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The Boston Red Sox made their moves. Trading for Adrian Gonzalez and signing Carl Crawford has transformed the Red Sox from one of the better offensive teams in the league into the most feared lineup in the American League.

The Philadelphia Phillies stole Cliff Lee right out from under the Yankees’ nose. Imagine facing a playoff rotation of Lee, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels.

Now that Lee is off the board, New York has to turn elsewhere to fill glaring holes in the rotation. The Yankees are also thin in proven players off the bench and right handed relief pitchers.

The Yankees had $20 million per year earmarked for Lee. Clearly, no one can doubt that New York has the money to spend.

The question becomes: are there any free agents or trade targets worth signing or relinquishing prospects for? The signing of Russell Martin could have been a clue that one of New York’s catching prospects is on the block.

With Andy Pettitte leaning towards retirement, the rotation is questionable beyond CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett. Burnett was simply awful last season, and Hughes struggled late down the stretch.

As Brian Cashman described the situation, “Bottom line is there is a price to pay for waiting for Cliff Lee. Now, part of that price is definitely going to be loss of previous opportunities that (existed). At the same time, now it’s going to have to be some patience.

“Now, it’s going to be a steeper mountain to climb, which is fine, because we can climb it. Steeper meaning it’s going to take a longer way to get there. It’s a harder road to travel. That’s OK. You can still get there.”

The Yankees may be looking at some veterans coming off of medical troubles in recent years. Both Freddy Garcia and Brandon Webb have been rumored to be on New York’s radar. Another rumor has the Yankees interested in lefty Jeff Francis with Pettitte leaning towards retirement.

New York may also look to within the organization to fill the last two rotation spots. Ivan Nova had some success as a starter, but did not get passed the sixth inning in a single start. Sergio Mitre started 27 games for the Florida Marlins in 2007 compiling a 4.65 ERA. Some other considerations could be Hector Noesi, David Phelps or Andrew Brackman.

Even if New York enters the season with an underwhelming rotation, it would not be surprising to see the Yankees pull of a trade for a top of the rotation starter by midseason. Despite an unbelievable lineup, New York’s starting pitching struggled in the postseason, and Cashman realizes that the current rotation cannot hold up in a playoff series.

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Despite rumblings that a trade would not go through due to the belief that a long-term contract would not get done, Adrian Gonzalez was traded from the San Diego Padres to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for coveted pitching prospect Casey Kelly, first base prospect Anthony Rizzo, outfielder Reymond Fuentes and a player to be named later.

Gonzalez is currently under contract for this season at $6 million, with a long-term contract extension expected to come in the next few days. Gonzalez’s agent is said to be seeking a Mark Teixeira-type contract for the slugging first baseman who was once a first-overall pick by the Florida Marlins.

The AL East has been the most hotly contested divisions over the past couple seasons.

With the way the Yankees spend, New York is expected to constantly compete at the top of the division. The Tampa Bay Rays have built from the the ground up with prospects Evan Longoria and terrific starting pitching, such as David Price.

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, that meant finishing six games behind the Wild Card-winning Yankees in 2010.

Boston had to make a big splash this offseason. The Yankees have already been active this winter and have been actively pursuing Cliff Lee. The Rays have been conscious of payroll considerations, but they still have four superb starting pitchers.

But this was the wrong move for the Red Sox to improve.

Adrian Gonzalez is one of the top sluggers in baseball. Gonzalez has hit 161 home runs over the last five seasons. He has had 99 or more RBIs every year for the last four years. Gonzalez also is one of the more patient sluggers in the major leagues and has averaged a .400 on-base percentage over the last two years while walking more than he struck out in 2009.

In essence, there are not many hitters better than Gonzalez out there.

The problem with the move was two-fold. The first is easy to see: The problem with the Red Sox last season was not a power outage. Boston was second in slugging percentage and home runs last season, with .451 and 211, respectively. The Red Sox also found themselves in the top five in the majors in average, on-base percentage, doubles, runs and RBIs.

Essentially, this Red Sox club is an offensive machine already. Gonzalez is a terrific player, and he improves Boston’s lineup immensely, but was he really what they needed?

The Red Sox had to give up some big talent for Gonzalez, particularly Casey Kelly and Reymond Fuentes. Boston has yet to sign Gonzalez to a long-term deal, which is obviously expected, considering the talent they gave up to get him.

Boston would have been better off going after one of the big-name free agents in either Carl Crawford or Cliff Lee. The Red Sox were in the bottom five in the league in stolen bases, a statistic that would not be repeated if they signed Crawford.

Cliff Lee may have been a bit more expensive than signing Gonzalez, but not by enormous amounts. Boston’s pitching was their Achilles heel last season. The Red Sox were 22nd in ERA and gave up the third most walks of any pitching staff. Signing Cliff Lee could have inserted a third ace into the rotation along with John Lackey and Clay Buchholz.

It was pitching and speed that Boston lacked. With Adrian Gonzalez, they got better, just not in areas of need.

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In their short history, the Washington Nationals have been perennial runners-up in the free agency process. The Nationals didn’t land the biggest name in Cliff Lee or Carl Crawford, but they came pretty close with the signing of former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth.

The Nationals may have overpaid for Werth—not very surprising news considering his agent is Scott Boras. Washington gave the 31-year-old Werth a seven-year contract at an average of $18 million a year totaling $126 million.

While the yearly salary may be considered a reach for Werth alone, it is difficult to see Werth producing at a high level as a 38-year-old for the Nationals.

Washington may have overpaid for their new starting outfielder, but Werth also gives the Nationals a sense of legitimacy as contenders in the NL East. Washington has finished last in the division every year since the move from Montreal (six years) except for the 2007 season when they still lost 89 games.

Since becoming an everyday player three years ago, Jayson Werth has been one of the top sluggers in the National League. Werth has hit 87 home runs and driven in 251 runs over the last three seasons. One reason Werth commanded so much was the career year he had last season.

During the 2010 campaign, Werth had career bests in average (.296), runs (106), doubles (46) and slugging percentage (.532). Defensively, Werth was one of the best in the league as well with just four errors in 156 games and eight outfield assists.

Werth provides some pop in the middle of the order for the Washington Nationals, who could miss the production of Adam Dunn who departed for the White Sox. Clearly, Werth provides similar production with fewer strikeouts and far superior defense than Dunn.

The Nationals now feature a threatening lineup with Werth, Ryan Zimmerman, Josh Willingham, the speedy Nyjer Morgan and one of the better players you’ve never heard of in Ian Desmond.

The problem will likely again come down to pitching. The starting staff was one of the league’s worst last season. Livan Hernandez was the only top of the rotation starter in 2010.

John Lannan disappointed after two strong seasons to begin his career and finished with an era of 4.65. Jordan Zimmermann could be another promising young pitcher who will look to improve as a regular starter.

Are the Nationals going to be able to compete with the favorite Phillies, improved Braves and the pesky Marlins?

It’s tough to imagine because of their pitching staff, but Werth does move them in the right direction offensively and defensively.

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The tension between the New York Yankees organization and Derek Jeter is palpable.

The Yankees have offered the 36 year old shortstop a three year deal worth 45 million dollars. This is a significant pay cut from his last contract which paid him 189 million dollars over 10 seasons. At the time Jeter signed the contract he was the second highest paid player in Major League Baseball trailing only Alex Rodriguez.

Despite the fact that he is coming off his statistically worst season as a professional, Jeter feels that the offer was insulting to someone of his caliber. Still, the captain hit for a .270 average and had an on-base percentage of .340. Additionally, Jeter won his fifth Gold Glove award, committing only six errors, his lowest total of his career.

But Jeter and his agent are unreasonably far apart from the Yankees in both years and money offered. Casey Close, Jeter’s agent, supposedly asked the Yankees for a four or five year deal with money in the range of 23 to 24 million dollars per year.

Over 20 million dollars per year is an astronomical amount for any player, but for a 36 year old shortstop coming off of his least productive offensive season it is absolutely ludicrous.

Evidently, Jeter is counting on his intangibles and reputation as a Yankee to support his claim to that high of a salary. Jeter may be the Yankees’ all-time hits leader, the captain of the team and one of the favorite Yankees of all time, but Major League Baseball is first and foremost a business. The New York Yankees may have the highest grossing revenue of every team in baseball, but the franchise cannot simply just give away money, especially considering the luxury tax implications at their payroll levels.

Recently, Sports Illustrated has reported that the Yankees may be willing to raise their offer slightly, but nowhere near the level of Jeter’s asking price.

The Yankees seem ill-prepared to let Jeter walk. Eduardo Nunez has little professional experience and the free agency market for shortstop is not very attractive.

With news that Giants’ shortstop Juan Uribe may very well be bolting south to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants have expressed possible interest in Jeter.

The nightmare illustrated by the New York Post last week could very well come true and the Red Sox could offer Jeter tons of money just to spite the Yankees.

The Cardinals and Twins have openings at shortstop and could be looking for the postseason experience that Jeter has.

In all likelihood, something should get done between the Yankees and Jeter. Derek Jeter is the iconic Yankee of the last 15 years, and he will one day have his own statue in Yankee Stadium.

For now, Yankees fans will have to sit on pins and needles to see if Jeter will give up his outrageous demands or whether the Yankees are willing to overpay for their captain.

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Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for winning the World Series, but that was last season. The offseason has begun and the trade rumors and free agency questions are flying all over the place.

This year, there will be plenty of money to throw around. With so many disappointing seasons from big-market teams such as the Boston Red Sox, New  York Mets and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, teams will be throwing large sums of cash at both worthy, talented players and overrated bums.

Every team dreams of the free-agent acquisition that will put them over the top. For 22 teams every year that don’t make the playoffs, those players just don’t work out. Whether $100 million gets you your ace in Johan Santana or a guy who is left off the playoff roster in Barry Zito, is just one of the factors that makes baseball so interesting.

Here are the top 10 free agents and their possible destinations:

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