First Blake Snell, now Yu Darvish: Padres go all-in, Cubs start rebuild and what’s next for MLB offseason

After a slow start to the offseason, the San Diego Padres have ignited the hot stove with a pair of blockbuster deals for starting pitchers. First, San Diego acquired 2018 AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell for prospects from the Tampa Bay Rays. Then the Padres turned around and added 2020 NL Cy Young runner-up Yu Darvish along with catcher Victor Caratini for right-hander Zach Davies and four young prospects in a blockbuster deal with the now-rebuilding Chicago Cubs. As if that wasn’t enough, San Diego also squeezed time for a free-agent signing by adding Korean infielder Ha-seong Kim.

Is San Diego’s holiday spree enough to catapult the Padres past the Los Angeles Dodgers as MLB’s team to beat? Will the moves be the biggest splash any team makes this winter? And what should the Cubs do next now that they have traded away their ace? We enlisted ESPN baseball experts Bradford Doolittle, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield to answer these questions and more.