Baseball season is back! The season is finally here after five long months of a crazy, talent-heavy offseason. Throughout the 2015-16 offseason, there have been record breaking free-agent signings and nonsensical front office trades. Let’s discuss my top 10 offseason transactions of the 2016 offseason.

#10. CUBS SIGN GOLD GLOVER JASON HEYWARD

I am a huge Cubs fan and have loved this offseason. They signed Jason Heyward to an 8 year, $184 million contract with opt-out options after the third and fourth year. Heyward, 26, is a three time gold glover and is expected to have around a 5.0 WAR (wins above replacement*). Heyward is joining a young Cubs team and is looking to help lead them to a World Series victory this season.

#9. CUBS SIGN JOHN LACKEY

This Cubs signing adds a consistent, experienced pitcher in John Lackey, 37. This 2 year, $32 million deal is a low risk for a player with high upside. He is projected to pitch third in the lineup behind 2015 Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta and ace Jon Lester. Lackey is projected to have a 3.1 WAR this season. On a side note, Lackey and Heyward both played for the Cardinals, who are division rivals, last season.

#8. PADRES RECEIVE A HAUL FOR CRAIG KIMBREL

The Red Sox focused on their pitching this offseason, surrendering four good prospects to the Padres for 4-time All-Star reliever Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel, 27, has been arguably the most dominant closer since he joined the league in 2011.

#7. WHITE SOX ACQUIRE TODD FRAZIER IN THREE-TEAM TRADE

As Cincinnati is looking to rebuild their team even further, they moved one step closer by trading third baseman Todd Frazier to the White Sox in a three team trade. Frazier, who hit 35 home runs last season, will be joining Jose Abreu, who was the only member of the White Sox that hit over 15 HR’s last season. The White Sox are hoping Frazier has a repeat of last season to help put them back in the mix with his power.

#6. ROYALS RESIGN ALEX GORDON

After several weeks of speculation of Gordon’s landing place, even linked heavily to the Giants at one point, he eventually resigned with the Royals. Gordon, 32, is a three-time All Star and four-time gold glover and returned to Kansas City on a 4 year, $72 million dollar contract. This was a relatively low price for the Royals to retain one of their best players.

#5. RED SOX SIGN DAVID PRICE

Stunned is the only word I can think of when I saw the notification on my phone that read ‘David Price agrees to a 7-year, $217 million dollar deal with the Red Sox.’ My jaw dropped realizing that this was the largest free agent annual salary signing for a pitcher in history (only to be broken days later by Zack Greinke). Price’s projected WAR is 5.0, is a huge improvement from their last seasons ace.

#4. CUBS SIGN ZOBRIST, TRADE CASTRO FOR WARREN

In one exciting and sad day, the Cubs signed utilityman Ben Zobrist for a low 4 year, $56 million deal and traded Starlin Castro for super utility pitcher Adam Warren. Zobrist’s signing will reunite him with former manager Joe Maddon and will bring solid defense and a good contact bat to their lineup and Warren will bring needed depth to the bullpen and rotation. Seeing Castro traded made my heart sad. At only 25, he is a 3-time All Star and was with the Cubs as a cornerstone/rebuilding player since before their new management (Ricketts ownership/Theo Epstein GM). 

[media-credit name=”Feather file photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]

#3. GIANTS SIGN CUETO AND SAMARDZIJA

Is the “even year” really a thing? It seems a whole lot more likely after the Giants signed a pair of great pitchers. Righty ace Johnny Cueto signed a 6 year, $130 million dollar deal with an opt-out option after 2017. I thought this was very low and a great deal for the Giants, considering how fellow aces Zack Greinke and Price signed over $200 million dollar deals. Samardzija’s 5 year, $90 million deal is surprising since he is coming off his worst season since being in the majors, posting a 4.96 ERA, third lowest among qualified starters. Even so, if Samardzija can pitch the way he did before his catastrophic 2015 season, the money will be well spent.

#2. BRAVES ROB D-BACKS IN SHELBY MILLER DEAL

I call this trade a joke and am not sure what the Diamondbacks were thinking, if thinking at all. I still want to know how the Braves received such an incredible haul for Shelby Miller, a pitcher worth roughly +2-+3 WAR a season. The Dbacks receive three years of Shelby Miller but give up Ender Inciarte, Dansby Swanson and Aaron Blair. First, Inciarte has almost equal value as Miller, only as an outfielder, and has 5 years of control instead of 3. Aaron Blair is one of their best pitching prospects and Dansby Swanson was the very first pick of last summer’s draft and is already ranked #6 prospect in all of baseball. Obviously, this was nuts.

#1. DIAMONDBACKS SIGN ZACK GREINKE

I was very back and forth between this one and the Shelby Miller deal as the number 1 but ultimately chose this. It was a shock when the Dbacks swooped in on Greinke, and the amount of money was an even bigger shock. At 6 years, $206.5 million ($34.4 a year) it is the highest in baseball, breaking David Price’s signing a few days earlier. Last season, Greinke racked up a 1.66 ERA, the lowest in 20 years, while all of the Dbacks starters had a combined 4.37 ERA. There is no way Greinke will be able to repeat last season, but still should improve their lineup dramatically

This season should be very interesting. Go Cubs Go!

*WAR is an estimate of a player’s value. Because of this player, how many wins will we have compared to a replacement type player.

This author can be reached via twitter @alexrurik23 and via email.

For more from The Feather bloggers, read Checkpoint: Dark Souls 3 Review.