Heading into the offseason Cubs fans knew immediately who the front office was targeting at the top of the free agent market. They were in on the top-four shortstops to varying degrees and ultimately signed Dansby Swanson to a seven-year, $177 million contract. Swanson was viewed as the fourth-best player from that quartet of shortstops, but we can't deny that he still makes the Cubs better and was in fact a good pick up by Jed Hoyer. Some MLB insiders even consider Swanson one of the best free agent signings of the entire offseason.

Jayson Stark surveyed a bunch of people within baseball to get their thoughts on the offseason and there certainly are some interesting results.

"So here, to help us zone in on the big storylines of spring, is an insightful panel of 29 executives, former executives, coaches and scouts. They just took part in our annual spring preview survey, and were granted anonymity so that they could speak freely. And there’s nothing we’d enjoy more than passing along their always-revealing thoughts."

The main takeaway from this survey is that the panel really loves what the Philadelphia Phillies did and that obviously begins with signing shortstop Trea Turner, who led the voting for best free agent signing. Swanson made the list, receiving five votes.

BEST FREE-AGENT SIGNINGS

Trea Turner (Phillies): 15
Carlos Correa (Twins): 11
Carlos Rodón (Yankees): 10
Aaron Judge (Yankees): 8
Xander Bogaerts (Padres): 7
José Abreu (Astros): 6
Dansby Swanson (Cubs): 5
Jacob deGrom (Rangers): 5

With that being said, several of those players also made it on the worst free-agent signings list on the survey. However, as Stark noted in The Athletic, it mainly had to do with the length of the deals that made the people surveyed vote this way for some of the players.

WORST FREE-AGENT SIGNING

Masataka Yoshida (Red Sox): 10
Jacob deGrom (Rangers): 9
Taijuan Walker (Phillies): 7
Xander Bogaerts (Padres): 5
Brandon Nimmo (Mets): 5
Andrew Benintendi (White Sox): 5
Kenley Jansen (Red Sox): 4
Mike Clevinger (White Sox): 4

Starting pitcher Jacob deGrom is the most notable name that appears on both lists, but he's not alone, as 11 other players got votes for best and worst signings. That does include the top four shortstops, and for the Cubs, Cody Bellinger and Jameson Taillon, as well.

I don't really get the worst free-agent signing vote for Bellinger because it's essentially a one-year, $17.5 million deal. There's not much risk there for the Cubs.

As for Swanson, once all the dust settled with the top shortstops, his deal didn't look as wild as the others and actually lined up with predictions made in November, before the market blew up.

Swanson: 7 years, $177 million
Correa: 6 years, $200 million (options for additional 4 years, $70 million)
Bogaerts: 11 years, $280 million
Turner: 10 years, $300 million

Swanson was one of nine players who signed MLB guaranteed deals with the Cubs this offseason and that was more than enough to earn the team the fourth most amount of votes for most improved team in the National League according to the survey.

MOST IMPROVED TEAMS ( NL)

Phillies: 23
Padres: 20
Mets: 19
Cubs: 18
Giants: 4
Diamondbacks: 2

The Cubs had plenty to improve upon this offseason and at least from an industry perspective, they did. Now, what's left to see is how much they've closed gap to the rest of the league.