2024-03-18 02:03:52
The Dodgers and Padres will play regular season games as part of the 2024 Seoul Series this week, while prominent free agents are still available and 28 teams continue to prepare at their spring camps in Florida and Arizona.
So the regular season, offseason, and Spring Training ARE ALL HAPPENING AT THE SAME TIME!
Given these unusual circumstances, we delayed this “Winter Winners” story as long as we might. With the likes of Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery and JD Martinez still unsigned, we might have delayed this even further, but the truth is we’re running out of time.
Last year, the Mets and Padres topped this list… and then became the latest example of how winter wins don’t count in the actual win column. But we still think it makes sense to recognize clubs that are striving to improve, and so far, we can say that these 12 teams had the best offseasons.
It’s hard to buy a World Series, but you can definitely buy your way to the top of this ranking!
By signing Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto following trading for Mookie Betts and signing Freddie Freeman in recent years, the Dodgers might have put together a true super team. And the pitching staff that ran out of gas and arms last year now has much more depth with Tyler Glasnow and Yamamoto (not to mention a healthy Walker Buehler).
According to FanGraphs, Dominican Teóscar Hernández has the sixth-highest WAR projection of any free agent position player this offseason, and it’s easy to forget that he’s on the Dodgers now. We’d list the other guys LA added here, but the internet doesn’t have enough bandwidth. Loaded winter, loaded equipment.
After a 101-win year in which they announced their arrival as an elite team, the Orioles had the trading capital to do pretty much whatever they wanted this winter. They did something pretty significant by landing 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes in a trade with the Brewers. Burnes gives Baltimore its best starter in a long time, and the importance of his arrival was heightened by the news that Kyle Bradish is recovering from an elbow injury.
The Orioles are also betting on veteran Craig Kimbrel to improve a bullpen that lost closer Felix Bautista (Tommy John surgery) last summer.
Their job is dwarfed by the Dodgers’ (and let’s be honest, they might as well be buried by the Dodgers in the division). But the Diamondbacks understood the task: A young team, without a big budget, that made an exciting and largely unexpected trip to the World Series deserved to be reinforced.
Arizona plugged its holes by adding depth to the rotation with Venezuelan Eduardo Rodríguez and adding power to the lineup with Joc Pederson and Venezuelan Eugenio Suárez, while also bringing back Cuban Lourdes Gurriel Jr. following his first trip to the All-Star Game.
If we measure these teams strictly by the potential to improve in the win column, then we might possibly rank the Royals in first place, looking at all the pieces they’ve added to a club that lost 106 games last year.
Of course, even a 20-win improvement wouldn’t be enough to make it to October. But the Royals deserve recognition following the additions of Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo, Will Smith, Chris Stratton, John Schreiber, Nick Anderson, Hunter Renfroe, Garrett Hampson, Adam Frazier and others. And Bobby Witt Jr.’s extension was a big, big win for this small-market club.
It feels a little strange to include the Padres here, given that they traded for Juan Soto, lost Josh Hader in free agency, and will, in all likelihood, eventually lose reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell in free agency too.
But front offices work with budgets, and Padres president of baseball operations AJ Preller deserves credit for using a more limited budget to make the most of that difficult situation by strengthening the pitching staff with the package received. in exchange for Soto, led by starter Michael King. And of course, because Preller is Preller, the Padres ended up landing one of the most coveted pitchers on the market, White Sox ace Dylan Cease, just before leaving for Korea to augment what is suddenly a very interesting rotation .
The Padres lost some big names but will still enter the season as real contenders to make the postseason. That is difficult to achieve.
Scouts are divided on the level of impact Jung Hoo Lee will have in MLB, but his contact skills should add depth to the lineup, and his defense in center field should be high-impact. Cuban Jorge Soler gives the Giants the power they needed so much. Matt Chapman is, at the very least, a valuable hot corner defender who might get his offense back on track following signing a low-risk contract. Additionally, it will be interesting to see what the Giants get from Robbie Ray, obtained in a trade with Seattle, in his expected second-half return from Tommy John surgery. It also remains to be seen what Jordan Hicks is capable of doing as a starter.
Oh, and if you’re going to make a manager change, it’s hard to do better than getting three-time Manager of the Year winner Bob Melvin.
Given the uncertainty surrounding Gerrit Cole right now, it’s fair to claim, as Yankees fans have done for months, that more than Marcus Stroman’s signing was needed to improve the Yankees’ rotation.
But acquiring a player of Soto’s caliber is undoubtedly the type of move that puts you on an offseason “winners” list, and now he joins Aaron Judge to form one of the scariest duos in the game. game. The Yankees also strengthened the outfield with Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham.
By acquiring and subsequently dumping Marco Gonzales, Evan White and Matt Carpenter, the Braves took on some bad contracts to achieve what they hope will be good results. They added some bite to a group that has underperformed the last two Octobers by betting on the health and recovery of Chris Sale, and hoping Jarred Kelenic can reach his full offensive potential.
Both are dubious propositions, so the Braves’ winter wasn’t a clear winner (and obviously, surpassing 2023’s 104-58 record is a difficult, if not impossible, task). But when you add the work done to improve the bullpen with Reynaldo López, Aaron Bummer and Ray Kerr, well, that counts as a good winter for the always creative Alex Anthopoulos, the team’s head of baseball operations.
With so much money already committed, Houston wasn’t expected to do much on the free agent front. Therefore, the big investment in closer Hader was a very pleasant surprise, and perhaps necessary, given the departure of free agents such as Hector Neris, Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton, and the shoulder injury that sidelined him. to Kendall Graveman.
The Astros also secured Venezuelan José Altuve with an extension until 2029, one of those good news for the soul.
10 (tie). Reds, Cubs and Cardinals
These three clubs offer three versions of the same theme: Making a sincere enough effort in the offseason to merit inclusion in this ranking, but not doing enough to become the clear favorite in the open NL Central.
One of the most pleasant surprises of 2023, the Reds improved their pitching staff with the Dominican Francelis “Frankie” Montas, Nick Martínez, the Puerto Rican Emilio Pagán and Brent Suter. The addition of Jeimer Candelario to an already crowded infield was a bit disconcerting at first, but the importance of Candelario’s personality and power increased substantially with the suspension of the club’s top prospect, fellow Dominican Noelvi Marte.
If managers matter (and we think they do), the Cubs secured one of the best by snatching Craig Counsell from the Brewers. They also brought back Cody Bellinger and added Shota Imanaga to the rotation and Hector Neris to the bullpen. Michael Busch, arrived via trade, is a power infielder who is ready for the Major Leagues.
Only 25 pitchers had 180 or more innings last season. The Cardinals had only one of them, Miles Mikolas. Now, they have four with the additions of Sonny Gray, Kyle Gibson and Lance Lynn. There is healthy skepticism regarding the specific way the Cardinals addressed their rotation needs, because this is a fairly old group (and among position players they also gained quite a few years with the signings of Brandon Crawford and Matt Carpenter). But at a time when they might have regressed following a bad year, the Cardinals instead filled several holes.
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