MLB Offseason's Biggest Winners, Losers at the End of January

It's in sight, people: the end of the long, chilly MLB offseason. Can you hear the crack of the bat, the slap of ball meeting leather? Can you smell the grass?

OK, not quite. We're still three weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training. But as the page turns on January, the 2015 season is at long last coming into focus.

Like every winter, this one has crowned its share of winners and losers. The last month alone offered up developments that shifted the baseball landscape and altered the fortunes of players and teams—for good and ill.

Let's train our gaze there and highlight six January storylines that left some smiling, others scowling and the rest of us intrigued.

Winner: Oakland A's

Associated Press

It's been a controversial, whirlwind offseason for the Oakland A's and general manager Billy Beane.

Four players who made the 2014 All-Star team—Brandon Moss, Josh Donaldson, Derek Norris and Jeff Samardzija—were jettisoned in trades.

It appeared, for all intents and purposes, that Beane was blowing the club up, one season after pushing in all his chips in a failed attempt to win a championship.

Hang on, though. A's fans may not enjoy the sight of favorite players skipping town, but they should have learned by now to keep the faith in their "Moneyball" GM.

On Jan. 10, the A's acquired second baseman/super-utility man Ben Zobrist from the Tampa Bay Rays for a package that included minor league shortstop Daniel Robertson, Oakland's top prospect according to Baseball America. 

In a vacuum, it looks like an odd move. Zobrist will be a free agent after 2015; aren't the A's rebuilding?

Well, no. They're retooling, Beane-style. Oakland's offseason machinations, Sporting News' Jesse Spector notes, have added 36 years of team control to players on the projected 25-man roster.

They've gotten younger and cheaper, in other words, a necessity for all small-market clubs. Yet as Spector spells out, they could still contend next season: 

"

There is enough talent still on hand to field a respectable roster in 2015—a legitimate contender if things break right, which is part of the reason for adding Zobrist—and with all the youth that has been added in trades, the future appears much brighter than it otherwise may have.

[...]

Oakland will have a lot of ifs to deal with entering the 2015 season, but that is always going to be the case for a team with a payroll in the $80 million range. Beane had a team whose window was closing, and instead of sitting around and waiting for it to slam shut, necessitating a lengthy overhaul, he wheeled and dealt his way to a much longer window with a new core. 

"

Loser: Philadelphia Phillies

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

If the Philadelphia Phillies have a plan, they're keeping it top secret.

Sure, the Phils are rebuilding, or so they claim. But for a team that finished dead last in the National League East and that owns a roster full of aging, expensive veterans, they've done remarkably little moving and/or shaking this winter.

Yes, they sent shortstop Jimmy Rollins to the Los Angeles Dodgers in December. Outside of that, it's been all talk and no action in the City of Brotherly Love.

Cole Hamels, a legitimate stud who would surely command a haul of prospects, popped up in various rumors but doesn't appear to be headed anywhere soon.

GM Ruben Amaro Jr. announced to the world that his team would be better off without albatross first baseman Ryan Howard and unsurprisingly found zero takers on the trade market. 

The Phillies are supposedly engaged in trade talks with the Milwaukee Brewers, among other teams, for closer Jonathan Papelbon. But, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, the potential swap is proving "problematic."

The state of the Phillies, summed up in a single word. 

Winner: Yoan Moncada

You shouldn't need to understand the intricacies of the United States Office of Foreign Asset Control to follow baseball. 

So we'll skip the bureaucratic dissertation and get straight to the part where, as Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan and others have reported, Yoan Moncada's availability is "imminent."

That means teams that have been salivating over the 19-year-old Cuban infielder may soon be able to pounce.

Among the clubs interested in Moncada, said to be a legitimate five-tool talent, are the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants...and basically everyone else with deep pockets and cash to burn.

In other words: Brace yourself for an epic bidding war.

Whoever ends up securing the young switch-hitter, there'll be one clear winner: Moncada, who is about to go from rags to unfathomable riches with the attendant sky-high expectations.

Loser: James Shields

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

James Shields entered the offseason intent on a five-year, $100 million-plus deal. As suitors fall by the wayside and the months tick by, he looks less and less likely to get one.

At this point, Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal says, a four-year contract is more realistic. Rosenthal adds, "it would be a surprise" if the annual value reached $20 million.

If the 33-year-old right-hander lowers his demands, it's possible teams that have pulled out of the Shields sweepstakes will jump back in. Perhaps one of the clubs still in the running will finally squeeze the trigger. 

Either way, Big Game James appears headed for at least a medium-sized letdown. 

Winner: Max Scherzer

Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Somewhere right now, Max Scherzer is smiling. Why not? He's got 210 million reasons to be happy.

Like Shields, the market for Scherzer developed slowly this winter. For a while, it was worth wondering if the 2013 Cy Young winner would have his lofty demands met.

Enter the Washington Nationals, who cracked the $200 million threshold and handed Scherzer the seven years he was seeking.

These megadeals don't always (or even often) work out for the teams that offer them, as ESPN's Tony Blengino explains.

For Scherzer, though, it's the definition of a win-win. He and his great-great-grandchildren are set financially, and he gets to headline a star-studded rotation on a team with legitimate World Series aspirations. 

"You just can't even fathom it sometimes," Scherzer told MLB.com's Bill Ladson. "You work so hard to put yourself in this position. For me, it's all about winning. I don't play this game for money, but at the same time, when you have an offer like that, it just makes you go, 'Wow.'"

Loser: Alex Rodriguez

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

Let the Alex Rodriguez drama begin.

When the polarizing slugger makes his comeback from a season-long PED suspension this spring, he'll take aim at a number of home run milestones. Just don't ask the New York Yankees to pay for them.

The background: In 2007, as ESPN.com's Andrew Marchand notes, A-Rod reached a marketing agreement with the Yankees wherein he'd earn a $6 million bonus each time he tied the home run tally of a player ahead of him on the all-time list.

Currently, Rodriguez has 654 career long balls, six shy of Willie Mays. Assuming A-Rod passes the Say Hey Kid, he'll be chasing down Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and the colossus of controversial clout, Barry Bonds.

Now, Marchand reports, "The Yankees plan on contesting the validity of the marketing deal because of Rodriguez's steroids revelations."

Expect A-Rod to hit back. And expect the drama to continue, as Rodriguez's cousin, Yuri Sucart, goes on trial sometime this year for his connection to Biogenesis, the anti-aging clinic that allegedly supplied steroids to A-Rod and other big leaguers. 

Most of all, expect a zoo in the Bronx.