The Reds and Padres swung a mini-blockbuster today, with Mat Latos heading to Cincinnati in exchange for four players: first baseman Yonder Alonso, catcher Yasmani Grandal, and right-handers Edinson Volquez and Brad Boxberger. We’re all familiar with Volquez because he’s been around a while, and Baseball America recently ranked Alonso, Grandal, and Boxberger as the Reds’ third, fourth, and tenth best prospects, respectively.

Rather than look to fill specific needs — which some felt the Royals did when they traded Zack Greinke to the Brewers last winter — it appears as though the Padres just took the best package of talent they could find. There’s a lot going on here as far as the San Diego is concerned, so let’s break it all down…

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The Rays have been building bullpens on the cheap for years now, not necessarily because they want to but because they don’t have any other choice. They added to their stable of low cost relievers earlier this week by acquiring right-hander Burke Badenhop from the Marlins for catcher prospect Jake Jefferies. In his work for MLB Trade Rumors, our own Matt Swartz projects Badenhop to earn $1.1 million in 2012, his second time through arbitration. The Marlins have been spending like crazy this winter, but I guess they had to trim the fat somewhere.

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As they made their march to the NL West title in 2011, the Diamondbacks were basically a two-man show at the end of the game. David Hernandez developed into a solid workhorse setup man after being acquired from the Orioles in the Mark Reynolds trade, and J.J. Putz had his best season in four years as the closer. Joe Paterson got some work as the lefty specialist and Bryan Shaw was a nice boost late in the season, but for the most part it was Hernandez and Putz doing the heavy lifting in the eighth and ninth innings this past season.

In an effort to give those two some help, GM Kevin Towers agreed to sign veteran right-hander Takashi Saito to a one-year deal worth $1.75 million earlier this week, stealing him away from the Brewers team that knocked the D’Backs out of the NLDS. Saito has been electric in his six seasons in MLB, pitching to a 2.65 FIP with 10.74 K/9 (29.9 K%) and 2.84 BB/9 (7.9 BB%) in 326 innings spread across 322 games. He has experience both closing and setting up, and he doubles as a second lefty specialist (career 3.01 FIP vs. LHB) thanks to his filthy curveball-slider combo. It’s a very nice pickup for Arizona, but the soon-to-be 42-year-old Saito isn’t exactly risk free.

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The Astros are a team in need of rebuild and the Red Sox are a team in need of a quality reliever, so the two sides got together for a three-player trade on Wednesday. Right-handed reliever Mark Melancon is heading to Boston in exchange for righty Kyle Weiland and infielder Jed Lowrie.

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The Marlins made the first big move of the winter meetings Sunday night, agreeing to sign Jose Reyes to a six-year contract worth $106 million. It’s obviously the largest contract in franchise history, more than doubling the four-year, $52 million pact signed by Carlos Delgado prior to the 2005 season. It’s also the second largest contract ever given to a free agent shortstop, and the fourth largest ever given to a shortstop overall.

Reyes joined some exclusive company with his contract, becoming just the fourth shortstop to secure a nine-figure contract. Two of the other three guys are first ballot Hall of Famers, and the third is one of the five best players in the world. The Marlins are hoping Reyes will live up to those standards during the next six years, as well as spark interest in Miami’s Latin American community. Here is a breakdown of how four of baseball’s wealthiest shortstops performed during the life of their contract…

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If you’re looking for a big bat this offseason, the free agent market has plenty to offer. There’s Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder at the top of the food chain, Carlos Beltran and Aramis Ramirez a notch below that, and Josh Willingham and Carlos Pena a notch below that. Aside from Pujols, no player on the free agent market has accomplished more in his career than Vladimir Guerrero, the once great slugger who has since become an afterthought.

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Teams roll the dice on former top prospects all the time, but it’s not often you see one get a guaranteed Major League contract. That’s exactly what the Orioles officially gave infielder Matt Antonelli this week. The former first round pick of the Padres will compete for a job in Spring Training after passing his physical on Monday.

Antonelli spent this past season in the Nationals’ organization, posting a .377 wOBA in 359 Triple-A plate appearances after having surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. He missed all but one game of the 2010 season thanks to left wrist surgery (hamate), and his 2009 campaign consisted of just 59 games due to various sprains (ankle) and strains (thigh). It’s been a bumpy few years for Antonelli, who Baseball America considered the 50th best prospect in the game prior to the 2008 season.

You can understand why the Orioles would add a guy like this. Antonelli’s always shown very strong walk rates in the minors, including 13.1% this year and 13.9% for his career. He also does a nice job of putting the bat on the ball, striking out just 16.4% of the time in 2011 and 15.1% of the time in his minor league career. A .163 ISO (.142 career) is a decent number as well, particularly for a guy capable of playing the middle infield. Antonelli was drafted as a third baseman but shifted to second by San Diego, and he spent the 2011 season bouncing between the three non-first base infield spots as well as left field. The problem in recent years has been injuries, not performance.

The Major League contract is a little odd, just because you don’t normally see players with three straight years of injury trouble and zero big league track record land such deals. For what it’s worth, Antonelli did say on his blog that a dozen or so teams had been in contact with him earlier this month, so perhaps it’s the guaranteed 40-man roster spot that put Baltimore over the top. The O’s are woefully thin on the infield thanks to Brian Roberts‘ continued injury problems, with Ryan Adams and Robert Andino projected to start at second and third, so they did add some much needed depth.

Dan Duquette’s first real move at the helm of the Orioles was a little interesting, not because of the player but because of the contract terms. That’s not to say it was a bad move, just a curious one. Antonelli is exactly the kind of player a non-contender should take a flier on, a middle infielder with a knack for working the count and putting the ball in play. It doesn’t take much for a guy with that skill set to be worth two wins, but Antonelli’s got a lot to prove first. The O’s clearly think he’s worth the risk given the investment they’ve already made in him.

The Marlins and Padres managed to sneak in a little one-for-one trade just before the Thanksgiving holiday, with catcher John Baker heading to San Diego in exchange for left-handed pitcher Wade LeBlanc.

As you know, the Padres were simply horrendous on offense in 2011. Among the 30 clubs, they ranked 29th in AVG (.237), 28th in OBP (.305), 29th in SLG (.349), 30th in ISO (.112), 29th in wOBA (.292), 26th in wRC+ (89), and 25th in batting runs (-58.2). On the bright side, they did lead all teams with 170 stolen bases (79.4% success rate), so that helped a little. Long story short, one player isn’t going to save this offense, but adding Baker is a step in the right direction.

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The awards season will wrap up when the National League Most Valuable Player is announced a little later this afternoon, and I think this race is a little more open than its AL counterpart. The Brewers have a pair of candidates, the Phillies have a pair of candidates, and the Dodgers have a pair of candidates as well. Clayton Kershaw already took home the Cy Young Award and doesn’t have the same kind of MVP buzz that Justin Verlander did, but he’s not even the best MVP candidate on his own club. That’s the new $160 million man, Matt Kemp.

In terms of our version of WAR, the trademark stat here at FanGraphs, Kemp was the most valuable player in the National League this season and by a not small margin either. His performance was worth 8.7 wins, a half-win ahead of Roy Halladay (8.2) and nearly a full win ahead of Ryan Braun (7.8). No other players in the Senior Circuit eclipsed the seven-win plateau. WAR is far from perfect and it’s not designed to end arguments; in fact it’s much more effective at starting them. So even though Kemp was pretty well separated from the pack in terms of wins over replacement, let’s further reinforce his candidacy for the MVP Award.

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The Dodgers have somewhat surprisingly been the most active team so far this offseason, signing Juan Rivera and Mark Ellis as free agents while shelling out huge bucks to retain Matt Kemp long-term. They added another free agent earlier this week, signing catcher Matt Treanor to a one-year contract worth a guaranteed $1 million. There’s also a club option for 2013.

The 35-year-old backstop spent last season with the Royals and Rangers, mustering an 82 wRC+ in 242 plate appearances, both numbers representing the second highest totals of his career. Treanor did shatter his previous career highs in walks and walk rate, drawing 34 free passes (none intentional) for a 14.0% rate. From 2004-2010, the first seven years of his career, he walked in just 8.9% of his plate appearances. Treanor nearly doubled his career walk rate in 2011 by simply not swinging the bat; he went from offering at 50.9% of the pitches he saw in 2009 to just 40.9% this year. Part of that may be explained by batting eighth ahead of the punchless Alcides Escobar for most of the season, but Treanor may have decided he just wasn’t a good hitter, so he wasn’t going to swing unless he absolutely had too.

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