These five MLB contenders really need to make some moves
It’s never too late in the winter to improve your baseball team. Yet once the calendar flips to a new year, the angst of incomplete rosters and dashed hot-stove dreams inch closer to reality.
Luckily for those still not fully roused from their slumber, this Major League Baseball offseason has moved at a slower pace, much quicker than the grim, glacial death march of recent pasts, but far more deliberately than it should.
With a half-dozen elite free agents still on the market, there’s time to “win the offseason” and drape a fresh jersey awkwardly over the dress shirt and tie of a nine-figure superstar. And there’s tonnage, too, and also trade possibilities – for those motivated and creative enough.
With that, USA TODAY Sports takes a look at five teams who need to do more in the five weeks before pitchers and catchers begin reporting:
Boston Red Sox
Oh, there’s been movement, but also nothing to eradicate the “What are we doing, here?” vibe that’s hovered over this franchise a few years running. For now, it’s still a lot of wishcasting – such as believing they can rehab Lucas Giolito back to his Cy Young candidate days.
HOT STOVE UPDATES: MLB free agency: Ranking and tracking the top players available.
And that Vaughn Grissom can hit enough to be a productive everyday second baseman and justify Chris Sale’s trade to Atlanta. And that Tyler O’Neill can stay healthy enough to consistently launch missiles over the Green Monster.
Activity is great, and new GM Craig Breslow has creatively augmented the core. But an offseason that passes without significant improvement to the pitching staff could only be termed more of the same – a half-measure that won’t be good enough in the AL East.
Toronto Blue Jays
Speaking of the AL East, the Blue Jays have been numbingly consistent, winning 91, 92 and 89 games the past three seasons. But those solid campaigns have yielded just a pair of two-and-out collapses in the wild-card round.
Now, after failed attempts to land Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Toronto seems stuck between staying disciplined and going big.
They’re bringing back Kevin Kiermaier and on Wednesday trotted out utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who for now represents their biggest offseason addition. Yet after missing out on Ohtani and Yamamoto, it would be challenging for GM Ross Atkins to maintain a straight face as he turns third base over to IKF and Cavan Biggio.
No, the hot corner looks like a glaring need on an otherwise stacked team that’s rightfully counting on offensive improvement from some of its stars. Perhaps they didn’t go into this winter dreaming of retaining Matt Chapman – but at this point, there’s money to burn and a glaring hole at third.
San Francisco Giants
Even if it was a possible overpay, we won’t diminish the significance of outfielder Jung Hoo Lee agreeing to a $113 million deal. The Giants got someone, anyone, to take their money and unless their baseball ops folks have gravely miscalculated, Lee will give the club healthy doses of much-needed charisma and plate discipline.
Yet the need for an innings-consuming starting pitcher – and to get the ball in the end zone with a high-end domestic free agent – is still glaring. Pairing Blake Snell with Logan Webb atop the rotation would alleviate so much on the downstream starters – Anthony DeSclafani, Ross Stripling and youngster Kyle Harrison – and give the Giants at least the veneer of a contender.
No, an offseason centered on Lee and one of the imperfect starters who will command a massive deal due to market forces was not what Giants fans or president Farhan Zaidi envisioned. But what ails this once-elite franchises wasn’t going to be solved in one winter, either. And you have to start somewhere.
Minnesota Twins
We’ll take at face value that the Twins face legitimate fiscal realities due to their local TV deal’s state of limbo. The club has earned plenty of mid-market credibility in recent years with larger commitments to free agents, most notably Carlos Correa’s $200 million signing a year ago.
Yet this winter’s attrition – most notably starting pitchers Sonny Gray (Cardinals, three years, $75 million) and Kenta Maeda (Tigers, two years, $24 million) leaves the Twins potentially stuck in the middle, with Correa surrounded by a squad possibly lacking the pitching depth to sustain their 87-win, division-title level.
Oh, the Twins won’t swim in the deepest pools with the Snells and Jordan Montgomerys. And they still have an enviable starting trio of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober. Yet it would be a shame to see what they’ve built wither due to a lack of resources. There should be a depth match in the winter endgame to fortify either or both of the rotation and bullpen.
New York Mets
Hah, never thought you’d see these fellows on this list, eh?
Yet Steve Cohen’s Winter Championship Pennants are looking a little cold atop Citi Field without any tangible baseball accomplishments alongside. And so the drawdown that began with summer trades of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander makes sense, on one level.
On another, how can a club with a payroll still approaching $275 million count Luis Severino as its No. 3 starter?
That’s the current reality in Queens amid a winter in which Severino – his 6.65 ERA for the Yankees would have been worst among starters if he’d pitched sufficient innings – is their most significant free agent signing and right-hander Adrian Houser their top trade import.
Relative restraint might be a pretty good look on these Mets, who essentially bought prospects in trading Scherzer and Verlander and launching, at long last, an organizational reboot under, finally, a permanent baseball ops honcho in David Stearns.
Still, the club is heading into Pete Alonso’s walk year with way too many bullpen holes and rotation question marks after Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana. It’s too late to win the winter, but there’s still a window to concoct an NL East contender.