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The offseason isn't over, but most of the substantial moves have been made. While other teams may make a few (or several) moves that would give them "winner" cachet, I felt the following five (plus one honorable mention) improved themselves (for 2003) beyond the competition.

The teams are listed in alphabetical order:

1. New York Mets

In 2000, the New York Mets competed against the crosstown Yankees for the World Series title. Since then, the Mets compiled a 157-166 record. After a mediocre 2001 season, GM Steve Phillips rebuilt the team. After a worse 2002 season, he was at it again.

Now for those that know me, I wasn't too complimentary after the Tom Glavine signing. Glavine is very good pitcher (2.96 ERA in 224.2 innings with 127 strikeouts and 78 walks), but my concern is that costing more than $10 million per season for four season (the fourth year is a vested option which will likely kick in), he will inhibit future moves that will be necessary to keep this team competitive. Not to be completely negative, Tom will be a positive for this team, especially in 2003.

Fortunately for the Mets' fans, Phillips was only getting started. The high-priced, weak-hitting SS, Rey Ordonez, was unloaded to Tampa Bay (while New York is still on the hook for the majority of the contract, the savings more than paid for his replacement) ... Rey Sanchez. While Sanchez isn't a hot-hitter himself, he is quite possibly the best fielding shortstop in the game.

In the 2002 Edition of the Baseball Prospectus, one of their writers said, "How good was Rey Sanchez's defense (in the 2001) season? Insanely great, to the tune of 43 runs above average. That figure ties him for the second best season of all-time..." While no defensive matrix is perfect, we can still be confident that Sanchez is one of more phenomenal glove-men in the game -- SportsCenter highlights or not.

While the above changes are/were good and necessary, one area the Mets needed significant help was in the power department. New York only scored 690 runs last year. Only three NL teams scored fewer ... their 160 HR netted a 10th place NL ranking, but that's still not a total to brag about. Their outfield managed only 54 HR. Within the division, only New York and Florida did not a 30+ HR outfielder. Enter Cliff Floyd, stage left. Cliff Floyd is exactly the type of bat the New York outfield has been missing. He hit 28 HR last season and 31 in 2001. Adding his bat behind Mike Piazza's should be boon to this offense.

The Mets are still old, and they are still expensive, but this year's version won't be the pushover last year's was.

2. New York Yankees

After the new Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached, the Yankees vowed that they would be under the $117 million threshold for the luxury tax. All those that believed they'd do it, raise your hand. Okay, those of you with your hands up, you're either lying, or not as smart as you thought were.

This offseason, the Yankees have spent, then did a little spending, then spent some more.

After a disappointing first-round post-season knockout to the eventual World Series champion, the Yankees determined that their outfield and rotation would get most of their attention.

Already on the hook for: OF Rondell White for $5M, OF Bernie Williams, $13M, and half of OF Raul Mondesi's $13M, the Yankees went out and signed OF Hideki Matsui for $7M per year for three years. Then, for good measure, New York re-signed pitcher Roger Clemens for a one-year $10M contract after giving Cuban free-agent pitching refugee Jose Contreras a $32M, four-year deal.

The Yankees might as well put their logo on the Revenue Sharing checks that go out to teams as dictated by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Lord knows most of the money comes from them.

So why are they the winners here? Because those guys can play. Though like the Mets ahead of them, the Yankees are old and expensive. They still have to be favorites in 2003.

3. Oakland Athletics

Oakland had three problems last year; all were evident in their 3-2 series loss to Minnesota. The A's needed another power-bat, they needed to improve outfield defense, and the bullpen needed shoring up.

After losing closer Jason Isringhausen after 2001, Oakland GM Billy Beane brought in Billy Koch for last season. Koch wasn't as good as his numbers indicate. He did manage 44 saves and struck-out a batter an inning (93 in 93.2 innings), but he also walked someone virtually every other inning (46). He was effective, but he wasn't dominating. Billy Beane traded him to the Chicago White Sox for Keith Foulke. Keith Foulke doesn't have Koch's blazing fastball, but then Koch doesn't have Foulke's control (Foulke posted a 2.90 ERA in 77.2 innings while striking out 58 and walking only 13).

The A's also brought several new relievers into the fold. Their middle relief looks much stronger than it did the last two seasons.

As for the big bat the A's needed, Billy Beane worked a three-team deal that sent Erubiel Durazo to Oakland. Durazo only has 47 HR in four seasons, and has only played more than 80 games once in those four seasons, but when he's healthy, he posts gaudy numbers. If he can stay healthy for a full season, he should easily hit 30+ HR and be a middle-of-the-lineup run producer to go along SS Miguel Tejada, 3B Eric Chavez, and RF Jermaine Dye.

Finally, to resolve his team's outfield defensive deficiency, Beane signed Chris Singleton. Singleton is not the prototypical Oakland player (he does not get on-base at a high rate). But Beane figured his team could suffer through one offensive sink-hole in the lineup in order to shore up their outfield. Singleton will play CF and shift Terrance Long to LF. Long is not a bad defensive outfielder, but compared to other centerfielders, his defense did leave room for improvement.

This little $40M-per-year club will again challenge New York (and Anaheim) for AL supremacy.

4. Philadelphia Phillies

Okay, everyone knows what happened here. The Phillies signed Jim Thome and David Bell to play the corner infield positions. While both are highly-regarded, it should be noted just how dominant Thome is with a bat. Last season, Thome trailed only Barry Bonds in OPS (on-base % plus slugging) 1.381 to 1.122. And while Thome had Ellis Burkes in his lineup protecting him, this year, Thome will be batting in a lineup that already is home to the all-around talented Bobby Abreau and the slugging LF Pat Burrell.

As for David Bell, his bat won't make anyone forget about Scott Rolen (Thome's will), but his defense at third will be just as steady -- if not quite as spectacular.

The Phillies will also introduce CF Marlon Byrd to the world. Byrd actually arrived in the big leagues last season; playing in 10 games. Now, however, the starting CF job is his to lose. Departing CF Doug Glanville, while being a consummate professional, was an out machine in the in lineup. The Phillies should get much more production out of Byrd (adding Thome and Byrd to the lineup are good moves in and of themselves, but because the two hitters replace the two worst regular hitting starters in the lineup, the moves are particularly significant).

The Phillies already had the makings of quite a nice young rotation (Randy Wolf, Vincente Padilla, David Coggin, and Brandon Duckworth). But the Philly brass wanted an established ace to head the rotation. They tried and failed to sign Tom Glavine. Then, because of some poor planning on the part of inter-divisional rival John Schuerholz (GM of the Atlanta Braves), Kevin Millwood landed in their lap; essentially for free.

The Phillies bullpen still needs help, but this team should still cruise to the divisional title. With a few more subtle moves, it could be the best team in baseball.

5. San Francisco Giants

After reaching the World Series for the first time since '88, the Giants knew they needed to do some pretty major overhauling. 2B Jeff Kent was allowed to sign elsewhere (he had expressed desire to return), and RF Reggie Sanders was not offered arbitration -- ending the Giants ability to negotiate with him.

The Giants then signed Edgardo Alfonso and Ray Durham. Both can play second, but both also have secondary positions (OF for Durham, 3B for Alfonso). The most likely scenario has Durham at 2B and Alfonso at 3B.

Durham is a significant signing because for all the offensive prowess the Giants have displayed the last few years, they have not had a high on-base leadoff hitter. Ray Durham is that lead-off hitter. Durham owns a career 35.2 on-base percentage, but has only posted one sub-36% on-base percentage in the last five years.

Alfonso's HR production was down last year relative to his better years (16 HR in 2002, 17 in 2001, and 25+ in '99 and '00). But hitting in front of Barry will give him many fastballs to attack. Despite hitting in an extreme pitcher's park, he should have no problem hitting 25-30 bombs.

In a coup, the Giants traded Russ Ortiz to the Braves for Damian Moss and a hot minor league pitching prospect. Lefty Moss' numbers almost mirror righty Ortiz's. But Moss didn't get to pitch in Pac-Bell every fifth day, furthermore, Moss will save the Giants over $4M in salary costs.

The Giants still need to resolve their OF, but they should be able to plug average hitters in there and can still expect gaudy team numbers (thanks almost entirely to having Barry Bonds, one of the three or four best hitters of all-time in their lineup).

The NL West again looks to be quite solid from top to bottom, but there's no reason to suspect the Giants won't be in the thick of another title hunt this season.

6. Cleveland Indians (honorable mention)

You may see this team and think that Cleveland is a rather odd duck among the rest of these teams. That's fine to think that way, but when you peel back the sour reality of losing a dominant hitter like Jim Thome, you get to a rather sweet meat of the fruit astutely accomplished by Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro.

First baseman Travis Haffner was on many team's shopping lists this offseason. But the Indians landed him and pitcher Aaron Meyette from Texas for catcher Einar Diaz and pitcher Ryan Drese. Neither pitcher is significant, but both could surprise simply from a change of scenery. Haffner, however, is a power-hitter whose path was blocked by the many Texas hitters. Furthermore, this deal clears the weak-hitting catcher Diaz out of way of catching uber-prospect Victor Martinez.

The Indians also have Karim Garcia. Garcia only played 53 games last season, but managed 16 HR in that short time. While his 41/6 strikeout/walk ratio is worrisome, his power potential is encouraging. He probably won't make anyone forget Manny Ramirez, but he also is unlikely to resemble the failed experiment that was Brady Anderson.

ESPN writer Peter Gammons listed 2004-2005 free agents in an article a few weeks back (and it's quite an impressive list). What Cleveland has done is trade off expensive older talent for a dearth of prospects and mid-level serviceable players while streamlining what was a bloated team payroll. Now this team is positioned to make another run like they did in the early '90s. They now can afford to fill (through free agency) whatever holes their deep farm system cannot.

Whether Cleveland fans will remember Mark Shapiro as the guy who traded Bartolo Colon and Roberto Alomar and failed to re-sign Jim Thome and Juan Gonzalez or if he'll be remembered as the architect of Cleveland's next run is an interesting debate. Time will tell how successful (and how soon) that next run is -- hopefully, Clevelanders realize and appreciate Shapiro's execution of a daunting task.

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