Two of the most interesting offseasons in baseball belonged to the White Sox and Cubs. The White Sox made the big trade for Jeff Samardzija and signed free agents Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche and David Robertson. The Cubs signed Jon Lester and Jason Hammel and traded for Dexter Fowler to join their group of developing youngsters.

Both clubs finished 73-89 a year ago, and both could be popular sleeper picks to make the postseason in 2015. Which is the better team? Let's go position by position.

Catcher: Tyler Flowers vs. Miguel Montero

Montero was an All-Star with the Diamondbacks in 2014, but his offensive production has regressed from 2011 and 2012, when he hit .284/.372/.454. He has been worked heavily in recent years, starting 130-plus games in three of the past four seasons, and he can't hit left-handers (.198 in 2014), so the Cubs would be smart to give him a few more off days, probably in a strict platoon with David Ross or Welington Castillo. But they picked Montero up as much for his defense as his bat, as he is a better pitch-framer than Castillo. Flowers has power (15 home runs) but owns a .287 career OBP. He is about league average at throwing out base stealers but doesn't have the same overall defensive reputation as Montero.

Edge: Cubs.

First base: Jose Abreu vs. Anthony Rizzo

LaRoche is a better defensive first baseman than Abreu, but the White Sox will probably end up in a time-share with the two between first base and DH. For this little discussion, we'll just compare Abreu and Rizzo. It's certainly a fun debate, as both players could be MVP candidates in 2015.

One interesting thing to watch in 2015 will be how Abreu consolidates his talents. In the first half of last season, he hit .292 and slugged .630 after swatting 29 home runs; in the second half, he hit .350 but slugged .513 as he just seven home runs. Abreu did not see more off-speed stuff in the second half even though he destroyed fastballs (hit .372 on the season against them), but pitchers seemed to challenge him less and his walk rate improved while he struck out less often. Imagine if he combines his first-half power with his second-half batting average ...

Anyway, the Steamer projection system has Abreu hitting .285/.358/.537 with 35 home runs and Rizzo hitting .271/.360/.503 with 32 home runs. Similar numbers, but Rizzo picks up points on defense and projects to a 4.7 WAR compared with Abreu's 4.0. I'll take the over on both guys as I think Abreu will hit over .300 and Rizzo will approach a .400 OBP again.

Edge: White Sox. Really, this is a coin flip. Rizzo is the better defender, which is valuable, but Abreu's bat could be Cabrera-like special with a year of experience under his belt.

Second base: Emilio Bonifacio vs. Javier Baez

Really, both positions are open. The White Sox just signed Gordon Beckham to battle Bonifacio and Carlos Sanchez for the starting job. Following Baez's woeful debut in 2014, the Cubs acquired Tommy La Stella from the Braves as a backup in case Baez has to return to Triple-A.

Edge: Cubs. Baez may strike out 200 times but could hit 30 home runs. We know Bonifacio and Beckham aren't that good.

Third base: Conor Gillaspie vs. Kris Bryant

Bryant, Keith Law's No. 1 MLB prospect, will likely spend a few weeks in the minors at the start of the season to save on his service-time clock, but he should start mashing as soon as he gets called up. Gillaspie is a platoon third baseman who rode a hot first half to a decent season, but he lacks power and hit just .228 after the All-Star break.

Edge: Cubs. This could be a problematic position for the White Sox.

Shortstop: Alexei Ramirez vs. Starlin Castro

The underrated Ramirez plays every day -- 158 games in each of the past four seasons -- and while he's not a high OBP guy, he did pound 52 extra-base hits in 2014. Castro rebounded from a rough 2013, a season in which he hit into a lot of bad luck when you dig into the numbers, to bat .292 with 48 extra-base hits. Defensively, the metrics back up the belief that Castro is a below-average shortstop. Ramirez has a good reputation, but he's 33 and the stats suggest that he has lost a step the past couple of years.

Edge: Cubs. Another coin flip, but Ramirez's defensive edge has diminished and Castro has the slight edge at the plate.

Left field: Melky Cabrera vs. Chris Coghlan

The White Sox surprised everyone by signing Cabrera as a free agent in December, coming off his .301/.351/.458 season with Toronto. Coghlan will be the strong side of a platoon in left, likely with Chris Denorfia, and is coming off his first good season since winning rookie of the year honors way back in 2009 with the Marlins. I wouldn't bet on a repeat.

Edge: White Sox.

Center field: Adam Eaton vs. Dexter Fowler

Eaton hit only one home run last season and has had durability issues, but I love his game. He gets on base and plays an excellent center field. Fowler transitioned well from Colorado to Houston, maintaining his offensive numbers. His defensive metrics have consistently been below average, both by defensive runs saved and ultimate zone rating. Like Eaton, Fowler has had issues staying on the field, missing more than 80 games the past two seasons.

Edge: White Sox. I'll go with Eaton's defense over Fowler's power advantage.

Right field: Avisail Garcia vs. Jorge Soler

Two young guys trying to prove themselves. I've never been a big fan of Garcia's profile; he doesn't walk, isn't a plus defender and doesn't have the power to overcome his mediocre on-base skills. Soler's upside is much higher if he can stay healthy, which he had problems doing in the minors.

Edge: Cubs.

Bench

The White Sox have LaRoche for DH duties and Bonifacio as the super utility guy if he's not playing regularly at second base, but there's no power and no obvious fourth outfielder of value. The Cubs will use Arismendy Alcantara in center and as a second-base option if Baez flops. Castillo becomes one of the better backup catchers in the game. The Cubs have Denorfia and Ryan Sweeney as seasoned backups in the outfield.

Edge: Cubs, although neither team is real strong here.

No. 1 starter: Chris Sale vs. Jon Lester

Over the past three seasons, Sale was 40-26 with a 2.79 ERA/3.03 FIP while pitching in a hitters' park and averaged 6.5 WAR per season. Lester went 40-33 with a 3.65 ERA/3.49 FIP, averaging 2.8 WAR per season. Lester has been more durable, is coming off his best season and could see his numbers spike as he moves to the National League. Even while emphasizing Lester's improvement in 2014, I'll go with Sale, probably my American League Cy Young pick.

Edge: White Sox.

No. 2 starter: Jose Quintana vs. Jake Arrieta

You can quibble over whether Quintana or Samardzija will be the No. 2 guy for the White Sox, but the underrated Quintana has been the more consistent performer. After years of potential but poor performance in Baltimore, Arrieta put everything together with the Cubs in 2014, posting a 2.53 ERA with 167 strikeouts and just 114 hits allowed in 156 2/3 innings. Arrieta reportedly added a cutter -- although he calls it a hard slider and the data systems also deem it a slider. Either way, he threw that hard slider a lot more often in 2014 and with great success, as batters hit .184 against it. In 2012, when he had a 6.20 ERA in 114 2/3 innings with the Orioles, batters hit .297 and slugged over .600 against it. Factor in his improved fastball command and a wipeout curveball and Arrieta's total arsenal was ace-like.

Edge: Cubs. Arrieta has to prove he can do all that for 200 innings, but I think he's the real deal.

No. 3 starter: Jeff Samardzija vs. Jason Hammel

The Cubs re-signed Hammel after trading him to the A's along with Samardzija, a nice under-the-radar signing. Hammel had a terrific half-season with the Cubs, a much better performance than anything he ever did in the AL. Was it just a hot three months, or did he benefit that much from pitching in the NL? I'm inclined to think he was a little over his head. Not that you should judge pitchers by their win-loss records, but Samardzija has gone 9-13, 8-13 and 7-13 the past three seasons. I don't expect him to go 6-13 in 2015.

Edge: White Sox.

No. 4/5 starters: John Danks/Hector Noesi vs. Kyle Hendricks/Travis Wood/Tsuyoshi Wada/Edwin Jackson

Not only are Danks and Noesi not very good, but the White Sox also don't have much behind those two. James Shields would be a great fit, but there's probably no more room in White Sox GM Rick Hahn's budget. Hendricks is a ground ball specialist who doesn't throw hard and doesn't strike out a lot of guys but throws strikes and has always put up excellent results, including a 2.46 ERA in 13 starts as a rookie. His FIP was 3.32, which is more in line with what to expect in 2015, but I like him as a back-end guy.

Edge: Cubs. Much more depth here.

Bullpen

The White Sox signed free-agent closer Robertson to help a bullpen that ranked 28th in the majors in ERA in 2014. The rest of the crew returns -- and it includes some good arms -- but the White Sox had the worst walk rate in the majors. The Cubs quietly came up with a solid one-two-three punch in Hector Rondon, Neil Ramirez and Pedro Strop, giving them their best bullpen in years.

Edge: Cubs.

Overall, I like the Cubs to post a better record. The White Sox have potential holes at second base, third base and the back of the rotation. Yes, the Cubs are counting on young guys like Baez, Bryant and Soler, but two of those are good bets to be productive major leaguers in 2015. Lester and Arrieta could be a dynamite one-two punch. The Cubs probably have the tougher division, where they will have to battle the Cardinals and Pirates, but I like them to win 85 games or so. I see the White Sox more around .500.

What do you think?