Denver Post national baseball writer Troy E. Renck looks back at the winners, the losers and the unfinished business following baseball’s winter meetings.
WINNERS
Red Sox: Landed best players available via free agency (Carl Crawford) and trade (Adrian Gonzalez). Boston’s pre-emptive strike on Crawford — seven years, $142 million — was stunning. He provides speed, defense and power.
Dodgers: Quietly put together a staff that can create pause even in San Francisco, signing Hideki Kuroda, Ted Lilly, Jon Garland and Vicente Padilla to combine with Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley. If Billingsley is a fifth starter, that’s a great rotation.
White Sox: A fantasy league owners delight with Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn hitting back to back.
Diamondbacks: Their bullpen was a disaster a year ago. They are reinventing themselves with pitching and defense, adding closer J.J. Putz and David Hernandez.
Rockies: Keeping starter Jorge De La Rosa and adding Ty Wigginton addresses prime concerns.
LOSERS
Angels: Missing out on Crawford was a crowbar to the windpipe. They now face the prospect of overpaying for 3B Adrian Beltre, a Scott Boras client.
Nationals: They wanted credibility, but $126 million for Jayson Werth? The last two players to get $126 million were Barry Zito and Vernon Wells. How did those work out?
Cubs: Carlos Peña for $10 million. Really? He hit .196 last year.
Orioles: Love the effort. But added a lot of K’s, and not enough W’s.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Cliff Lee: The ace could decide by today between New York — how does seven years, $161 million sound? — and Texas. His agent left Orlando, Fla., with a smile.
Zach Greinke: The Royals want a haul for their low-salaried Cy Young Award winner.
