MLBTR did an interesting survey of "several MLB executives to gather their nominations for the best and worst moves of the offseason." I thought that it would be interesting to see how Beyond the Boxscore readers feel about the results.
Moves listed as the best of the offseason? The signings of Aroldis Chapman, Felipe Lopez, Adam LaRoche, Adrian Beltre, Chone Figgins and Hideki Matsui.
Personally, I definitely understand the appreciation for the Lopez and Beltre signings especially. The Beltre signing was great value on a one-year deal, and Felipe Lopez for $1M just sounds like a bargain. The Figgins and LaRoche signing were solid considering the respective prices, and of course there aren't many investments with more upside than signing a 21-year-old lefty with a low stress delivery, a 95-98 fastball and a definite out-pitch in his slider.
But getting excited about signing Hideki Matsui for $6.5M? Meh.
The best trades were listed as Seattle's acquisition of Cliff Lee, Kansas City's trade of Mark Teahen, and Texas' trade of Kevin Millwood.
The Lee move was a no-brainer for Seattle, picking up an ace for three good, but not great, prospects. The Teahen trade was odd from Chicago's perspective, but landing a potential long-term second baseman in Chris Getz for Teahen was a surprisingly solid move by Moore and company. And dumping a good deal of Millwood's salary while taking a flier on Chris Ray certainly helped to free up salary and playing time for the Rangers.
The signings nominated for worst signing were Jason Bay, Matt Holliday, Brandon Lyon, Jason Kendall, Aubrey Huff, Jason Marquis, Randy Wolf and Garrett Atkins. Tough to disagree with that group.