Best Trade of the Off-Season: Philadelphia trades C-S Johnny Estrada to Atlanta for RHP Kevin Millwood

I won't go into all of the gory details again. You can click here if you'd like to take a look at my original comments on the trade. It is sufficient to note that while Millwood was approaching a sizeable payday, Philadelphia dealt a 26-year-old catching prospect for a 28-year-old ace starter. Estrada does not appear to possess star potential; his upside appears to be as a solid regular. Additionally, the Phillies had just blocked Estrada by signing Mike Lieberthal to an extension.

2. RHP Orlando Hernandez, RHP Rocky Biddle, OF-L Jeff Liefer, and $2M to the Expos in exchange for RHP Bartolo Colon and SS-R Jorge Nunez. Both the players the White Sox gave up to acquire Hernandez and those they used to acquire Colon were entirely expendable and replaceable. In return they received a second ace and even if Colon breaks down, they're really only out money.

3. Colorado trades LHP Mike Hampton and OF Juan Pierre to Florida for OF Preston Wilson, C Charles Johnson, IF Pablo Ozuna, and LHP Vic Darensbourg. Hampton was a burden on their rotation and their payroll so finding anyone willing to acquire him was lucky. The fact they were able to fill their perceived need for a starting catcher and upgrade their outfield as well was a bonus.

4. Cleveland trades C-R Einar Diaz and RHP Ryan Drese to Texas for 1B-L Travis Hafner and RHP Aaron Myette. The Indians, who have the best young catching in baseball, were able to dump and overpaid catcher, who doesn't deserve his starting job, for a major league ready first base prospect with outstanding plate discipline and solid power. Coincidentally their long time first baseman just left as a free agent so they have an opening. The pitching swap was virtually even with each team acquiring a guy who fit their needs better.

Worst Trade of the Off-Season: Atlanta trades Kevin Millwood for Johnny Estrada

The worst trades aren't necessarily the flip side of the best trades, but Atlanta needs excellent pitching to compensate for their weak offense. Additionally, as mentioned above, Estrada is far from a great catch.

2. Tampa Bay trades IF-R Russ Johnson and 1B-L Josh Pressley to the Mets for SS-R Rey Ordonez. No one should ever trade anything to acquire the likes of Rey Ordonez. Johnson has had serious personal problems, and Pressley lacks a first baseman's power but both have upside. I cannot believe the Devil Rays are now considering extending Ordonez's membership in the overpaid defensive players' club.

3. Pittsburgh trades RHP Roberto Novoa and a PTBNL to Detroit for Randall Simon. Novoa isn't much and we've yet to identify the second prospect, but Simon almost certainly would have been available as a non-tendered free agent, if the Pirates had waited a bit longer. Pittsburgh then probably could have signed him for a half million less than they ultimately paid him.

4. Pittsburgh trades RHP Jon Searles and RHP Chris Young to Montreal for Matt Herges. While Searles isn't much, Young could develop into a rotation candidate by September of 2004. The Pirates have done an exemplary job of acquiring inexpensive quality arm to fill their pen and yet expended money and talent on acquiring Herges.

5. Chicago trades Todd Hundley and Chad Hermansen to LA for Eric Karros, Mark Grudzielanek, and a reported $2M. While Hundley had worn out his welcome in Chicago, I'm sure they could have found someone (Baltimore) willing to take his contract without unloading two expensive aging players, who will now steal playing time from two of the organizations better offensive prospects. Tossing a perfectly good reserve outfielder with considerable upside was just rubbing salt in the wounds of intelligent Cubs fans.

6. Detroit trades C Mike Rivera to San Diego for OF-S Eugene Kingsale. Rivera would have given them a better starter behind the plate than any of their current options, but because new manager Alan Trammell spent time with Kingsale when he was coaching for the Padres, the Tigers have one more outfielder competing for playing time.

Most Overrated Move of the Off-Season: The White Sox side of the Koch Trade

I've said this before and I'll say it again. Koch's record reflects his unique position on a unique team last season. He would not have put up those numbers in a different environment and cannot be expected to do so this season with the White Sox. Meanwhile, the Sox lightly discarded one of the better relievers in baseball.

2. Tampa's acquisition of Rey Ordonez. I fail to understand the number of people who remain infatuated with defense without offense. There's a reason that the better offensive players frequently receive Gold Gloves when they're supposed to be a strictly defensive award. Those are the players who earned their place on the field and then went the extra mile. Even if a player single handedly prevents every batter on the other team from reaching base, the game will still end in a tie unless someone can score a run.

3. The Mets signing of Tom Glavine. They were not hurting for starting pitching and I have serious concerns about the 36-year-old Glavine's ability to maintain his productivity given his increasing age and departure from the only team he's ever known.

4. Atlanta's signing of Robert Fick. Fick will not provide the Braves with substantially more offense at first than they had in 2002. They likely would have been much better situated had they attempted to expand Matt Franco's role.

Most Underrated Move of the Off-Season: Seattle's signing of Greg Colbrunn

I've repeatedly seen this move tossed away as a minor addition or even disparaged as an over-expenditure on a bench player. However, as I mentioned a few days ago, Colbrunn has displayed the skills to provide the Mariners with a high level of offense and could be quite indispensable in case of an injury to Edgar Martinez.

Among the other moves I think haven't been given the credit they deserve are Toronto's acquisition of Cory Lidle and the Oakland side of the Keith Foulke/Billy Koch trade (both discussed two days ago), as well as Cleveland's end of the Einar Diaz/Travis Hafner trade and Colorado's side of the Hampton deal discussed above.