Baseball

The Washington Nationals, already one of the deepest pitching teams in baseball, made a splash late Sunday night when they inked right-hander Max Scherzer to a massive seven-year free-agent deal.

The Arizona Diamondbacks needed to be active this offseason after an MLB-worst 64-98 record in 2014.

In a big-picture sense, spring training doesn't mean anything. In fact, here's a helpful analogy: Spring training is to meaningful baseball what Adam Dunn's career ERA is to meaningful pitching.

But on an individual level...OK, fine. That's where spring training can actually matter. Though most players come into spring training simply looking to get ready for the upcoming season, others come needing to prove something.

The Chicago Cubs made several big moves this offseason to help them in 2015 and beyond. For the first time in a while, they should be relatively competitive this upcoming season. However, they didn't sign these players just to be good in 2015, they signed them to be good through the life of their contract.

The Detroit Tigers reached a settlement agreement on a one-year deal with ace David Price on Friday, avoiding salary arbitration in the process. The starting pitcher will make just shy of $20 million in 2015.

After winning the bidding for South Korean infielder Jung-ho Kang, the Pittsburgh Pirates reached an agreement on a contract with the 27-year-old. 

The Pirates made the deal official Friday, Jan. 16:

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports divulged some financial details:

The Washington Nationals and Stephen Strasburg reached an agreement on a one-year deal to avoid arbitration Friday. The ace will earn more than $7 million in 2015.

The team confirmed a deal was in place:

William Ladson of MLB.com provided the details:

The Chicago Cubs haven't won a World Series in over a century and haven't lost any fewer than 87 games in five years, and we're supposed to believe they're going to contend in 2015?

So they say. And you know something? Their chances of at least contending for a wild-card spot deserve to be taken seriously.

Spring training will be here in a matter of weeks, and 2015 could turn into a very big year for the New York Mets. Of course, what is seen on paper has to translate into on-field success, and hopefully, the Mets will be able to put together their first winning season since 2008 and make the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

Here are five bold predictions for the Mets this season.

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The Detroit Tigers have had yet another frenzied offseason. They didn’t waste any time getting started—within a few weeks of the season ending, Victor Martinez was re-signed, and they had picked up Joakim Soria’s option.

This early activity set the tone for the weeks to come. Other noteworthy additions included Yoenis Cespedes and Alfredo Simon, while Rick Porcello and Torii Hunter were among the significant departures.