Is the Columbus Crew in the midst of its greatest offseason ever?

Probably not, but the buzz surrounding Columbus' first major league professional franchise is rising more each day, and a lot of that is due to the front office's aggressive offseason moves.

Despite the departure of Robbie Rogers (a former MLS All-Eleven), leading scorer Andres Mendoza and starter Emmanuel Ekpo, the Crew is in the midst of one of its best off-season hauls in recent years.

Perhaps most surprising to some fans is that each move also appears to be targeted specifically to a need that held the team back last year as it flamed out of the playoffs in the first round for the third consecutive year. Addressing specific needs may seem fundamental in professional sports, but, unfortunately, it's also sometimes quite rare.

Last year, the Crew often lacked diversity in its attack, defensive depth and on-field leadership.

The highest profile acquisition so far, Chilean Milo Milosevic, appears to be a poor man's version of the incomparable Guillermo Barros Schelotto, but then again pretty much every one is when stacked next to the Golden One. Still, Milosevic's signing brings excitement to Columbus because he's quality. The international has played for his country, captained his club team to championships, scored regularly from a midfield position and is arriving with loads of respect.

Fans of Milosevic's former team, Universidad Católica, flooded the Crew's website with well wishes and praise for the attacking midfielder, which is a far cry from what Crew fans heard of Mendoza after his signing.

In addition to Milosevic, the Crew picked up a steady defender in Carlos Mendes from the New York Red Bulls, adding more veteran leadership and defensive depth.

Mendes often started for New York last year, and will likely start the season in the first eleven for Columbus while defender Julius James recovers from offseason surgery.

Target forward Olman Vargas, from Costa Rica, also comes to Columbus with strong reviews after scoring 17 goals over the last two seasons in the Costa Rican first division and helping his team reach the final of the 2011 Apertura season.

The Crew also continued to get young, fairly inexpensive talent through the MLS SuperDraft and the signing of two homegrown players.

Goalkeeper Matt Lampson comes to Columbus from Ohio State, and while not expected to see the field this year, his talent and pedigree — and the fact that he's from the area, grew up watching the Crew and beat cancer — will likely make him an instant fan-favorite.

Then there's the other homegrown signing, Ben Speas, a forward from the University of North Carolina.

Speas figures to play midfield for the Crew, likely on either wing, and comes to Columbus after scoring the only goal in the NCAA championship game and being named the MVP of the NCAA Men's College Cup Final.

Had Speas not signed with the Crew as a homegrown player, he likely would have gone in the first 10 picks of the MLS SuperDraft, which would have given the team two top 10 selections.

The first round selection the Crew did have went to Ethan Finlay, a forward/winger from Creighton that many soccer experts expect to have one of the biggest impacts of any rookie drafted Thursday.

Finlay was the runner up for the Hermann Trophy, which is college soccer's version of the Heisman.

Add it all up, and the moves have generated enough buzz that some fans are posting comments on Twitter and message boards suggesting that this offseason is, perhaps, the best ever, or, at least as one fan said, electric.

The excitement goes beyond online anecdotes, too.

According to the front office and at least one supporters group, season ticket sales are ahead of last year's pace, with one of the supporters groups saying it's already sold more season tickets than it did all of last year.

And there are still at least seven weeks till the season starts.

The front office has said it's in talks with a “well-known” designated player who will likely be signed before the season opener, so there’s certainly a possibility that by March 10, this offseason could go down in Crew history.