All very fair points about Escobar, though we certainly don't know the specifics. I doubt the Twins lowballed him in yearly value compared to Arizona (seriously, how much lower than $7m do you think they could even go) but it certainly could have been years. Or maybe Escobar simply changed his mind. Hard to say without any real information on the subject but, in the end, the Twins likely lost out in this exchange. As for Darvish, it's hard to look at that situation and say the Twins didn't do the right thing. So what if they didn't give him an escape clause? That's going to look even worse in a year or two if the Cubs have to pay Darvish for one entirely lost season, a good season or two, and then he escapes via a clause (though if I was a front office, I'd welcome escape clauses, as your risk is lower at the front end and higher at the back end of your average contract). As for their approach to the offseason, it will almost certainly change, as Levine has said. He questioned the approach of signing so many one-year contracts in a single offseason and given the 2018 team's performance, I doubt that's the only thing the front office is reconsidering right now.