I haven't really commented in this thread but here goes:
The Castro deal seems good both for the Cubs and the Yankees. The Cubs were able to shed some salary which enabled them to get Zobrist while also picking up a nice piece in Warren. The Yankees get a former 3 time AS that will be just 26 prior to opening day. It was time for the Cubs to part ways with Castro quite honestly. He never whined about being benched and was always a good teammate. He will be missed just from a standpoint that he really was a good kid.
Jason Heyward signing for 8 and 184 million with opt outs after years 3 and 4(year 3 depending on PAs)is a good deal for both him and the Cubs. Many people will say you don't spend that kind of money on a player that has produced offensively the way he has. Just as Epstein told Gammons at the Winter Meetings when the same sentiment was being expressed by other GMs, this is 2015, not 1970. The Metrics had Jason Heyward as a 6.5 WAR player in 2015. A lot of that does come from his defense of course. Many might argue dWAR is a very murky statistic or DRS is for that matter(which Heyward leads in since his debut to today +122). He also doesn't turn 27 until August. The point remains the same, the front office for the Chicago Cubs believes in him enough to give him that kind of commitment. His K% last season was also down to 14.8% per PA, so the person claiming he strikes out a lot must be thinking back to 2012. Heyward will likely be in CF(where they believe he can play above average) and Soler will stay in RF.
The price of pitching has obviously skyrocketed. Samardzija getting 90 million over 5 and Leake getting 80 over 5 to me is just pretty comical. Good for those guys. I do think Samardzija has good stuff and going to San Francisco could be a match made in heaven which makes that deal look good in the end, but Mike Leake is not even a 3rd starter to me. He's a guy that has had a bit of luck in his career according to his FIP compared to his ERA and we shall see if that continues as a Cardinal. I am not surprised with what Price ended up with even with the poor playoff performance record. That figure has been thrown out there before the season even ended.
The biggest winners of the offseason to me fso far are:
The Braves(looking forward to 2017 or 2018 with their thievery of the DBacks again). John Hart(Atlanta's PBO) should be arrested and hauled off to jail because he keeps robbing other organizations blind.
The Cubs(improved in a lot of areas including OF defense, cut down their K rate with both Zobrist and Heyward at the top of their lineup, improved their rotation with Lackey even if he is ancient in baseball terms)
The Giants(improved their rotation and benefited from a TERRIBLE Dodgers offseason).
Biggest Losers so far:
The Dodgers(I get that you have exciting young players making their way up through your system like Urias, Holmes, and now Montas, but you just lost Greinke, Iwakuma failed his physical, the Chapman deal fell through for obvious reasons and you're potentially wasting one more year of Kershaw because you have an unreliable rotation comprised of Wood, Ryu, Anderson, and some other random guy you will throw in there. That rotation is terrible with everything considered. Especially considering their huge financial advantage over other teams )
The Cardinals(lost out on David Price by a last minute Red Sox offer,Lost out on Samardzija to a better offer, lost out on Jason Heyward when you offered more total money, lost Lance Lynn earlier in the offseason to Tommy John surgery, lost John Lackey along with Jason Heyward to a division rival in the Cubs, and ultimately signed Mike Leake to a 5/80 deal)
