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Giants Showed Interest In Luis Castillo Earlier In Offseason

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The Giants were among the teams that engaged the Mariners earlier in the offseason in trade talks regrading Luis Castillo, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The clubs obviously did not line up on a deal and Castillo is expected to open the year in Seattle’s rotation.

Seattle entertained offers on the veteran righty as a means to potentially adding lineup help and creating payroll space which they could reinvest in the offense. The Mariners seemingly never gave much consideration to moving any of their younger top four starters: George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo. Castillo is in a different spot, as he’s entering his age-32 season and on a significant contract. He’ll make $22.75MM annually for the next three years, while the deal also includes a vesting option for the ’28 campaign.

It’s not a bad contract. Castillo remains a very good starter. He turned in a 3.64 ERA with an above-average 24.3% strikeout percentage over 175 1/3 innings last year. It was his sixth consecutive sub-4.00 ERA showing. He has topped 150 innings in each of the last six full seasons. Castillo has had better than average strikeout rates throughout his career. His fastball still sits in the 95-96 MPH range. His salaries are expensive but in line with what comparable or slightly lesser pitchers like Nathan Eovaldi, Sean Manaea and Yusei Kikuchi landed on three-year terms as free agents.

At the same time, the Mariners were looking both to offload the money and command upper-level hitting talent in return. They seemingly stuck to a high asking price, which aligns with president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto’s repeated assertions that the front office was reluctant to subtract from the rotation.

Slusser writes that the Giants have unsurprisingly been unwilling to entertain including top first base prospect Bryce Eldridge in a trade. That’s not to say that the Mariners were necessarily insistent on including Eldridge in a Castillo deal, but the Giants are otherwise light on impact controllable hitting talent. The 20-year-old first baseman is the only San Francisco prospect to crack Baseball America’s Top 100 this offseason.

Tyler Fitzgerald and Heliot Ramos are coming off impressive seasons, but they’re each ticketed for everyday playing time in San Francisco. Both players have elevated strikeout rates that could have been a concern for Seattle. Marco Luciano’s prospect status has fallen thanks to defensive questions and strikeout concerns of his own. Luis Matos and Casey Schmitt probably project as depth pieces. While the Mariners presumably had varying levels of interest in some of those players, it’s understandable that the sides apparently couldn’t line up on value.

The Giants would up making a big move on the free agent front, signing Justin Verlander to a $15MM deal. The future Hall of Famer slots behind Logan Webb and alongside Robbie Ray in Bob Melvin’s staff. Jordan Hicks seems ticketed for the fourth starter role, with Kyle Harrison probably grabbing the final rotation spot. Hayden Birdsong, Landen Roupp, Keaton Winn and Mason Black are among the other options on the 40-man roster.

MLBTR Podcast: Alex Bregman, The Padres Add Players, And No Extension For Vlad Jr.

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • The Twins had a quiet offseason but projection systems have them winning the division. Are they the best team in the AL Central? (38:25)
  • Why did the Giants have a quiet offseason apart from Willy Adames and Justin Verlander? Was it ownership reluctance or Buster Posey’s conservative stance? (42:25)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Tom Murphy To Undergo MRI Due To Back Spasms

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The Giants got some frustrating injury news today, as manager Bob Melvin revealed to reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle) that veteran catcher Tom Murphy has been dealing with back spasms throughout camp and is being sent for an MRI today to determine the severity of the issue.

According to Slusser, the club believes that Murphy’s back issue isn’t a particularly serious one. Even so, it’s understandable for the Giants to be cautious with Murphy. The veteran will turn 34 in early April, and catchers often struggle to stay healthy and productive as they enter their mid-30s. What’s more, Murphy appeared in just 13 games last year and 74 games total across the past three seasons. Those struggles to stay healthy have defined Murphy’s career to this point, and last year his injury woes were compounded by difficulties at the plate with a .118/.211/.235 slash line with a 36.8% strikeout rate.

That sample of just 38 plate appearances is impossible to draw meaningful conclusions from, and Murphy slashed a sensational .292/.357/.522 with 9 homers in just 201 trips to the plate across the 2022 and ’23 seasons. On the other hand, the Giants already appeared to be open to other alternatives for the job backing up Patrick Bailey behind the plate even before Murphy’s latest injury. Sam Huff is on the 40-man roster and out of options entering 2025, making him a logical contender to supplant Murphy as the club’s primary backup to Bailey.

Beyond Huff, other options who could be in the mix are non-roster invitees Max Stassi and Logan Porter. Stassi is a particularly noteworthy potential option given that he last appeared in the majors in 2022 due to injuries and the birth of his son, who was born three months premature and spent a number of weeks in intensive care. Prior to his layoff from regular reps in the majors, Stassi had emerged as a solid regular for the Angels behind the plate, slashing .250/.333/.452 from 2020 to ’21 with solid defense behind the plate.

Murphy is in the second year of a two-year, $8.25MM deal that comes with a $4MM club option for the 2026 season. It’s hardly an exorbitant price for Murphy’s services should he be able to get healthy and post numbers anything like the .250/.324/.460 slash line he put up during his time with the Mariners from 2019 to 2023. On the other hand, however, it’s also not the sort of hefty sunk cost that could give the club pause about cutting bait should Huff, Stassi, or Porter emerge as a preferable option this spring. With Murphy sidelined at least for the time being, those alternative options for the back-up catcher job could get an opportunity to give themselves a leg up in the competition if Murphy’s injury keeps him from participating in Spring Training games when they begin next weekend.

Giants To Get LaMonte Wade, Marco Luciano More Time In Outfield

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LaMonte Wade Jr. has been the Giants’ primary first baseman in each of the past two seasons, leading the team in innings at the position. Wade’s 1631 innings at first base since 2023 more than double the 801 innings from Wilmer Flores, who’s been at first most days when Wade is out of the lineup or on the injured list. Together, Wade and Flores have accounted for nearly 85% of the team’s innings at first base.

The Giants could change that arrangement a bit this year. While Wade will still surely see plenty of time at first base, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Wade focused heavily on running and conditioning this offseason, because the Giants could use him in the outfield more frequently than in recent years. Wade isn’t the only Giant potentially moving from the infield dirt to the outfield grass. Justice de los Santos of the San Jose Mercury News writes that former top shortstop prospect Marco Luciano is headed to camp strictly as a corner outfielder.

When the Giants originally acquired Wade from the Twins, Brandon Belt was entrenched at first base in San Francisco. That led to considerable outfield time for Wade, who played 824 innings on the grass in 2021-22. Since Belt’s departure, he’s played just 154 innings in the outfield.

Moving Wade to the outfield more frequently could create some extra rest for Jung Hoo Lee as he returns from shoulder surgery or perhaps give young Heliot Ramos a day off against tough right-handed pitchers; Ramos hit .370/.439/.750 against lefties last year but just .240/.286/.387 versus fellow right-handers. Wade batted .253/.374/.377 against righties and is a career .251/.359/.431 hitter in those situations.

However, the larger motivation for getting Wade some renewed comfort in the outfield is surely the looming presence of top prospect Bryce Eldridge. The 2023 No. 16 overall draft pick is on a fast track through the Giants’ minor league system and may not be far from MLB readiness — despite only having turned 20 back in October. The towering 6’7″ Eldridge blitzed through four minor league levels in 2024, spending the bulk of his time in High-A, where he posted a comical .335/.442/.618 batting line in 215 plate appearances. Overall, he tallied 519 turns at the plate across his four minor league stops and batted .289/.372/.513 with 23 home runs, an 11.4% walk rate and a 25.3% strikeout rate.

Despite being limited to first base, Eldridge ranks 12th among all prospects on Baseball America’s top-100 ranking for the upcoming season. With just 17 games above A-ball under his belt, Eldridge doesn’t seem likely to make the jump right to the majors, though he’s a non-roster invitee in major league camp, so it’s at least possible he could mash his way into consideration.

With regard to Luciano’s move, the impetus is even more straightforward. The Giants signed Willy Adames to a club-record contract this offseason, guaranteeing him $182MM over seven years. With Matt Chapman also signed long term at third base and Tyler Fitzgerald lined up to handle second base after his 2024 breakout, there’s no real room in the infield for Luciano.

Of course, he’ll need to prove with his performance that he’s deserving of a big league spot at any position. The 23-year-old has batted just .217/.286/.304 in 126 major league plate appearances to this point in his career. He hit .250/.380/.380 in his second run at Triple-A last year but did so with an ugly 26.8% strikeout rate. That’s an improvement from the prior season’s 31.3% mark, but it’s still concerning to see so many punchouts in the upper minors.

Luciano candidly told de los Santos and other reporters that he felt “totally lost” at the plate in 2024. He’s spent the offseason working to identify and correct bad habits in his swing. Luciano conceded that he’s “a little bit uncomfortable” with the move to the outfield but took a team-first approach in embracing the position switch. He’s entering his final option year, so while this isn’t necessarily a make-or-break spring for him, he’ll need to show both strides at the plate and prove himself capable of handling the outfield in some capacity if he’s to carve out a long-term spot with the club.

Giants Could Hold Competition For Backup Catcher Role

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When the Giants signed Tom Murphy to a two-year, $8.25MM deal last offseason, the contract came with the clear expectation that he would serve as the backup to young defensive star Patrick Bailey over the next two seasons. Murphy’s veteran experience and power bat would surely pair nicely with Bailey’s youth and glove-first skill set. Unfortunately for Murphy and San Francisco, he ended up spending most of the first year of his deal on the injured list nursing a sprained left knee. Meanwhile, the Giants needed six different catchers to get through the season, including two – Curt Casali and Andrew Knapp – who weren’t in the organization as of Opening Day. With the 2025 campaign fast approaching, Murphy is another year older and another year removed from his last healthy season. So, it stands to reason that the Giants would at least consider all their options before giving him the backup job once again.  Indeed, according to Andrew Baggarly and Grant Brisbee of The Athletic, you can expect the team to hold “an open competition” for their second-string catcher job this spring. 

Murphy played just 13 games in 2024, going 4-for-34 with one double, one home run, and four walks. When he landed on the IL in early May, Giants manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Baggarly) that he would need approximately four to six weeks to recover. Yet, weeks turned into months and Murphy still could not squat behind the plate without pain. Eventually, a second MRI scan after the All-Star break showed that his sprained ligament had not healed at all (per Evan Webeck of the Bay Area News Group). A PRP injection seemed to help the healing process, but by that point, Murphy’s 2024 season was lost. On the bright side, he told Webeck in September that he hoped to be back at full strength by spring training, and there’s no reason to believe that timeline has changed.

It’s easy to see what the Giants liked about Murphy when they signed him. At his best (and his healthiest), he is a legitimate power threat, especially against left-handed pitching. He hit well when he was on the field in 2022 and ’23, batting .292 with nine home runs in 61 games. Particularly impressive were his .879 OPS and 148 wRC+ in 201 trips to the plate; no catcher (min. 200 PA) had a higher OPS or wRC+ in that span. Murphy also showed off his unusual power for a catcher in 2019 with the Mariners, a year in which he hit 18 home runs and put up a 126 wRC+ in 281 PA.

Of course, 201 PA and 281 PA are both small sample sizes, and small sample sizes have been a problem for Murphy throughout his career. He has never played more than 97 games or taken more than 325 PA in a season. As he enters his age-34 campaign, he has only crossed the 200 PA threshold in a season twice, the 100 PA threshold three times, and the 50 PA threshold four times. He has spent at least six weeks on the IL in four of the past five years. And of all the injuries he has suffered, his knee sprain last season might be the most troubling yet. Knee injuries are always worrisome for catchers, and the fact that he took so long to recover is another cause for concern. Even in a best-case scenario where Bailey stays healthy throughout this coming season and takes on as much of the catching duties as he possibly can, the Giants will still need 400 or so innings from their backup. Murphy has only caught 400 innings in a season twice, and it’s more than fair to wonder if he can handle that kind of workload in 2025.

With all that said, it works in Murphy’s favor that the Giants don’t necessarily have a better option. In January, Brisbee laid out a few of Murphy’s potential competitors, including Sam Huff, Max Stassi, and Logan Porter. Huff, who is already on the 40-man roster, was once a relatively well-regarded prospect in the Rangers organization. However, the 27-year-old has never been able to establish himself at the big league level, and he’s coming off a poor offensive season at Triple-A. Stassi, meanwhile, has plenty of MLB experience, but he hasn’t played in the majors since 2022 and has not been a productive major league since 2021. He’s the same age as Murphy and comes with even more question marks. Finally, Porter has some offensive upside, but there’s a reason he’s 29 years old and only has 11 big league games under his belt. Unlike Murphy, Huff, or Stassi, Porter has minor league options, which makes him a potential candidate to shuttle back and forth between the majors and minors as needed in a third-string catcher role.

If the Giants are willing to look outside the organization, they could make this competition a little more interesting by signing another veteran catcher like James McCann, Luke Maile, or Yan Gomes to a minor league contract and inviting them to camp. Ultimately, however, Murphy still seems like the favorite to be Bailey’s backup come Opening Day. For one thing, the $4.25MM in guaranteed money remaining on his contract isn’t nothing, and the Giants aren’t going to want to eat that unless they feel they have no other choice. What’s more, if he can stay healthy, his powerful righty bat could be a genuinely valuable weapon for San Francisco’s bench. Still, the team will at least do their due diligence this spring. If Murphy struggles in camp, and another catcher stands out, the Giants will have to make a difficult decision before Opening Day.

Giants Sign Enny Romero To Minor League Deal

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The Giants announced their list of non-roster invitees to major league camp this afternoon. Lefty Enny Romero was among that group. According to the MLB.com transaction tracker, he signed a minor league deal with San Francisco last month.

Romero, who recently turned 34, returns to affiliated ball after sitting out two seasons. The southpaw last pitched a full season in 2022, when he turned in a 3.36 earned run average across 115 2/3 innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan. Romero’s only professional experience since then has been winter ball in his native Dominican Republic. While he struggled to a 5.17 ERA during the 2023-24 offseason, he had an excellent showing this winter. Romero pitched to a 1.24 mark over 10 starts.

San Francisco’s evaluators were intrigued enough by Romero’s form to give him a look in camp. The southpaw has pitched in five MLB seasons, though he hasn’t reached the majors since 2018. He was a pure reliever during his early-career work, most of which came with the Rays and Nationals. The 6’3″ hurler has a 5.12 ERA across 146 big league innings. He fanned a league average 23.4% of opponents against a lofty 11.1% walk rate.

Romero has worked as a starter in Japan and in the Dominican Republic, so it’s possible the Giants will keep him stretched out at Triple-A Sacramento. If he gets a major league look, it’d be likelier in low-leverage relief. The Giants only have one lefty reliever on their 40-man roster: Erik Miller. They’re bringing a handful of left-handers to camp on non-roster contracts. Joey Lucchesi, Raymond Burgos, Miguel Del Pozo, Ethan Small and Helcris Olivarez are also among those who’ll be in Spring Training.

Giants Acquire Osleivis Basabe

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The Giants acquired infielder Osleivis Basabe from the Rays in exchange for cash, according to announcements from both teams. Tampa Bay designated Basabe for assignment earlier in the week. The Giants already had an open 40-man spot to accommodate Basabe.

The 24-year-old Basabe’s only big league experience came back in 2023, when he totaled 94 plate appearances across 31 games and batted .218/.277/.310. That inauspicious debut came after a more encouraging .296/.351/.426 output (95 wRC+) in Triple-A that year. However, the 2024 campaign brought significant declines for Basabe in nearly every meaningful category. He spent th entire year in Triple-A Durham, hitting .248/.293/.336. Basabe’s walk rate dropped from 7.3% to 4.9%. His strikeout rate jumped from 15.5% to 18%. His average exit velocity dipped by nearly three miles per hour, while his hard-hit rate fell by a hefty eight percentage points.

Rough as the previous season was, Basabe is regarded as a solid defender who can handle shortstop, second and third. He ranked within the top 10 prospects in Tampa Bay’s system an offseason ago and has a minor league option remaining, so the Giants can send him to Triple-A without needing to expose him to waivers.

With Willy Adames at short, Matt Chapman at third and Tyler Fitzgerald at second, there’s no immediate path to Basabe logging any kind of consistent at-bats in the majors, even if he has a big spring showing. However, the Giants’ bench is far less solidified, and he’ll join Brett Wisely, Casey Schmitt and David Villar (among others) in competing for a utility role on Bob Melvin’s bench.

Giants, Lou Trivino Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Giants and right-handed reliever Lou Trivino have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The Pro Edge Sports client will be invited to major league camp this spring.

Trivino, 33, hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2022 due to a series of arm injuries. He underwent Tommy John surgery prior to the 2023 campaign and missed all of the 2024 season due to ongoing inflammation in that elbow and a separate shoulder issue. He recently held a bullpen session for scouts — the Giants were among those in attendance — and seemingly has a clean bill of health. By signing in San Francisco, he’ll be reunited with his longtime manager in Oakland, Bob Melvin, at least for spring training.

When he’s been healthy and at the top of his game, Trivino has been a quality high-leverage arm. He throws hard, misses bats and picks up grounders at strong rates. From 2020-22, the righty averaged just under 96 mph on his four-seamer and sinker while pitching to a 3.76 ERA with a 24.5% strikeout rate, 10.4% walk rate and 48.7% grounder rate. In parts of five big league seasons, he’s tallied 37 saves and 52 holds.

The Giants recently shipped out one veteran reliever, lefty Taylor Rogers, in a trade with the Reds that looked to be more about cost-savings than improving for the upcoming season. That left Taylor’s twin brother, Tyler, and righty Camilo Doval as the Giants’ only two relievers with even two years of big league service. If he impresses in camp, Trivino can add a veteran option to a late-inning group that includes Tyler Rogers, Ryan Walker and Doval. Others in the bullpen mix include Sean Hjelle, Erik Miller, Landen Roupp, Tristan Beck, Spencer Bivens and Randy Rodriguez.

MLBTR Podcast: Jack Flaherty Back To Detroit, Max Scherzer, And What’s Next For The Padres

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Poll: Who’s Winning The Offseason In The NL West?

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The calendar has flipped to February and the start of Spring Training is just a matter of days away. While some notable free agents (including nine of MLBTR’s Top 50 MLB Free Agents for the 2024-25 offseason) remain unsigned, most clubs have already done the heavy lifting in terms of preparing their roster for the 2025 season. In the coming days, we’ll be taking a look around the league at which clubs have had the strongest offseason to this point. So far, the Mets and Cubs have decisively won the polls covering the NL East and Central respectively. Today, the focus shifts to the NL West.

The west coast represents the class of the National League given that they’ve represented the senior circuit in the World Series in each of the past two seasons. The division has sent at least two teams to the postseason in each of the past five seasons, and this offseason finds three of the club’s five teams firmly in win-now contention windows while a fourth has also begun acting aggressively. Which team has done the most to set themselves up for success this winter? Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The reigning World Series champions may have stayed mostly on the sidelines during the bidding for top free agent and $765MM man Juan Soto, but that in no way means they’ve had a quiet offseason. The Dodgers have been one of the league’s most active teams this winter, re-signing Teoscar Hernandez and Blake Treinen, extending Tommy Edman, and also making a number of additions in free agency. The club kicked off the winter by poaching lefty Blake Snell from their division rivals in San Francisco and haven’t let up since, adding Michael Conforto to the outfield and Hyeseong Kim to the infield while bolstering the bullpen with both Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, arguably the two best closers available in this winter’s market.

The most notable addition of the winter for Los Angeles, however, was surely longtime NPB phenom Roki Sasaki, who was posted despite not yet being eligible for anything more than a minor league contract and international bonus pool money. Getting Sasaki under such favorable terms would be a coup for any team, and it only serves to strengthen the Dodgers further. That’s not to say their offseason has been flawless, however. Their roster crunch reached a point where they had to sell off some of their less-necessary 40-man prospects and depth pieces like Diego Cartaya, Gavin Lux, and Ryan Brasier. Aside from that, the club’s biggest question mark in 2025 was the shortstop position, and that remains largely unaddressed as the club plans to give veteran star Mookie Betts another run at the position despite his lack of experience there. Even with a potential hole at short if Betts is unable to handle the position, however, the Dodgers have set themselves up well as they look to defend their World Series title in 2025.

San Diego Padres

It’s been a quiet and disappointing offseason in San Diego amid discord within the club’s ownership group and a clear budget crunch that has hampered president of baseball operations A.J. Preller all throughout the winter. The departures of Scott, Jurickson Profar, Donovan Solano, and Ha-Seong Kim in free agency have left the club’s strong core without much of its supporting cast, and San Diego’s hopes of landing Sasaki were dashed by their rivals in L.A. despite a strong push that made them a finalist. The club’s only big league signing to this point in the winter has been re-signing Elias Diaz to help shore things up behind the plate. It’s a welcome addition but hardly a needle mover, and it seems as though the Padres may not be able to make more impactful additions without trading a player like Dylan Cease or Luis Arraez to clear salary.

Arizona Diamondbacks

After missing the playoffs by just a hair in 2024, the 2023 NL champions have not been resting on their laurels this winter. The club re-upped with Randal Grichuk yesterday to keep a key right-handed bat in the outfield mix, and while the losses of Joc Pederson, Christian Walker, and Josh Bell to free agency are all sure to sting the lineup the addition of Josh Naylor in a trade with the Guardians should help to ease that blow considerably. By far the club’s most notable addition, however, is that of Corbin Burnes. Arizona managed to reel in the offseason’s top pitching free agent on a surprisingly favorable six-year guarantee, and the 2021 NL Cy Young award winner will now join Zac Gallen at the top of an already-strong rotation that also features Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt, and Jordan Montgomery. With that being said, the club still has one major question mark in the lineup after letting Pederson’s role as the regular DH go as-of-yet unfilled, and the club’s efforts to add a closer to their relief corps have not yet come to fruition either.

San Francisco Giants

Much like the Diamondbacks, the Giants’ offseason is highlighted by one major, splashy signing: they added shortstop Willy Adames to their infield on the largest free agent contract in club history, pairing him with recently-extended third baseman Matt Chapman to form a dynamic duo on the left side of the infield for years to come. Aside from that signing, perhaps the biggest addition to the Giants organization of the offseason was longtime franchise face Buster Posey taking over for the exiting Farhan Zaidi as president of baseball operations.

Since adding Adames just before the Winter Meetings, however, things have been fairly quiet in San Francisco. Future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander was brought in to help Logan Webb anchor the rotation after Snell departed for Los Angeles, but Verlander turns 42 later this month and it’s fair to wonder how much he has left in the tank after a difficult 2024 season. That appears to be all the club plans to do this winter, as Posey recently suggested that the organization feels “pretty set” with their offseason moves despite departures like Michael Conforto and Taylor Rogers having gone as-of-yet unanswered.

Colorado Rockies

Coming off back-to-back 100-loss seasons, the Rockies have continued to eschew the full rebuild strategy other bottom-feeders like the White Sox and Marlins have taken up in favor of retaining their veteran players to serve as a bridge to their younger pieces. That’s led to extremely quiet offseasons in recent years, and this one has been no exception to that. The club added some infield depth by signing Thairo Estrada and Kyle Farmer to one-year deals as they look to replace Brendan Rodgers, but those are the club’s only big league free agent additions of the winter.

Arguably their most impactful move was re-signing catcher Jacob Stallings on the heels of an excellent rebound season with the club last year, and he should help to solidify the catcher position until well-regarded prospect Drew Romo is ready to take over regular catching duties. The pitching staff has been almost entirely unaltered aside from the departures of Daniel Bard and Cal Quantrill, however, and there hasn’t been a bat brought in to replace the production of retiring franchise stalwart Charlie Blackmon.

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This offseason has been a bit of a mixed bag around the NL West, with three of its five clubs making multiple major additions to the roster but the other two having done very little to this point in terms of either buy-side or sell-side moves, instead largely remaining stagnant. The Dodgers have been, unsurprisingly, the most active club of the winter both within the division and arguably in baseball as a whole. With that said, however, Arizona’s coup in bringing Burnes into the fold and San Francisco’s record-setting deal for Adames are strong moves that could catapult either club back into the postseason after missing out last year. Colorado’s trend of modest offseasons has continued, however, and with the caveat that Preller can never be counted out when it comes to making bold moves, it seems that the Padres have elected to join them in that quiet approach to this point in the offseason.

Of the five NL West clubs, which one has had the strongest offseason so far? Have your say in the poll below:

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