with in-house remedy Brandon Morrow, which they did last year while Putz was injured. In return for Putz they rebuilt their pitching staff, adding Aaron Heilman and Jason Vargas. They also created an outfield around Ichiro, bringing in Endy Chavez and Gutierrez from Cleveland for disappointing Jeremy Reed.

The New York Mets may have had the least work to do to get over the hump in their division (they've been on the right side of the ledger into September the past two years), but they made the most significant additions with the smallest number of players. Their bullpen was a failure, and that's being nice.

They added Francisco Rodriguez at the end of the bullpen, replacing injured Billy Wagner, and placed Putz in front of him. They now have two shut down, All-Star caliber closers at the end of their bullpen.

So who is the most improved? We won't see until next October which moves proved to be the right ones, but right now, with cost and potential impact being considered, one would have to believe that the Indians additions have been the best.