With two weeks to go until pitchers and catchers report to spring training, the long off-season is, mercifully, nearly over. There may be a big move or two yet to come, in the tradition of the Yankees’ 1999 acquisition of Roger Clemens, but things are settled enough by now to toast the winners and jeer the failures of what was an unusually active winter.

Assigning letter grades is a pretty arbitrary task. To make it a bit less so, I’ve ranked them clearly – a team getting an “A” substantially improved itself, a team getting a “C” stood more or less still, and a team getting an “F” badly harmed itself – and assigned them in the context of what the team’s goals are, or should be, rather than simply counting up the talent acquired and sent away. That said, here are my snap judgments on the National League, with the American League to follow in next Wednesday’s New York Sun:

LOS ANGELES A- The Dodgers had the busiest off-season of any team in baseball, and perhaps the best. They fired whiz kid GM Paul DePodesta and replaced him with seasoned exec Ned Colletti, who proceeded to pick up an awful lot of talent (Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra, Jae Seo, and Danys Baez, among others) while losing nothing of consequence save free agent starter Jeff Weaver (replaced by Seo) and Milton Bradley, a fragile clubhouse cancer with a well-earned reputation for violence. Best of all, most of the veterans Colletti imported are on one-year contracts, and won’t block the products of one of baseball’s best farm systems.

FLORIDA B+/F- The Marlins gutted a very good team to save money, destroying all hopes of winning in the near future along with any good will their fans had for them. On the other hand, they acquired a staggering amount of young talent, and the last time they had one of these fire sales they parlayed it into a world championship. The high grade is for the execution of the fire sale; the low grade is for the decision to have one.

ARIZONA B Quietly, the Snakes made some excellent moves this winter. They hired Red Sox capo Josh Byrnes as GM, signed underrated starter Brandon Webb to a bargain long-term deal, picked up solid catcher Johnny Estrada from the Braves, and robbed the Blue Jays, swapping out the overpaid, fragile and iron gloved Troy Glaus for average starter Miguel Batista and Orlando Hudson, a second baseman who ranks among the game’s best defenders and wields a surprisingly potent bat.

MILWAUKEE B The Brewers are a smart team that wins nearly every deal they make. They had a quiet winter this year, but in their one big deal they traded away first baseman Lyle Overbay at the peak of his value for a heap of young, interesting, major league-ready players, a move that cleared a spot for top prospect Prince Fielder. There’s a reason the Brewers are already a trendy pick to be this year’s White Sox.

SAN DIEGO B San Diego made a lot of good deals. They resigned Brian Giles, the best player on the market, for a bargain price. They retained Trevor Hoffman, picked up Mike Piazza, and swapped out overrated scrub starter Adam Eaton for a better, younger, cheaper pitcher and a very good first base prospect, which they needed. Good stuff all around, though their exchange of Mark Loretta for a backup catcher is mystifying.

NEW YORK B- The good in the Mets’ off-season is obvious (Julio Franco!); so should be the bad. Every major player they acquired is a serious risk in some way, and they could have gotten more for Mike Cameron, Jae Seo, and Yusmeiro Petit. That said, this may be an overly harsh grade; the Mets are, on paper, the best team in the NL right now.

PHILADELPHIA B- The Phillies may deserve an “A” just for getting rid of GM Ed Wade, who should have been fired years ago. Certainly, managing to bring in a top-grade talent like center fielder Aaron Row and along with good pitching prospects for injured and expendable Jim Thome was a coup. They’re docked significantly for two whacky moves, though: signing 57-year-old Tom Gordon to a three-year deal, and trading outfielder Jason Michaels for reliever Arthur Rhodes. Zany stuff, there.

ST. LOUIS C+ The Cardinals, who have been the National League’s best team for years, did no harm by bringing on Juan Encarnacion, Braden Looper, and Sidney Ponson; these are just the sort of mediocre veterans who go on to become quasi-stars in Tony LaRussa’s system. But with health questions surrounding Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmonds getting to an age where you wonder how much longer he can keep it up, they should have considered doing something a bit more substantial.

ATLANTA C Like the Cards, the Braves didn’t do much, mostly because they didn’t need to. They swapped out top prospect Andy Marte, who had no position, for shortstop Edgar Renteria and a lot of cash, filling the hole that opened when Rafael Furcal left. They didn’t get much better, they didn’t get much worse, and they’ll win the division this year no matter how good the Mets are on paper.

CHICAGO C- Tempting as it is to give the clueless Cubs a failing grade – they spent about $20 million on a backup shortstop, three middle relievers they didn’t need, and the overrated Juan Pierre rather than getting the stud hitter they need; plus, they traded Corey Patterson, who’s a good bet to become a star in Baltimore, for nothing – I’m going to resist, if only because I’m so prejudiced against the kind of moves the Cubs made that I may be overlooking their merits.

HOUSTON D+ The Astros avoid a failing grade only because they had the guts not to play Roger Clemens’s Hamlet game and to tell Jeff Bagwell he was too hurt to help the team; these weren’t easy decisions. But you’d think a defending pennant winner could do something more than they’ve done with about $35 million of payroll savings than signing Preston Wilson.

PITTSBURGH D+ The Pirates made a nice move in locking up Jason Bay for the next few years at a reasonably low sum. Trading a useful pitcher for Sean Casey, an awfully nice guy but awfully lacking in power for a first baseman, and doing nothing else earns them a bad mark.

CINCINNATI D This team was finally sold and traded Casey, and that’s the good news. The bad news is that for seemingly the 10th year running they didn’t manage to trade one of their overrated outfielders for stuff they need, and the worse news is that they actually traded for Tony Womack, probably the worst player in baseball – and are giving him a clear shot at a starting job. Yeesh.

WASHINGTON D Trading for Alfonso Soriano when you play in exactly the sort of park most likely to quash his strengths while inflating his weaknesses is dumb. Doing so when you don’t even plan to play him at second is dumber. Doing so without asking him whether he’s willing to move to the outfield – in his walk year, no less – is still dumber. And giving up the better, cheaper Brad Wilkerson in the deal is dumbest. I like the Nats, but this was abominable.

SAN FRANCISCO D There is no joke I can make about the fact that the oldest team in history added a 41-year-old center fielder (Steve Finley) and a 36-year-old pinch hitter (Mark Sweeney, whom they signed to a multiyear deal) that will be funnier than the fact that they did these things. If Barry Bonds plays enough, these moves might not matter. But they’re still stupid.

COLORADO F When picking up Jose Mesa and Yorvit Torrealba are the winter’s keystone moves, it’s time to defend yourself to the press by pointing out that you are, after all, a Triple-A team.

tmarchman@nysun.com