MLB

After trading away closer Jim Johnson in early December, the Baltimore Orioles locked in on free agent Grant Balfour as their ideal replacement.

Locating the best free agents used to be a straightforward affair. Batting average. Home runs. RBI. Wins. Saves. These were the things teams wanted.

But somewhere along the line, shopping for free agents got complicated.

Grant Balfour appeared set to join the Baltimore Orioles this offseason, but a problem with the physical has caused the deal to fall through.

Kevin Youkilis is heading to Japan to continue his baseball career. The veteran infielder has reportedly reached an agreement with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles for the 2014 season.

He may not have been their first choice, but signing Fernando Rodney would be a good use of money for the Baltimore Orioles.

It has been a wild offseason for the Boston Red Sox following their 2013 World Series title.

Boston has already endured a slew of transactions that have taken place since the team walked off with the World Series trophy.

A year ago, the Chicago Cubs bullpen was a weak point. That's saying something. Slowly but surely, the unit got better in the second half of the season, and now with some new additions to the 'pen, it looks like the team actually might be able to secure some wins for its starting pitchers. 

Rumors of Major League Baseball implementing protective headgear for pitchers have been floating around for years, though there hasn't been any significant movement on that front for a while.

Until now, it seems.

Through less than two months of MLB offseason activity, the following teams have already done irreparable damage to themselves.

We've witnessed baseball's version of binge eating from several clubs this winter, those who made big-name acquisitions that they'll inevitably regret, both in the short term and several years down the road. Meanwhile, heavy-spending franchises who expect to contend immediately made questionable decisions that will ultimately impede them from qualifying for the 2014 playoffs.

International free agents are receiving serious interest in the aftermath of Winter Meetings, with teams looking for relatively cheap and creative options to plug holes on their rosters.

This week’s big news features another high-profile Cuban player defecting in order to pursue a career in Major League Baseball, although it will likely be several months until he’s cleared to sign with a team.