With 10 teams qualifying for the MLB playoffs annually, there’s guaranteed to be a fair amount of turnover at the top of the mountain each season. For instance, both the 2016 and ’17 postseasons welcomed five playoff teams that didn’t earn a trip during the previous campaign. At least some of last year’s playoff-bound clubs will face a high degree of vulnerability going into 2018, then, and it would obviously behoove all 10 to make as many improvements as possible heading into the spring. This offseason has unexpectedly operated at a Pedro Baez-esque pace, leaving room for 2017’s top teams to make some significant moves over the next couple months if they wish.
As you’ll see below in this AL-focused edition, headline-grabbing transactions are likely still on the way for some of the junior circuit’s best teams from a year ago.
Cleveland Indians (2017 record: 102-60; current FanGraphs projection for 2018: 93-69): While the Indians are the odds-on favorites to win the AL Central for the third straight year, they’ve absorbed multiple blows this winter. First baseman/designated hitter Carlos Santana, who had been a stalwart for the Tribe since 2010, joined the Phillies as a free agent. Likewise, workhorse reliever Bryan Shaw and fellow late-game standout Joe Smith exited on the open market, taking away a couple members of last year’s otherworldly pitching staff. And the Indians may also lose two more notable 2017 contributors in outfielders Jay Bruce and Austin Jackson, both of whom are unsigned.
Contrary to last offseason, when the Indians’ windfall from their 2016 World Series run helped them splurge on free agent Edwin Encarnacion, they’re unlikely to make any major moves this winter. As it stands, Cleveland hasn’t created headlines aside from exercising talented but injury-prone outfielder Michael Brantley’s $12MM option, reeling in Santana’s replacement – Yonder Alonso, whose fly ball-first offensive approach led to quality results in 2017 – and picking up outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. on a minor league pact. Jackson himself took a minors deal last year and went on to thrive as a reserve, giving the Indians hope that Upton will reestablish himself in similar fashion next season.
Houston Astros (2017 finish: 101-61; current projection for 2018: 97-65): No one would have blamed the reigning World Series champions for doing little to nothing this winter, given the dearth of weaknesses on their roster. Thus far, a bullpen that was unreliable in the playoffs has been an area of focus. Even that group wasn’t in dire need of help, however, despite Luke Gregerson’s departure in free agency. Nevertheless, the Astros bolstered their relief corps with the signings of the aforementioned Smith and ex-Cub Hector Rondon, giving them two more righties to join the likes of Ken Giles, Chris Devenski, Brad Peacock, Will Harris and Joe Musgrove.
It’s possible Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow’s offseason heavy lifting is now done, though it would seem unwise to rule out more pickups. After all, the Astros have been connected to top-tier starters Yu Darvish, Jake Arrieta and Chris Archer, star outfielder Christian Yelich, and catchers J.T. Realmuto and Jonathan Lucroy on the rumor mill in recent weeks. They even showed some interest in 2017 NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton before the Marlins shipped him to the Yankees last month, and they’ve looked at free agent outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.
The shine has come off CarGo lately, but he might help replace retired designated hitter Carlos Beltran – who, despite being a highly respected veteran presence, wasn’t productive on the field last season. For now, catcher Evan Gattis is the front-runner to serve as Houston’s DH in 2018. If he does, that could open up room for a Realmuto or Lucroy acquisition, especially with Gattis and starting backstop Brian McCann likely to become free agents after next season.
Boston Red Sox (2017 finish: 93-69; current projection for 2018: 91-71): Despite their success last season, the Red Sox endured an uncharacteristically poor year at the plate as they began life after David Ortiz. While Boston did finish 10th in the majors in runs, it placed just 22nd in wRC+, 27th in home runs and 28th in ISO. Consequently, their fan base has been calling for the acquisition of a bopper to help fill Ortiz’s monumental void. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is sure to oblige at some point as he attempts to make life easier on rookie manager Alex Cora. The question is: Will the Red Sox successfully woo the premier hitter on the market, outfielder J.D. Martinez, and where would he play with the enviable OF trio of Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi in the fold?
The Red Sox and Martinez, an elite hitter with serious defensive limitations in the grass, have been in a staring contest for weeks. With free agency moving so slowly, a deal doesn’t appear imminent. Should Boston come up short in the Martinez sweepstakes, it’s unclear what it would do for a Plan B. Free agent first baseman Eric Hosmer, White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu and Orioles shortstop/third baseman Manny Machado have been on the Red Sox’s radar this winter; however, the presences of just-re-signed first baseman Mitch Moreland and DH Hanley Ramirez could complicate matters (the latter may be a release candidate, though), and acquiring Machado from the division-rival Orioles is hardly a slam dunk.
New York Yankees (2017 finish: 91-71; current projection for 2018: 91-71): The Yankees have also been in on Machado, who’d add to an already ridiculous lineup that includes the newest Bronx Bomber, Stanton, fellow 50-home run man Aaron Judge and big-hitting catcher Gary Sanchez, among others. Although swinging a deal for Machado appears unlikely, he’d fill a greater need in New York than he would in Boston. The Red Sox, after all, look set on the left side of their infield with Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts, whereas the Yankees have lost third basemen Chase Headley and Todd Frazier since last season. They also waved goodbye to second baseman Starlin Castro, who – along with two low-level prospects – went to Miami in the Stanton swap. But that was a small price to pay to get Stanton and Judge in the same lineup and outfield.
Being able to write Stanton, Judge and Sanchez into his normal lineup will put neophyte skipper Aaron Boone in an enviable spot, but the Yankees’ work isn’t necessarily done. While they’re bent on staying below the $197MM luxury tax threshold in 2018, GM Brian Cashman still seems likely to acquire at least one veteran infielder (perhaps Frazier, who remains a free agent) so as not to turn to unproven options at both second and third. Additionally, despite the re-signing of CC Sabathia and the presences of Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka (who surprisingly didn’t opt out of his contract at season’s end), Sonny Gray and Jordan Montgomery, Cashman has been on the hunt for an established, controllable starter.
The Yankees sent a haul of prospects to the A’s for multiple years’ control over Gray last summer, and it may happen again this winter for someone like Gerrit Cole (Pirates), Michael Fulmer (Tigers), Chris Archer (Rays) or Danny Duffy (Royals). Alternatively, a trade for contract-year Diamondbacks left-hander Patrick Corbin seems like a possibility. The Yankees have also shown interest in Darvish, though that looks like an improbable match when considering their tax concerns. Dumping a large portion of reserve outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury’s $68MM-plus contract on someone would help make a Darvish signing more realistic, but good luck with that.
Minnesota Twins (2017 finish: 85-77; current projection for 2018: 81-81): Speaking of Darvish, the small-market Twins have aggressively courted him this offseason as they work to upgrade an underwhelming starting staff. It’s an unlikely marriage on paper, but GM Thad Levine is familiar with Darvish from their time in Texas together. More importantly, the Twins have money available to make such a splash, as MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained in November. Whether via free agency (Darvish, Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb) or a trade (Archer?), it would behoove the Twins to add at least one proven starter to a group that lacks certainty after Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios. Otherwise, repeating as a postseason-bound team in 2018 could be a rather tall task for Minnesota, particularly with the playoff-hopeful Angels having made one well-received move after another this winter. The Twins, meanwhile, have been mostly quiet in terms of transactions, with relatively inexpensive relievers Fernando Rodney and Zach Duke being their only notable signings.
Of course, when talking about the Twins’ offseason, it would be impossible to ignore the controversy surrounding franchise building block and third baseman Miguel Sano. Last week, photographer Betsy Bissen accused Sano of assaulting her in 2015. Sano issued a denial, but the league is now investigating the claim.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
91-71 for New York? That’s it?
Its based on projections. I dont think Judge will be projected to have a year where he absolutely rakes for the whole season minus 6 weeks.
Bill James had the Yanks adjusted wins last year at 105, that was before they got Stanton. Even if you get normal years out of this line-up they should win 95 games. I do think they are a better team right now than they were last year. If Torres is on the team by June they will be even better.
What has all the other al teams done ?
Add in their starting pitching still isn’t very good
as a yankee fan i hope they win over 100 but all people are looking at is the power potential… they are going to have questionable D in the outfield, they are trusting on rookies at second and third right now. they have little depth and a good number of ?’s in the rotation. i honestly see the red sox still finishing ahead of the yankees again this year unless there are some other additions coming.
A rotation of Severino, Tanaka, Gray, Sabathia, and Montgomery is solid, no? Sure they have questions, just like most rotations out there.
Really you’re going to set your hair on fire over a projection giving them 91 wins instead of 95? Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Questionable D? How so Gardner is the left fielder gg finalist this year and won last year judge was top 3 in RF and hicks is a major upgrade all year over ellsbury
What?
don’t have Stanton and judge in the corners and then Force gardner into Center which will be questionable defense
Why does it matter what the projected wins for last year were? They won 91
He’s a Red Sox fan. 91-71 for both teams, come on. The Punch and Judy Sox are not causing high stress innings for pitchers so the starters will go deeper j to the games against them.
Losing Nunez (interest that he was not mentioned) means they are exposed in the infield.
The Yankees are missing experience at 2V and 3B however posses top of the line prospects, either one with ROY written all over 2018.
Although they are missing experience at 2B and 3B, the Yankees lineup is so stacked they can afford to have little production from those positions and still have record setting numbers. Considering the lineup stays relatively healthy, that is.
There is just as good a chance that Torreyes, Wade, Torres, and Andujar are better than Headley and Castro this year. Yanks will have a full year of Bird also.
It is a bit silly, isnt it? The 2017 Yankees went 91-71 with Chris Carter in the starting lineup, Tyler Clippard in a prominent bullpen role, Greg Bird injured, and Michael Pineda in the rotation for the first half of the year. Now they have a full year of Sonny Gray, Greg Bird, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, AND Giancarlo Stanton and the team is supposed to have the same output? Please. I didnt even need to mention that Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorious were injured for the first month or two of the season to make my point, nor did i need to mention the possibility that the production coming out of 2B and 3B can be on par if not an increase from last year with some top prospects coming up (or trades/signings) to prove my point.
Theres no way that this team should be projected to have the same record as last years team. Dont be surprised if Yankees take the AL East, they almost had it last year.
staton will be a cancer not a team player he is a IIIII player
you have downs
“y-yeah.. i didnt want him on my team anyway!!!” – red sox fans (or any other fan that just hates the Yankees for whatever reason)
What ? You’re a Clown!
Do we really need to complain about 1 projection system? If they perform better than that, can’t you just take solace in the fact that it was wrong? I’d rather be underestimated than overestimated.
I can take solace if it were to be wrong, as I did last year. However, I am going to criticize a projection system for bad projections. The only way the Yankees go 91-71 or worse is if they have injuries throughout the entire lineup.
You seem to be leaving out the fact that they have a brand new manager who has never even coached before.. Learning how to use a pitching staff correctly is more than likely going to cost them a few games early in the season.. Also, until they are filled or have back-ups you can not count on anything from 2nd and 3rd ( Frazier, Castro, and Headley produced a little over 5 WAR and are all gone).. You can argue the impact of what the early injuries caused last year but you have to also remember Matt Holiday and Ellsbury ( bit shy of 2 WAR) started very well and the former is a free agent and its doubtful Ellsbury gets 100 at-bats all year.. Try to remember that these are just projections and they don’t mean anything.. I don’t understand what all of the uproar is for..
The yankees were VERY fortunate last year in regard to injuries. They lost some playing time, but not to most of their core players and not in bunches. Tanaka’s elbow is a ticking time bomb, which I think was a big reason he chose not to opt out at the end of the season. If he gets bumped from their SP, then they will go from good potential with question marks…to concerned with question marks.
I will agree with you that injuries didnt hold back the Yankees as much as it could have, but lets not forget that Greg Bird practically missed the entire season after playing through the first month injured, Pineda blew out his elbow, Judge played through a shoulder injury, Hicks missed a good chunk of time, Ellsbury missed time, Sanchez and Didi both were hurt early on in the season, and Castro missed time. Thats a good chunk of players to have hurt and I would argue that the ones hurt were their core players. Throughout the season, you had production coming off the bench in place of the injured. Headly, Ellsbury, Romine, and Torreyes producing in place of injured starters are good examples.
I think the biggest reason for Tanaka to stay was that he felt like the money was good enough to be on such a good team. I mean, look how slow the markets are for the FA SP. Im sure teams worried about his elbow did play a factor in his decision but i dont think it was a big one. I think if the Yankees were to have missed the playoffs again last year without any signs of promise, then he would have opted out. But since they were only one game away from a WS berth, there is no reason to leave.
I would also like to argue that if Tanaka were to blow his elbow this season, the Yankees have a plethora of options to fill in the gap that he will leave. The Yankees have in-house options, such as Chance Adams, Justus Sheffield, and even Chad Green that could do just fine. The Yankees also have a wide variety of trade opportunities if they were to get desperate enough to give in to the higher demands for someone like Cole, Archer, or Fulmer. Point being, i think there are less question marks about the rotation than you think. They dont just have good potential, since they are already good, they have great potential and they have a plan A, B, and C in case those question marks turn into red alert exclamation marks.
72 wins for the Twins
Significantly low. Have you forgotten what division they’re in?
They will sweep the season series with the Tigers
The Red Sox just have so much dead money on the payroll. So much. A compelling argument could be made that they collectively have the most dead money on payroll at the moment above any other team. Nonetheless, they have great young players, but really hamstrung on what moves they can make. I don’t blame them one ounce for being gun shy with some of these current free agents and signing JD likely just amplifies their already bad problems. It’s a team that’s very uneven. Two very top end starters (at least Price in theory is), weak 3-5, weak bullpen (with a lights out closer), no offense, high upside young players.
Frankly, signing another defensively challenged player in JD in what is historically a very tough field to play in, is just a terrible idea. Stanton was their move to be honest. They missed it. I really don’t know how the Red Sox can legit improve their offense without spending big or trading big.
Calling the Red Sox bullpen weak is just silly. It was a top 5 in MLB last season. And hasn’t lost anyone that had any real role. Also Drew Pomeranz says hi. He’d like to think he’s a respectable #3 starter. As for whether it makes sense to sign JD? It depends on the contract. But they need a big bat. If they can sign JD for less than Stanton? Maybe that’s the best move.
I’m a Sox fan and I wouldn’t rely on Drew for more than 140 innings next year. The injury history is too extensive. I agree the pen was good last year and a full year of Smith could even improve it.
The issue is Hanley. The Sox would love to have all 3 OF and JD DH but it’s clear with the re-signing of Moreland they have little confidence in Hanley as a full time 1B.
I think if getting JD means trading Bradley Jr, the team might be taking a step back.
Well said and you prove my point exactly. The Red Sox are in a very odd position since addition by subtraction, might actually result in a net loss. There are no clear good moves for them to make this offseason. Literally Price could flame out even further and they have a major problem on their hands and with a whole lot of dead money coming off the books after 2018 and 2019, it’s a very slippery slope for them right now. Most teams have one bad contract relative to their overall roster/payroll, the Sox had 4 maybe 5.
And for the one that said Porcello can return to Cy Young form, that was about as random a season as I can ever remember. Good for him, but his terrible season this year was much closer to his average self. To think he’ll pitch another CY like season is a very, VERY tall order in my opinion.
The Red Sox season really hinges on Price the way I see it. Either he’s good and they’re that 91 win team. Or he sucks again and well, they’re in a very bad financial spot (again). Hence, why it’s not financially prudent to hand out any multiple year big money contracts to anyone right now. Let alone another guy who might be one dimensional. And his bat goes away, he’s not even valuable in the field all that much. People don’t understand this right now clamoring to sign JD.
Padres.
Fenway LF is not tough. Besides, DH.
Most of the dead money coming off the books after 2019 (Pablo) . Craig is already done. Hanley gone after this year. Price could opt out with a great season. Porcello could return to Cy Young form. E-Rod and Pomeranz as good a 4-5 in baseball. Pen is decent if not elite.
The key for the Sox will be the starting pitching, Sale and Price could be a good one/two punch and the others are solid. They still have the best starters in the division on paper, but you don’t win on paper.
what scares me is having 4 left handed starters, and the Yanks have 3 righty sluggers. could be a long season.
I don’t know how much I’d count on Price. I don’t think he’s totally healthy!
Hey Pete…..don’t bet on either Price having a great year or him opting out. He never wanted to play in Boston, signed only to take their money and once his intuition turned correct he has been dialing it in long distance.
He has too many miles on his shoulder and elbow. The rest of his career price is a number 3 starter at best.
Nobody will take the contract off the Sox hands. Price will go down as the worst contract in their history, and once John Henry realizes that he has to swallow it you can be that Trader Dave will be toast
Price as the worst contract ? What about Pablo? How about Castillo?
weak 3-5?
3: the 2016 cy young winner
4: a pitcher who was a top 10 AL pitcher (ERA, K/9, wins, etc.) and is yet to turn 30
try again. the red sox are being ignored because they did not hit a ton of HR and they lost in the first round of the playoffs again. they will win the division and be smart enough to rest sale so he has some gas left for the post season.
signing JD would be a bad move… too much $$ for a player who can’t play D. he isn’t good enough to move on from JBJ at small dollars.
Sale will win 6-8 games less in 2018 as he stumbles out of the gate asa result of overuse in 2017.
If they think the lineup missed Papi in 2017, all this typical Red Sox trash talk this offseason will paralyze the players with off years in 2017 to repeat in 2018.
Yankees projected to have the same amount of wins? Let me just grab some popcorn & enjoy the replies.
Yankees dont have to trade Ellsbury as they can move Gardner who will save them as much. With Frazier waiting in the wings for LF and Hicks in CF and Stanton and Judge pretty good corner OFers along with Ellsbury as a backup they should be able to sign a Darvish and still stay under the LT
Cashman has a lot of irons in the fire, he will wait and see what develops
I wouldn’t count on Frazier being an everyday player. Yanks should move him before his value drops anymore than it already has.
Congratulations, you’re the first person to think Frazier’s not an everyday player!
The Twins need an ace but they won’t get one
Twins are just getting hopes up. They’ll sign someone like Jason Vargas and say they are all set for the year.
Really they need to snag Darvish and Reed. If not Darvish then make a run at Lynn or something.
They refuse to go all in and commit to a window. I’m against trading away the farm, but when you can snag Darvish with no draft pick tied to him that’s a sign.
Mpls/stp is the 15th largest television market in the country. Their owners are billionaires. Put good players on the field and the fans will fill the seats and buy the merch. I know they have a while before the next TV contract, but wouldn’t you get paid more on that with some World Series wins as opposed to first round playoff losses against teams that only won because the outspent you?
I agree, they will sign a second tier pitcher and call it good. I heard reports of them wanting to spend big on a good pitcher, but Darvish and Arrieta don’t want to spend the last few good seasons they have left in Minnesota
no TV deal is not based on world series , I would take anybody other than twins in world series in next 5 years. Twin make money and will not spend big money they want profit not titles. will finish uner 500
Haha, yes I’m a yankee fan but honestly I’m pretty sure the Yankees will end up with more wins than last season after adding the NL MVP. Yea we lost our 2nd and 3rd basemen but gleyber Torres is supposedly going to become a star, and cash is working on probably acquiring a veteran to help mentor the young kids for this year, but this person will also produce as well. Such as a Brandon Phillips or Todd Frazier, etc. It would have to be a one year deal tho because everybody knows machado is a FA next year snd everybody knows the Yankees are a leading candidate to acquire him and are interested. The Yankees have to be in high consideration to be a 100 win team, beat the Red Sox for the division who will have a good season, and one of the favorites to win the WS right with the Astros.
I think it will be the Astros repeating OR the Yankees taking it all.
You think they repeat that 21-9 start which was led by the likes of Torreyes, Romine, Ellsbury and Headley? From then until they acquired some help at the TD they were a 500 team. Had a nice run in September beating up on the Orioles and Jays pitching which carried on to the post season. Now with a rookie manager and teams working out ways to get Judge and Sanchez out it might be a tougher road
That said I see them as a 95 W team and maybe 100 if teams like the Orioles and Rays tanks, barring injury of course
22222 if they were such a mediocre team why did they beat the Indians and almost the astros in the playoffs? Bad teams usually flame out in the division series like I suppose your Red Sox did
I’m trying to follow your logic. Yankees go 21-9 with a bunch of backups/inferior players to this year but they will be worse because as you pointed out, they struggled before acquiring the upgrades still mostly currently on the team?
Torreyes, Romine, Ells and Headley had so much playing time in part because Sanchez and Didi missed April. Add to it Carter and retreads played instead of a healthy Bird most of the year at 1b. Then, as you pointed out yourself, they struggled to .500 without Kahnle, Gray and Robertson, who are all on the team. And after criticizing Torreyes, Ells and Headley for having major playing time in April, they (and Castro) will be replaced with Torres, Andujar, Stanton, Didi, Sanchez and Bird all being healthy instead.
I’m not sure I understand why they would be worse with Kahnle, Robertson, Gray, Stanton, Bird over Clippard, a struggling Betances and Chapman, Chris Carter, Castro, Headley, Romine and Torreyes….
Yankees will set the all-time team homers record in ’18, they will easily make the playoffs
They will also lead the universe in strikeouts.
An out is an out!
Damn, last season the Indians had 17 pitchers with a FIP of 3.88 or less, and only 3 above (4.12, 4.36, 5.51). I did not know that. That’s absolutely insane. How did they lose in the playoffs????
I mean, that was literally the greatest single season by an entire pitching staff, top to bottom, that we have ever seen. Respect.
The playoffs are outlier, the best team rarely wins.
Youre right amd this year was no exception. But Cleveland was 3rd best, imo, and couldnt have taken what the Dodgers gave the Astros in my opinion.
The Indians should trade Kipnis, move Ramirez to 2B, and sign Moustakas.
Lindor-Ramirez-Moustakas-Encarnacion-Brantley-Alonso-Chisenhall-Zimmer-Perez is a pretty good lineup.
I see the Astros maybe getting the most wins since the Mariners 115, maybe 120? That would be nice!
It’s cleveland’s division to lose
Can somebody outside of Boston explain the Bogarts obsession to me? He has been a league average hitter for his career, was slightly below average with the bat least year and average to below average with the glove. Seems like an obvious place to upgrade a Red Sox offensive with few gaping holes to me.
-Astros Fan fwiw
He’s a shortstop with pop. He hit 21 hrs in 2016. Only hit 10 this past year due to injuries, especially the injury to his wrist. He even admitted he should’ve sat to let it heal instead of trying to play through it. He’s probably at least a 15-20 hr hitting shortstop, but if he can reach his potential of 20-25 hr every year as a shortstop is why he could be elite.
Ah the old wrist injury. Typically takes a year and a half or two to fully recover. Take last year out its a much prettier picture admittedly.
His career ops+ is 100 and average ops is .748 for his career with below average defense. Only once has he had the year he had in 2016 if you count 2013-15 and 2017 excluding the outlier if 2016 he’d be a below average hitter based on his ops+. I don’t understand why you would be enamored by a below average fielder and usually below average hitter
That’s like saying ellsbury had 20 hrs 2 years ago I think he’ll do it again this year because he was hurt last year. Instead of realizing the truth is he’s a subpar hitter
Except Ellsbury was past his prime, Bogaerts is only 25
It was an analogy to when ellsbury was signed they based what they believed his future performance would be off of one good season in 2012 and several seasons that were below that level surrounding that season. If he’s been below average 3/4 years most likely that is the reality along with the bad defense
I think it’ll take a few years before you can compare. He may never reach his ceiling and the Ellsbury comparison would be valid. I’m hoping the age 25 dip was similar to Can’t who’s production dipped in his age 25 season and then was a perennial allstar every year after. Heck, I’ll be happy if he hits .290-.320 with 15-25 hrs every year for the next 10 years in be Boston’s version of Jeter.
*Cano
Angels improved their team enough to move into the wild card picture next year. Right now I would say they are ahead of the Twins. Otherwise I can see the rest of these teams in the playoffs in 18.
Crystal balls seldom work in off-season predictions. Who predicted the Twins would be a WC team last year? Zero. Nobody. Every year is unpredictable, to a degree. That’s why they play the games.
Everyone talks about the Boston rotation so I’m very surprised the fact that they are so lefty heavy is hardly ever mentioned….Sale, Price, Pomeranz, Erod. Porcello is the only righty, I feel they need another quality power righty in their rotation and one less lefty.
Sanchez, judge and Stanton are going to feast on all of those lefties. The Sox would be smart to include a health insurance policy for all ticket holders in the monster when the lefties are pitching.
Or maybe the Sox can just throw nothing but curveballs and then they don’t have to worry about the Yanks.
stanton can’t hit high gas either. check out his stats
Yea! Just check out his lousy stats! Yankees got fleeced right?
I feel like there is way too many fans who don’t want any games to be played next season and are ready to give out the championship now
Humans.
With the Buffalo Bills securing a playoff spot, the Mariners are now the professional team with the longest playoff drought. Seattle hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001. With all the talent they have had, I was surprised when I heard that.
Where do people get this idea that the Red Sox are going to outright release Ramirez. Even if they sign Martinez.
You don’t release a guy who is a year removed from a .866 OPS that played hard through injuries last season. When healthy he’s good for 25 homers and an .800+ OPS. That’s not a releasable asset, especially at the dollars he’s making. He’s not going to be traded either, because he has to prove he’s healthy.
If the Sox sign Martinez, they will either have to rotate some playing time in the outfield/DH as someone is bound to get injured at some point and JBJ will have his annual epic month long slump or they can go ahead and trade JBJ and try to restock the farm system a little bit or bring in another big bat like Abreu to play 1B every day and slide Moreland into a backup role.
There’s going to be some wiggling to fit Martinez in if he signs in Boston. But that won’t be Hanley Ramirez.
I think the Twins should go for it because their division is so terrible. They won’t catch the Indians, but they could easily make the playoffs.
I think the Astros win total will go down bc the Mariners and Angels are better, plus there’s always a WS hangover.