Winning the winter (cont.)

2006-2007

Winner: Boston Red Sox

Key Moves: Signed free agents RF J.D. Drew and SP Daisuke Matsuzaka

Previous Season: 86-76, 3rd place

Following Season: 96-66, 1st place, won World Series

The Cubs grabbed a lot of headlines this offseason by committing $272 million to leftfielder Alfonso Soriano, who was coming off a 40/40 season, starting pitchers Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis, and incumbent third baseman Aramis Ramirez, but the Red Sox took the prize by reeling in Japanese ace Matsuzaka and appearing to steal J.D. Drew after he opted out of his Dodgers contract.

Both would prove to be sources of frustration to the Red Sox and their fans due to chronic injuries, but thanks largely to their additions from the previous offseason, ace Josh Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell, the emergence of Rookie of the Year second baseman Dustin Pedroia, a monster season from David Ortiz, and, to a lesser degree, an unexpected performance from another offseason addition, righty reliever Hideki Okajima, the Red Sox went all the way almost despite the middling performances of their two big offseason signings.

2007-2008

Winner: Detroit Tigers

Key Moves: Traded for 3B/1B Miguel Cabrera and SP Dontrelle Willis and SS Edgar Renteria

Previous Season: 88-74, 2nd place

Following Season: 74-88, 5th place

The thing to remember about the trade that brought Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers after the 2007 season is that Willis, who would be 26 in 2008, was the older of the two. At the time, Willis was just two years removed from a season in which he was the Cy Young runner-up and there was reason to believe that his poor 2007 season, the only sub-par year of his career to that point, was partially the fault of the porous Marlins defense. Renteria had just turned 31 and hit .332/.390/.470 for the Braves in 2007. Cabrera, as you can guess, was great in Florida and stayed that way in Detroit.

Willis was never healthy after the trade and won all of two games as a Tiger. Renteria collapsed as well, though less spectacularly. Even Cabrera had a sub-par season by his own standards, though he still led the league in home runs and total bases. Combine that with Justin Verlander's only bad season, a collapse by 39-year-old designated hitter Gary Sheffield and awful seasons from Nate Robertson and a 43-year-old Kenny Rogers in the rotation and you get a lost season for the Tigers despite a franchise-changing offseason acquisition.

2008-2009

Winner: New York Yankees

Key Moves: Signed free agents SP CC Sabathia, 1B Mark Teixeira, SP A.J. Burnett, traded for RF Nick Swisher

Previous Season: 89-73, 3rd place

Following Season: 103-59, won World Series

The Yankees missed the postseason in 2008 for the first time since 1993 and were about to move into their new billion-dollar ballpark, so they did exactly what you'd expect them to do: spend a ton of money on free agents. Specifically, they committed $423.5 million to Sabathia, Teixeira and Burnett. All three, plus rightfielder Nick Swisher, whom they effectively stole from the White Sox after a down year, had strong first seasons in New York. Teixeira finished second in the MVP voting. Sabathia finished fourth in the Cy Young voting. Swisher rebounded to his A's form, and Burnett was both healthy and effective.

Combine those additions with bounce-back seasons from Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada, improvements from Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui, and second-half dominance from Phil Hughes in a set-up role, and the Yankees cruised to their 27th world championship.

2009-2010

Winner: Boston Red Sox

Key Moves: Signed free agents SP John Lackey, 3B Adrian Beltre, SS Marco Scutaro, CF Mike Cameron

Previous Season: 95-67, 2nd place

Following Season: 89-73, 3rd place

The Phillies landed the biggest fish this offseason, trading for Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay, and the Mariners received the most hype after benefitting from Ruben Amaro Jr.'s odd decision to trade Cliff Lee in conjunction with the Halladay acquisition. Seattle also signed infielder Chone Figgins and exchanged problems with the Cubs by trading Carlos Silva's contract for Milton Bradley's temper, but even with Lee in the fold, that failed to measure up to what the Red Sox did.

With a huge hole at shortstop and Mike Lowell rendered immobile by hip surgery, the Red Sox found ideal solutions in Beltre and Scutaro and stood to reap the rewards of moving Beltre and Cameron into a hitter-friendly ballpark. Lackey, meanwhile, was the top free agent pitcher on the market and looked to give the Red Sox a dominant rotation along side Beckett, Jon Lester, Matsuzaka and Clay Buchholz.

It didn't quite work out. Beltre had a monster season, rejuvenating his career, and Scutaro was solid, but Lackey was a disappointment, Beckett was awful, Cameron played just 48 games and hit 20 fewer home runs than the year before, and injuries riddled the roster.

2010-2011

Winner: Boston Red Sox

Key Moves: Traded for 1B Adrian Gonzalez, signed free agent LF Carl Crawford

Previous Season: 89-73, 3rd place

Following Season: 90-72, 3rd place

There was no clear victor in this offseason. The Red Sox landed two marquee players in Gonzalez and Crawford, but they also lost Beltre and Victor Martinez to free agency, and Crawford's contract, worth $142 million over seven years, looked like trouble from the start. Indeed, Crawford was alternately injured and awful in his two years with the Red Sox before the new administration blew up the whole mess and shipped Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett to the Dodgers.

Gonzalez was actually great in 2011, and Boston looked to be on its way back to the playoffs when the calendar flipped to September, but over the course of that month the Sox went 7-20, falling from first place to third, seven games back and out of the playoff picture via a walkoff loss to the Orioles in the final game of the regular season.

2011-2012

Winner: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Key Moves: Signed free agents 1B Albert Pujols and SP C.J. Wilson

Previous Season: 86-76, 2nd place

Following Season: 89-73, 3rd place

Much like the 2006-2007 offseason, the team that made the most noise during the offseason -- in this case the Marlins, who opened a new ballpark, introduced new uniforms, spent big money for the first time since 1997 and threw the lit match that is manager Ozzie Guillen on top of the pile -- wasn't the team that won the offseason. When you add what was likely the greatest rookie season in major league history from Mike Trout and the deadline addition of Zack Greinke to Pujols and Wilson and the extra wild-card spot, it's really hard to figure out how the Angels missed the playoffs in 2012, but they did.

Part of the blame/credit has to go to the upstart Oakland A's, but in truth the Angels were inconsistent all year. They were awful in April before calling up Trout. A slow start from Pujols didn't help there. They struggled in August when their rotation, despite the addition of Greinke, scuffled. Dan Haren had a miserable year. Wilson underwhelmed, the bullpen blew hot and cold, and they still finished just four games behind the wild-card leader and won one more regular season game than the AL pennant-winning Tigers.