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2021-22 Offseason In Review

Offseason In Review: Chicago White Sox

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The White Sox filled their right field vacancy by making a long-awaited Craig Kimbrel trade, otherwise focusing on signing Kimbrel’s replacements rather than compensating for the departure of Carlos Rodon.

Major League Signings

Options Exercised

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

After a disappointing ALDS loss to the Astros, the White Sox kicked off their offseason by exercising their hefty $16MM option on reliever Craig Kimbrel.  The righty had struggled after a crosstown trade in which the Sox paid the high price of Nick Madrigal and Codi Heuer.  The White Sox seemed intent on trading Kimbrel all along, and at the time their choice on the option seemed related to having given up Madrigal for him.  As I wrote in December, “[White Sox GM Rick] Hahn has gambled that whatever he gets back will be better than just paying the $1MM buyout on Kimbrel and spending the money in free agency.”

At the time it needed to be made, the Kimbrel decision involved some financial risk for a club that has never been willing to run a payroll near the first competitive balance tax threshold.  Days later, in what seemed a related choice payroll-wise, the White Sox declined to issue a one-year, $18.4MM qualifying offer to lefty Carlos Rodon.

Especially with the benefit of hindsight that the White Sox would make no major commitments to their rotation, the Rodon decision must be read as the club thinking that the southpaw accepting the qualifying offer would have been a bad thing.  It’s hard to say whether Rodon would have accepted.  He was one of the game’s best pitchers through mid-July last year, but lost velocity and was handled carefully after that due to shoulder issues.  Rodon went on to sign a two-year, $44MM deal after the lockout with the Giants that allows him to opt out after the first year if he reaches 110 innings.  Rodon’s market would have been different if he had a qualifying offer attached, due to draft pick forfeiture.

In granting righty Lance Lynn a two-year, $38MM extension last July – similar to the contract Rodon would eventually sign – it might be that the White Sox felt they could choose only one of their 2021 aces.  That’s only true in that owner Jerry Reinsdorf decided not to set a payroll that would accommodate both.  So, the White Sox received no compensation for Rodon’s departure, while Lynn had knee surgery earlier this month and isn’t expected to make his season debut before his 35th birthday on May 12th.  The second half of the season will determine whether the White Sox made the right bet: Lynn will be a big factor in Chicago’s rotation, and we’ll learn whether Rodon holds up all year.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the White Sox showed “strong interest” in Justin Verlander before he reached an agreement to re-sign with the Astros on November 17th.  That would’ve been a reasonable way to fill Rodon’s shoes, but competition for Verlander was fierce and the Astros were at the top of his list.  Most other top free agent starting pitchers signed prior to the lockout as well, and the White Sox weren’t rumored to be interested in them.

Otherwise, the White Sox made a pair of free agent strikes before the December 2 lockout.  They gave out a pair of decent-sized three-year deals, adding setup man Kendall Graveman and retaining super-utility man Leury Garcia.  The Graveman signing laid groundwork for the eventual Kimbrel trade, ensuring the team would remain strong in the late innings behind top closer Liam Hendriks.  Garcia garnered a larger commitment than expected, but would end up as part of the team’s second base solution.

Rick Hahn’s first post-lockout move was to finish off that second base combo with the signing of Josh Harrison.  Through nine games of the season, manager Tony La Russa has split second base time evenly between Garcia and Harrison.  Harrison is a righty batter with a modest platoon split, with a 113 wRC+ against southpaws from 2020-21.  Garcia, a switch-hitter, is also better against lefties.  From 2019-21, Garcia and Harrison sport identical 83 wRC+ marks against right-handed pitching.  So for the 70% of the time a righty pitcher is on the hill, the White Sox figure to have a fairly easy out coming from the second base position in the lineup.

On the same day as the Harrison signing, the White Sox somewhat surprisingly moved to further bolster their bullpen with the signing of Joe Kelly.  Not only was the team surprising given Chicago’s existing bullpen commitments, but Kelly had exited Game 5 of the NLCS with biceps tightness and still secured a strong commitment.  His White Sox debut has been delayed by at least a couple of weeks due to the injury.  When Kelly is healthy, he, Graveman, and Aaron Bummer can form a very strong bridge to Hendriks.

After the lockout, the White Sox added only back-end starting pitchers to cover for the loss of Rodon and ineffectiveness of Dallas Keuchel, as Lynn had not yet gotten injured.  Vince Velasquez, 29, has longstanding control issues that pitching coach Ethan Katz will attempt to solve.  Johnny Cueto, meanwhile, can be a source of veteran innings.  The White Sox can still plan a hopeful playoff rotation of Lucas Giolito, Lynn, Dylan Cease, and Michael Kopech.  While their depth to cover April injuries to Lynn and Giolito isn’t impressive, if everyone is healthy this will be a fearsome rotation.

The White Sox made efforts to trade for Sean Manaea or Frankie Montas, and Montas remains available.  According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Sox “nearly acquired” Manaea from the A’s before the Padres closed the deal.  Nightengale suggests the A’s have sought Andrew Vaughn from the White Sox for Montas.  If nothing else, these rumors suggest the White Sox know they’re a bit short on pitching depth, especially with Keuchel’s struggles last year and Kopech’s likely innings limit.

On April 1st, the White Sox finally found a match for Kimbrel, sending him to the Dodgers for AJ Pollock.  This was a strong move for the White Sox, vindicating their decision to exercise Kimbrel’s option.  In the 34-year-old Pollock, the White Sox effectively fill their right field vacancy with a player who posted a 135 wRC+ over 632 plate appearances from 2020-21.  Pollock’s injury history suggests he’s good for about 115 games per year, so the Sox will be covering his absences with Adam Engel and Vaughn.  The White Sox can’t exactly time when Pollock will get hurt, but the goal will be to have him active for the playoffs.  The Sox also completed a smaller swap with the Collins-McGuire deal, improving their defense at the backup catcher position.

With Yasmani Grandal behind the plate, Jose Abreu at first base, Tim Anderson at shortstop, Yoan Moncada at third, Eloy Jimenez in left, and Luis Robert in center, the White Sox came into the offseason with a strong core of hitters.  Pollock only deepens that mix.  Vaughn, the third overall draft pick in 2019, should bounce around between the outfield corners, first base, and DH depending on the team’s needs.  Anderson is under team control through 2024, Moncada through ’25, Jimenez and Vaughn through ’26, and Robert through ’27.

In the aggregate, the White Sox didn’t necessarily do much to improve upon last year’s 93-win team.  When Pollock is healthy, they’ll clearly be better in right field, and the team won’t have to play Vaughn at an outfield corner.  Second base is mostly a wash.  They covered the losses of Kimbrel and Ryan Tepera with Graveman and Kelly, but also lost Garrett Crochet to Tommy John surgery.  The rotation is worse off for the loss of Rodon, but Kopech and/or a future trade might fill much of that void.  But maybe this was enough – the White Sox remain the clear favorite in the AL Central, and Tony La Russa’s crew is a credible threat to win the World Series in 2022.

Offseason In Review: Atlanta Braves

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The Braves are coming off a World Series title, but they didn’t merely attempt to run it back with last year’s roster. Instead, they allowed one of the faces of the franchise to depart in free agency. In his place, they acquired a hometown star whom they quickly signed to an extension. They also fortified the late innings by adding a few of the best relievers on the open market as they attempt to repeat.

Major League Signings

Total spend: $62.15MM

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Notable Losses

Freddie Freeman, Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson, Drew Smyly, Jesse Chavez, Chris Martin, Ehire Adrianza, Johan Camargo, Abraham Almonte, Stephen Vogt, Richard Rodriguez, Edgar Santana, Josh Tomlin, Terrance Gore, Grant Dayton

Coming off the club’s first World Series title since 1995, the Braves figured prominently in the hot stove season, if not quite as predicted. Despite a widespread (if dwindling) industry consensus that franchise cornerstone Freddie Freeman – the lone holdover from the period preceding the rebuild that followed its 2014 second-half collapse – would ultimately return to Atlanta, GM Alex Anthopoulos acted quickly when the lockout lifted, sending four prospects to the A’s for Matt Olson and signing him to a club-record eight-year, $168MM contract less than a day later.

Upsetting as the move may have been for Braves fans used to Freeman smiling and hugging his way through the Atlanta summer, Olson is one of a very small handful of first basemen capable of replacing the new Dodger’s ample production. From 2019 to 2021 (a period that includes Freeman’s monster 60-game MVP run in 2020), the Braves’ erstwhile face of the franchise compiled an elite .304/.402/.544 batting line, while his replacement put together a strong (if less eye-popping) .257/.354/.522 triple-slash. A closer look at the pair’s respective batted ball numbers suggest that Olson likely possesses a bit more power (he homered in 6.1% of his plate appearances over the same period, compared to Freeman’s 5%) if a bit less command of the strike zone (striking out 22.4% and walking 11.8% of the time compared to 16.4% and 13.2% for Freeman).

While the loss of a franchise stalwart could have downstream effects beyond questions of on-field performance, a closer look suggests Olson’s deal might actually offer the Braves more per-dollar value than Freeman likely would have had the club accepted either of the proposals reportedly put forward by his agent (per Buster Olney of ESPN): $175MM over six years or $165MM over five – or, for that matter, the six-year, $162MM pact he ultimately signed with the Dodgers. OPS+ (a park-adjusted metric that accounts for the fact that Freeman played his home games at roughly neutral Truist Park while Olson toiled in the pitcher-friendly confines of the Oakland Coliseum) gives Freeman only a slight edge (143 to 139) over the 2019-2021 period, with Olson’s 153 2021 mark solidly outpacing Freeman’s 134. Adding to the mix Olson’s superior defense – the 2021 Fielding Bible Awards ranked Olson second (to Paul Goldschmidt) and Freeman eighth – and the fact that he’s four years younger than Freeman makes the case for the long-term superiority of the former Athletic perfectly sound.

And though the question of Freeman’s future has clearly loomed largest in Anthopoulos’ mind since November, first base was hardly the only position at which the Braves began the offseason in flux. Indeed, of the four outfielders the Atlanta GM acquired ahead of the 2021 trade deadline (Joc Pederson, Adam Duvall, Jorge Soler, and Eddie Rosario), only Duvall (whom the Braves had non-tendered only a few months prior) came with any control beyond the season’s final two months. Both Soler (who got a three-year, $36MM deal with the Marlins) and Pederson (one-year, $6MM with the Giants) ultimately signed elsewhere, but the defending champs brought back Rosario –something of a folk hero in Atlanta after his MVP performance in the 2021 NLCS felled the Dodgers almost single-handedly – on a two-year, $18MM commitment, with a buyout-free $9MM option for 2024.

Anthopoulos reportedly maintained interest in Soler (the 2021 World Series MVP) even after re-signing Rosario, but the presence of Marcell Ozuna – who signed a four-year, $65MM deal ahead of the 2021 campaign but spent most of the season on administrative leave following a May  domestic violence arrest – always suggested that Soler, who has a similar profile on both sides of the ball, was unlikely to be more than a rental. Ozuna has spent the early portion of 2022 alongside Duvall and Rosario in the outfield, but he’ll likely return to the DH role that he occupied for most of his dominant 2020 campaign following the return of Ronald Acuña Jr. from knee surgery, which is expected in late April or early May.

Whether Acuña plays right or center field upon his return remains to be seen. Duvall, who played center through the Braves’ 2021 playoff run but often gave way to Guillermo Heredia late in games, opens the season in center, but he’s a career corner outfielder (if a very good one). Heredia remains on the roster as the club’s fourth outfielder, but the departure of Cristian Pache (possibly a perennial Gold Glover if he can hit enough to stick in the bigs) in the Olson deal leaves Acuña – whom the Braves had previously seemed intent on penciling into right field for years to come – as the most plausible center fielder on the roster. This could change, of course, should either of the Braves’ top outfield prospects – Michael Harris and Drew Waters – force his way to the bigs at some point in 2022.

Beyond Olson and Rosario, though, the Braves didn’t do much to bolster an offense that ranked 13th in wRC+ in 2021, reportedly kicking the tires on Carlos Correa but ultimately adding only backstop Manny Piña (on a two-year, $8MM deal) to be Travis d’Arnaud’s deputy and outfielder Alex Dickerson (1-year, $1MM) to DH until Acuña’s return and offer some punch off the bench thereafter. (Dickerson’s deal was initially non-guaranteed, but he has since made the team.) Even so, they’ll hope for improvement in production from Ozuna’s return to action (and return to form after a disappointing start in 2021) and roughly 120 games from a healthy Acuña, as well as a deeper catching unit that won’t require manager Brian Snitker to give significant at-bats to Kevan Smith, Jonathan Lucroy, and Jeff Mathis should d’Arnaud suffer another injury like the torn thumb ligament that sidelined him for the bulk of 2021.

The Braves will also hope for continued production from what’s arguably one of the game’s best infields. Third baseman Austin Riley, who rebounded spectacularly from a mediocre showing in 2020 and an ice-cold start to 2021 to the point that he garnered a number of down-ballot MVP votes, could emerge as a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the Braves’ order. The double-play combination of Dansby Swanson (an impending free agent) and Ozzie Albies (under club control through 2027 for far less than market rate) provides substantial up-the-middle power potential (Swanson slugged at a .449 clip in 2021, Albies .488) if a bit less in the way of on-base rate (Swanson notched a .311 OBP in 2021, Albies .310) than might be desired.

On the pitching staff, Anthopoulos opted to stand pat in the rotation – Max Fried, Charlie Morton, and Ian Anderson anchor a group that opens the season with Huascar Ynoa and Kyle Wright in the fourth and fifth slots – but added substantial talent to a bullpen that had already proven itself capable of October dominance. He added Kirby Yates (expected to return around the All-Star break after undergoing Tommy John surgery in March 2021) on a two-year, $8.25MM pact ahead of the lockout and the versatile Collin McHugh for two years and $10MM shortly after it was lifted, as well as Tyler Thornburg on a non-guaranteed one-year deal and Darren O’Day on a minor-league deal (both have since made the team).

But the most surprising development came shortly after the open of Spring Training when longtime Dodger Kenley Jansen signed a one-year, $16MM deal to displace lefty Will Smith in the closer role. News of Luke Jackson’s season-ending arm injury (he’s since undergone Tommy John surgery) dampens expectations, but only minimally. Alongside the incumbent ‘Night Shift’ (a coinage of lefty Tyler Matzek to describe himself and fellow high-leverage arms Jackson, Smith, and A.J. Minter during the 2021 playoffs), Yates, McHugh, and Jansen give the Braves a strong case for the game’s best ’pen, even without Jackson in the fold.

As deep as the Atlanta bullpen looks on paper, though, the rotation appears comparatively thin. After losing Drew Smyly (who received a one-year, $5.25MM guarantee from the Cubs), Anthopoulos likely looked for a veteran innings-eater but evidently came up empty. Fried, Morton, and Anderson form a solid core, while either or both of Ynoa (who looked like the Braves’ best starter early in 2021 before breaking his hand punching the dugout in Milwaukee) and Wright (who’s lost much of his high-end prospect luster but dominated Triple-A in 2021 and turned in a crucial performance in long relief in Game 4 of the World Series) could settle into a spot in rotation.

Should any of this bunch succumb to injury or ineffectiveness, though, the Braves would be forced to turn to a stable of high-upside but unproven arms that includes Kyle Muller, Tucker Davidson, Bryce Elder, Touki Toussaint, and Spencer Strider. They’ll also hope for the return of Mike Soroka (who ruptured his Achilles tendon in his second start of the 2020 season before re-tearing the ligament while walking in the Braves’ clubhouse) at some point, but no one will be quite sure what to expect from the onetime ace-in-waiting after such a long layoff and a pair of career-threatening surgeries.

There’s a reason no team has repeated as World Series champs since the Yankees’ three-peat from 1998 to 2000, and the 2021 Braves – who didn’t spend a day over .500 until early August – were almost certainly not the ‘best’ team in baseball before they captured a virulent strain of October magic that will live in Atlanta sports lore for generations to come. And even after finishing second in attendance in 2021 and reporting a substantial revenue increase in October, corporate ownership group Liberty Media appears to have signed off on only a relatively modest payroll increase, pushing the Braves into the upper third of payrolls but well shy of the luxury tax threshold. Still, there’s a solid argument that the 2022 Braves could be a stronger overall club than their 2021 counterparts – particularly if they can stay healthy. The NL East should be much improved, but this year’s Braves team looks just as equipped as last season’s to make a deep run.

Offseason In Review: Oakland Athletics

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Even before general manager David Forst kicked off the offseason by acknowledging a need to listen to trade offers on his core players, a large-scale teardown wasn’t hard to see coming. The A’s spent the bulk of the winter in trade talks that resulted in four fan favorites being dealt for prospects, and the lack of subsequent moves to reallocate the money they saved further underscores that this is a team looking at 2023 and beyond.

Major League Signings

Option Decisions

Trades and Claims

Extensions

None

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

The “Notable Losses” section of the introduction to this review would be a better foundation for a roster than several teams throughout the league currently have — Oakland among them. Heading into the offseason, the A’s had the option of paying their core arbitration class a projected $53.7MM, adding that to the guaranteed salaries of Elvis Andrus ($7.75MM, when including cash received from the Rangers) and Stephen Piscotty ($7.25MM) and then rounding out the roster with pre-arb players and whatever offseason additions they might’ve seen fit to add.

Surrounding the group of Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Sean Manaea, Chris Bassitt, Frankie Montas, Ramon Laureano, Tony Kemp, Lou Trivino, Chad Pinder, Deolis Guerra, Andrus and Piscotty with pre-arbitration players would’ve left the A’s with a payroll in the $80-85MM range — a stone’s throw from 2019’s franchise-record Opening Day mark of $92.2MM. A’s ownership instead opted to tear it down and let longtime manager Bob Melvin depart for a three-year deal to manage the Padres.

From a big-picture standpoint, it’s easy enough to take each transaction in isolation and more or less see the merit behind it. Nine of the Athletics’ top 30 prospects at MLB.com came over by way of this quartet of trades, including half of their top ten. It’s a similar story at Baseball America and FanGraphs. Oakland’s farm system was generally bereft of high-end talent, save for a few names, and while no one is going to suddenly crown them the best minor league system in MLB, their farm is unequivocally improved. For a team that typically operates with notable payroll constraints, a deep farm is vital.

On the other hand, this is an A’s team that has gone 313-233 over the past four seasons — a .573 winning percentage that has kept them squarely in contention. The loss of Starling Marte and Mark Canha in free agency would’ve stung and left Oakland with some work to do in the outfield, particularly with Ramon Laureano suspended for the first month of the season. However, the infield, catching corps and rotation would’ve all been in fine shape. The bullpen and outfield, the two areas that would’ve needed the most attention, are typically deep in relative bargain options, and that was true this winter as well.

What’s done is done, however, and the A’s opted for the long-term approach. The trade of Olson brought Oakland a near-MLB-ready outfielder in Cristian Pache, who was given the nod as the team’s Opening Day center fielder. Pache and touted catching prospect Shea Langeliers could both be regulars in the Oakland lineup in the near future — depending on what happens with current catcher Sean Murphy — whereas pitchers Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes add a pair of interesting arms to the lower levels of the system. Cusick, in particular, is of interest given that he was Atlanta’s top draft pick just last summer.

He’s not the only 2021 first-rounder acquired by the A’s, though, as righty Gunnar Hoglund headlined the return for Chapman. Hoglund might’ve been a top-10 pick and the second college arm off the board had he not undergone Tommy John surgery during his junior season at Ole Miss. The Jays were happy to scoop him up with the No. 19 pick, and the A’s are surely all the more pleased to add him to their system. Like Cusick and Estes, he’s a ways from big league readiness, but that’s not true of the rest of Oakland’s return. Infielder Kevin Smith broke camp as their Opening Day third baseman, while lefty Kirby Snead is in the big league bullpen. Fellow southpaw Zach Logue received the call to the big leagues just today, and while he profiles mostly as a back-of-the-rotation arm, there’d be plenty of value in securing six years of a fourth starter if he indeed realizes that potential.

Likewise, the Bassitt trade has already produced one big leaguer in the form of righty Adam Oller. He’s not as highly regarded as fellow righty JT Ginn, also acquired from the Mets in that Bassitt swap, but he’ll give the club a rotation candidate to evaluate in 2022 and beyond. Ginn, meanwhile, is now ranked as the A’s top pitching prospect (fourth in the organization overall) at Baseball America.

Following the trades of Bassitt, Olson and Chapman — each of which happened in fairly rapid succession — all eyes turned to Manaea and Montas. As a one-year rental, Manaea felt particularly likely to be moved, but the broader focus was on Montas. The hard-throwing righty had just wrapped a career-year in 2021 and, following a declaration from Reds GM Nick Krall that neither Luis Castillo nor Tyler Mahle was expected to be traded, Montas became the undisputed prize of the pitching trade market. He drew interest from virtually every team in need of rotation help, with the Twins, White Sox, Yankees, Royals and several others connected.

Just as it started to appear the A’s would carry both Montas and Manaea to begin the season, however, Oakland struck an agreement to send Manaea to San Diego. In return, they received what many considered a surprisingly light package, landing infield prospect Euribiel Angeles and righty Adrian Martinez. Angeles posted a big .330/.392/.445 line as a 19-year-old against much older competition at two Class-A levels in 2021, and he’s out to a strong start with the A’s High-A club thus far. He’s regarded as the higher-ceiling name of the two, but Martinez posted huge numbers in Double-A last year and has now reached Triple-A. He has a good chance at cracking the Majors this season and, like Logue, could give the A’s a rotation option to consider as soon as this summer.

Suffice it to say, the A’s have considerably bolstered their farm system, though they’ve done so at the cost of any realistic shot of competing in 2022 (and perhaps in 2023 as well). They’ve also set the stage for further trades in the near future. Montas will again be one of the most in-demand names on the market this summer, health permitting, and the A’s will also have center fielder Ramon Laureano, right-hander Lou Trivino and others to peddle as contending clubs look for upgrades.

One name of particular intrigue is young catcher Sean Murphy, who swatted 17 home runs and won a Gold Glove last year — the first of what could be multiple Gold Gloves for the defensive standout. Murphy is controlled three years beyond the current season, but there was at least speculation he could be in play this past winter. With Oakland acquiring Langeliers, who possesses a similar skill set to Murphy but is younger and could be controlled at least six seasons, it’s fair to wonder whether parting with Murphy will now be easier. Add in that Murphy will reach arbitration eligibility next winter and that the Athletics’ top overall prospect is 20-year-old catcher Tyler Soderstrom (the No. 26 pick in 2020) — and it’s all the more feasible that executive vice president Billy Beane and Forst contemplate dealing from their surplus. There’s no urgency to move Murphy, of course, but his name will likely surface at this year’s deadline and, if he’s not moved then, in the offseason.

Beyond that veritable landslide of prospects and young big leaguers, the A’s didn’t do much of anything to strengthen the 2022 roster. The lack of any real spending further solidifies both the fact that this is viewed as a rebuilding year and that payroll concerns were a driving factor behind the trades of Olson, Chapman, Bassitt and Manaea.

That was also true with regards to the departure of Melvin, who had managed the club for ten-plus seasons. The veteran skipper was under contract for 2022, but the A’s allowed him to pursue the San Diego opportunity — reportedly at least partially due to concerns about the $4MM salary he’d been set to receive. Once Melvin departed, Oakland hired third base coach Mark Kotsay as skipper. Kotsay, who signed a three-year deal but whose salary is unreported, gets his first crack at managing after six years on Melvin’s staffs. He’s overseeing a young roster, one that wasn’t much fortified after many of the top players were dealt away.

The only two Major League contracts given out by the A’s were a pair of deals for old friends and fan favorites Jed Lowrie and Stephen Vogt. Lowrie provided league-average offense and poor defense at second base last year, but he’s been a DH and played the corners in his only four games thus far. Vogt hit poorly in 2020-21 with the D-backs and Braves, but he’ll give the team a backup catcher and the fans an old cult favorite to root on in what’ll likely be a lean season.

Perhaps in the end, the Athletics’ latest bevy of trades will ultimately yield a group that turns into their next core. It’s arguable this was a necessary course of action, given the team’s mounting arbitration class, but that’s only the case if fans accept that ownership can’t field a payroll even in the $80-90MM range, which ought to be a tough sell for fans considering all 30 clubs are now receiving upwards of $65MM annually in national television and streaming revenue alone. (That sum does not include local television deals, gate revenue, etc.) As Forst said at the onset of the offseason, “this is our lot in Oakland until it isn’t” — and it seems ownership is pretty content to maintain the status quo.

The A’s can push the company line these trades are necessary for them to compete, but it has long been apparent many of the players who drove their recent run of success would be moved to cut costs. Back in November, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported ownership desired a payroll of $50MM. After making the Manaea deal just four days before Opening Day, the team reached that level. Cot’s Contracts pegs the Athletics’ payroll at $47,953,333. Roster Resource estimates that it’s $49,866,025. According to Cot’s, it’s the second-lowest mark in MLB, ahead of only the Orioles. With that cheaper roster will almost certainly come a worse on-field product than A’s fans have enjoyed of late.

Offseason In Review: St. Louis Cardinals

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The Cardinals brought in some new faces and some old friends, as they look for a 15th straight winning season and fourth consecutive playoff berth.

Major League Signings

2022 spending: $22.2MM
Total spending: $60.7MM

Options Exercised

  • None

Trades and Claims

Extensions

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

Before the offseason even began, a lot had already happened in the world of the Cardinals. Yadier Molina signed a one-year extension in August and then quickly declared that 2022 would be his final season. In September, Nolan Arenado went public with the fact that he would not be opting out of his contract. In October, just a couple of days before the team was about to face the Dodgers in the Wild Card game, they reached a one-year extension with Adam Wainwright, thus keeping in place one of the most consistent batteries in the history of the game. If Wainwright and Molina can start 20 games together this year, they will pass the Tigers battery of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan for most in baseball history. (Wainwright, it should be noted, has not announced whether the 2022 campaign will be his last.)

Despite all that continuity, there was one major shakeup, with manager Mike Shildt being fired about a week after the Cards lost to the Dodgers in the Wild Card game. This was quite surprising at the time, as there hadn’t been any indication a change of this nature had been imminent. The Cardinals made the postseason in all three of his full seasons at the helm, and on the heels of last September’s 17-game winning streak, there’d even been talk of a potential extension for Shildt after the season. Within less than two weeks of the firing, the club had replaced him from within, promoting bench coach Oliver Marmol to the job.

As the calendar flipped to November and the World Series ended, awards season began, with the Cardinals becoming the first ever team to win five Gold Gloves, highlighting the tremendous defense that helped them be so successful. This defense would go on to be a central part of their offseason moves. It was even reported recently that the club considered moving in the fences of Busch Stadium to make it more hitter-friendly, but ultimately decided against it as that would negate their defensive advantage. With the position player core almost entirely intact for 2022, their offseason would largely be focused on pitching, as well as the new designated hitter slot.

Less than 24 hours into free agency, the club pounced and re-signed lefty T.J. McFarland. He had a nice season in 2021, throwing 38 2/3 innings with a 2.56 ERA. Though he didn’t strike out many hitters (14.6%), his 63.7% ground-ball rate made him an excellent fit in front of that elite Cardinal infield.

On the starting pitching side, the Cardinals reportedly had interest in players such as Andrew Heaney, Alex Cobb and Nick Martinez, but ultimately agreed to a deal with Steven Matz. His four-year, $44MM guarantee beat MLBTR’s three-year, $27MM projection in both years and average annual value. Matz doesn’t have McFarland’s elite ground-ball numbers, but he’s a bit better than most in that regard. He has a career grounder rate of 47%, and his 45.5% mark in 2021 checked in a couple points ahead of last year’s league-wide average of 42.7%. Matz doesn’t have huge strikeout totals, but he owns a career walk rate of 7.1% and was down to 6.6% in 2021. With that golden defense behind him, it’s possible he could improve upon 2021’s 3.82 ERA, as solid as that was.

The Cards further bolstered their pitching staff after the lockout by signing Drew VerHagen, the first MLB signing after the transactions freeze lifted. He had spent the previous two seasons pitching in Japan and used his sinker to record a 53.9% ground-ball rate in that time, continuing with the offseason’s broader acquisition pattern. Nick Wittgren was then added to the bullpen mix. He isn’t specifically a ground-ball machine, but does have good control. He’s only had a walk rate higher than 7.1% in one of his big league seasons thus far. Aaron Brooks, selected to the roster in late March, fits this profile as well. He spent the past two seasons pitching in Korea, with a mediocre strikeout rate but a minuscule 4.4% walk rate and incredibly posting a ground-ball rate above 75% in both years.

During the lockout, it was reported that the Cardinals had some interest in Colin Moran. Given the likelihood of the universal designated hitter being implemented in the new CBA, Moran made some sense as a left-handed bench/DH option. However, after the lockout ended, Moran signed with the Reds and the Cards landed Corey Dickerson for the job instead. The outfielder had slumped in the shortened 2020 campaign and didn’t have a great start to 2021 with the Marlins, but Dickerson finished well after a midseason trade to the Blue Jays.

The Cards had one final move up their sleeves, a move that might have been small in terms of cost but huge in terms of emotion. Franchise icon Albert Pujols, who spent the best years of his Hall-of-Fame career in St. Louis, headed back to Missouri after a decade in California. Shortly after signing, like Molina, he announced that this would be his last season.

Although Pujols’ productivity slipped during his time with the Angels, the Dodgers picked him up last year and showed he could still be a useful part of a team in a limited role. They tried to mostly send him up to the plate to face left-handed pitching, allowing him to hit .254/.299/.460 as a Dodger, around league average production. His overall work against lefties, a .294/.336/.603 output, further proves that he can still produce in the right role. Pujols will likely serve a similar bench/platoon/DH role with the Cards, but the image of him reuniting with Molina and Wainwright will resonate among Cardinals fans beyond his on-the-field contributions.

In the end, there’s a lot of continuity for the Cardinals. They’ve lost some now-retired veterans like Jon Lester and Andrew Miller, but added in a few fresh arms in Matz, VerHagen, Wittgren and Brooks. Although they’re not marquee names, they have a chance to succeed based on the marriage of their particular skills with what the Cardinals already have in house. With the Pirates deep in a rebuild, the Reds cutting costs and the Cubs retooling, St. Louis seems well-positioned for another strong season in the NL Central. In the past 21 years, they’ve only posted a losing record once (78-84 in 2007), have made the playoffs 15 times and won the World Series twice. Wainwright, Molina and Pujols have been huge contributors in that stretch, and this year will provide at least two members of that trio a chance to put the finishing touches on their legacies and an incredible run of success for the franchise.

Offseason In Review: Cincinnati Reds

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The Reds forecasted a payroll reduction early in the offseason, and a few of the team’s more notable players wound up departing. Cincinnati held off on a full teardown and even added incrementally during Spring Training, but that may not be enough to return to last season’s 83-win level.

Major League Signings

2022 spending: $14.825MM
Total spending: $14.825MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Claims

Extensions

None

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

The Reds were involved in the first notable transaction of the offseason, dealing longtime catcher Tucker Barnhart to the Tigers the afternoon after the World Series ended. That was a fitting precursor for the months to come, as “which other veterans will the Reds move?” became one of the offseason’s defining storylines.

In fairness to the Cincinnati front office, the Barnhart trade was a perfectly defensible one. Twenty-five-year-old Tyler Stephenson was ready for an everyday look behind the dish, and he brings quite a bit more offensive upside to the table than does Barnhart. Reallocating the $7.75MM it’d have cost to keep Barnhart in the fold made sense, and the deal gave the respected veteran a chance to continue playing regularly in Detroit.

Far more concerning than the Barnhart deal itself was the now-famous line general manager Nick Krall dropped in explaining the trade about aligning the team’s payroll to its resources. That hinted at more departures, the next of which came in fairly short order. Cincinnati waived starter Wade Miley on the heels of a 3.37 ERA season, saving themselves the $1MM buyout on a $10MM club option they were evidently set to decline. Even worse for Reds fans, he was claimed by the division-rival Cubs.

With the team in clear cost-cutting mode, attention turned again to the Reds top trio of high-end starting pitchers: Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle and Sonny Gray. It was the second consecutive offseason in which Gray and Castillo, in particular, were involved in trade discussions. Early reports indicated that Gray — the oldest and most expensive — was the likeliest to find himself on the move. No deal transpired before the lockout, but the right-hander was shipped off to the Twins for hard-throwing pitching prospect Chase Petty shortly after transactions resumed.

Petty was selected 26th overall by Minnesota in last summer’s draft. His fastball-slider combination draws plenty of praise, but he’s not without concern about his control and the inherent risk associated with any teenage pitcher. Petty is a legitimate prospect to add to the system, but there’s little doubt Cincinnati had a strong financial motivation for the Gray trade as well.

Shortly after Gray was dealt, Krall went on the record to quash any speculation about the possibility Castillo or Mahle could follow him out of town. Both pitchers have two remaining seasons of club control via arbitration. If the Reds get off to a rough start, they could each be in-demand midseason trade targets (as José Berríos was last summer). For now, though, they’re remaining at the front of the rotation. Castillo began the year on the injured list but could be back by the end of the month.

The Reds kept their top two arms, but they pulled the trigger on a deal that subtracted one of their best bats in another payroll-saving maneuver. Cincinnati sent Jesse Winker to Seattle after the Mariners agreed to take back Eugenio Suárez while assuming the remaining three years and $35MM on the latter’s contract. Suárez’s March 2018 extension had gone south over the past two seasons; relinquishing Winker marked a notable price to pay to get out from under the back end of the deal.

As with the Gray swap, the Winker trade wasn’t a strict salary dump. Cincinnati brought back Brandon Williamson, another hard-throwing pitching prospect. Unlike Petty, Williamson isn’t too far from major league readiness, and he’s landed on the back end of a couple top-100 prospect rankings (No. 83 at Baseball America, No. 100 at MLB.com). The Reds also acquired a second pitching prospect, Connor Phillips, as well as an immediate outfield option in Jake Fraley and a depth arm in the currently-injured Justin Dunn.

Gray, Barnhart, Winker and Miley wound up being the four most notable contributors the Reds affirmatively moved as part of their payroll “alignment.” One could argue that the most impactful departure of all, though, was that of free agent outfielder Nick Castellanos, who inked a nine-figure deal with the Phillies. The Reds were never a threat to re-sign Castellanos, although they did pick up a draft choice as compensation after he rejected a qualifying offer. Winker and Castellanos had made one of the most effective corner outfield pairings last season, at least offensively, leaving fairly significant gaps to plug in the lineup.

Clearly, the Reds’ budgetary limitations were going to keep them from splurging on a replacement for either of those departing sluggers. Krall and his staff instead made a shrewd, low-cost pickup of Tommy Pham late in the spring. The 34-year-old Pham is coming off the worst two seasons of his career, but he’s continued to draw plenty of walks while making his fair share of hard contact. He’ll be hard-pressed to match the production of Winker or Castellanos, but $7.5MM is a reasonable price for a hopeful bounceback from the typically steady veteran in a more hitter-friendly home environment.

Pham and Fraley step into an outfield mix that also includes holdovers Aristides Aquino, Tyler Naquin and Nick Senzel. That’s not a great defensive grouping, but most of those players have capable track records at the plate. It’s certainly not as high-powered an outfield as Cincinnati ran out last year, but it shouldn’t be a disaster. There was enough depth in the group the club decided to release Shogo Akiyama shortly before Opening Day. Akiyama’s three-year deal over the 2019-20 offseason proved ill-fated as he offered very little offensively during his time in Cincinnati.

The infield is more exciting, with franchise icon Joey Votto looking resurgent and second baseman Jonathan India fresh off a Rookie of the Year campaign. Highly-touted prospect José Barrero figures to eventually take over as the regular shortstop, but he’s dealing with a hamate injury that’ll keep him out into May. Utilityman Kyle Farmer demonstrated he’s capable of holding the position over in Barrero’s absence last season; he’ll do so again for this year’s first month and a half, then perhaps shift over to a third base position that has disappointed in recent years.

That’s mostly because Suárez’s production fell in 2020, but he’s not the only big-name infielder to stumble unexpectedly. Mike Moustakas, whom the club signed to a four-year deal a couple offseasons back, is coming off a miserable season in which he missed significant time due to repeated foot injuries. His underwhelming showing looks particularly problematic in the context of the organization’s curtailed spending. Moustakas is the nominal starter at third base, but it stands to reason both Farmer and offseason signee Donovan Solano could cut into his playing time once everyone’s healthy.

Solano might also help shoulder the load at the newly-implemented NL designated hitter position. He’s posted above-average offensive numbers in all three seasons since reinvigorating his career with the Giants in 2019. Solano isn’t an impact hitter, but he’s solid enough at the dish to be a capable bat-first utility option for skipper David Bell once he returns from a season-opening IL stint.

He and Brandon Drury, who made the roster as a minor league signee, offer some infield depth. The Reds also took a low-cost flier on former Pirate Colin Moran to add another bat to the corner infield/DH group. As a left-handed hitter, Moran could be a candidate to split time at the hot corner with the righty-swinging Solano and Drury if he can play his way above Moustakas on the depth chart. Cincinnati rounded out the position player mix by selecting non-roster invitee Aramis García to back up Stephenson behind the dish.

There’s a bit of a mishmash feel to the Reds lineup, but it’s certainly not without talent. Votto, India, Stephenson, Naquin and Pham should make for a capable offensive core. Barrero and Senzel have a chance to play their way into that mix, and Cincinnati has at least brought in some competent if unexciting veterans to fill the roster.

Of greater concern may be the depth on the pitching staff. Castillo and Mahle make for a strong top two, but the losses of Gray and Miley removed last season’s No. 3 and No. 4 options. To replace some of that veteran stability, the Reds sent reliever Amir Garrett to Kansas City for starter Mike Minor. The southpaw is starting the season on the injured list himself, but he began a rehab assignment this week.

The Minor deal was a real surprise, something of an outlier in the Reds’ broader offseason. He’s coming off two consecutive seasons with an ERA north of 5.00. Minor’s career track record and recent peripherals both paint him more favorably, making him a sensible enough bounceback candidate in a vacuum. Yet the deal involved Cincinnati taking on around $7.3MM in salary (after subtracting Garrett’s arbitration tally and a small cash payment by Kansas City).

Would the Reds have been better served to hang onto Miley and non-tender Garrett, which would’ve been roughly financially equivalent? It’d seem so, but Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson has to be confident he can coax better results from Minor — with whom he’s no doubt familiar from their time at Vanderbilt more than a decade ago.

Johnson is also tasked with guiding two of the top pitching prospects in the game as they make their MLB debuts this season. Fireballing Hunter Greene broke camp with the big league club and picked up his first start over the weekend. The righty averaged an absurd 99.7 MPH on his fastball, showcasing the kind of power stuff that made him a No. 2 overall pick and gives him front-of-the-rotation upside. Left-hander Nick Lodolo doesn’t have that kind of arm strength, but his impressive slider and very advanced command could make him a mid-rotation arm fairly soon. It’s expected Lodolo will be in the regular rotation as well, although after a clean first frame, he was hit hard in his MLB debut yesterday (five runs in four innings).

There’s something of a trial-by-fire element in relying on both Greene and Lodolo every fifth day in a season where the Reds still hope to contend. They’re both very highly touted arms, but there’s risk inherent in projecting any prospect to assume a key role on a win-now big league roster. Reiver Sanmartín and Vladimir Gutierrez are around as insurance, but neither has much big league success on his resume either. Whether Greene and Lodolo immediately excel could be a turning point for the Reds. If they hit the ground running, there’s a decent enough core in both the lineup and the rotation that it’s not out of the question they hang around the playoff picture. If either experience some early growing pains, the lack of pitching depth could catch up to the team pretty quickly.

That’s particularly true in light of the club’s lack of offseason moves to address the bullpen. Cincinnati relievers posted the league’s fourth-worst ERA (4.99) in 2021, one of the biggest reasons the Reds couldn’t hold onto a postseason spot. That was despite 33 2/3 fantastic innings from Tejay Antone, who probably won’t pitch at all this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September. The Reds entered the offseason seemingly in desperate need of some help late in games, but they did virtually nothing to address the issue.

The only external pickup was a one-year deal for journeyman righty Hunter Strickland. He’s coming off a 2.61 ERA season, but his underlying numbers were closer to average. Strickland is a fine middle reliever, but he’s miscast as a high-leverage option. That puts particular pressure on holdovers like Tony Santillan and Art Warren to build off promising 2021 showings. Whenever Lucas Sims returns from the IL, he figures to assume another key late-game role as well.

Much as is the case with the lineup and the rotation, one can envision a scenario where things break right with the bullpen. Relief units tend to be the most volatile aspect of a team — few would’ve anticipated the Mariners riding an elite bullpen to 90 wins at the start of last season, for instance — and the Reds have a few promising arms they can deploy. Yet as with the rest of the roster, the depth behind the top few options is lacking, making it particularly paramount the most talented players stay healthy and perform up to expectations.

The Reds find themselves in a weird spot. They spent the second half of the last decade rebuilding, gearing up for a full-fledged push for contention in 2020. The organization obviously couldn’t have foreseen the shortened season and pandemic-associated revenue losses to come, and ownership has declined to push payroll forward in the wake of that difficult year.

That has left the front office trying to strike a delicate balance between contending and managing finances. There’s too much win-now talent for the club to commit to another full rebuild, but there are enough gaps on the margins of the roster it’s hard to project them as a 2022 playoff team. They’re left to hope that some late-offseason depth adds, early prospect promotions and a newly-expanded postseason field will be enough to hang around. It’s not impossible, but the Reds have less margin for error than many of their competitors. There’s a real danger of the franchise spinning their wheels around .500, which would only raise more questions about how to proceed with Castillo and Mahle as the summer trade deadline approaches.

Offseason In Review: Kansas City Royals

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The Royals reunited with one of the best homegrown pitchers in franchise history on the tail end of his Hall of Fame career but were otherwise quiet, as they’re banking on an increasingly MLB-ready set of prospects to drive a return to contention in the AL Central.

Major League Signings

Trades and Claims

Extensions

  • Signed CF Michael A. Taylor to a two-year, $9MM extension (technically just before the end of the regular season; Taylor would have been a free agent)

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable Losses

The Royals got their first couple orders of offseason business done before the regular season had even ended. Longtime general manager Dayton Moore was promoted to president of baseball operations, while longtime assistant GM J.J. Picollo was elevated to the title of general manager. It’s still Moore atop the baseball ops hierarchy, but the pair of promotions made it all the more difficult for other teams to lure the Royals’ top executives away. Kansas City also signed all-world defensive center fielder Michael A. Taylor to an affordable two-year, $9MM extension on Sept. 29 — keeping him from the market and ensuring a continuance of the excellent defense that has been a hallmark of Moore’s best Royals teams.

Though the Royals finished the 2021 season with a 74-88 record, they’d made it clear even dating back to the 2020-21 offseason that the team was intent on moving out of a brief rebuilding phase and shifting to a win-now mindset. Moore had plainly stated as much, and the 2020-21 offseason signings of Mike Minor and Carlos Santana were clear bets on formerly productive veterans that they could return to form and help to mentor an otherwise extremely young Royals roster.

Unfortunately, neither deal paid dividends. Minor posted a second straight ERA north of 5.00, while Santana hit just .214/.319/.342 through 659 plate appearances. Both former All-Stars may have had some sage advice for the Royals’ up-and-coming prospects, but they each quickly went from rebound candidates to struggling veterans now multiple years removed from productivity.

For a Royals club with a deep collection of young starting pitchers and several MLB-ready top prospects on the position-player side of the depth chart, the presence of Minor and Santana quickly became a roadblock. That’s not to say there wasn’t room for a veteran anchor to the rotation, but the Royals clearly felt Minor wasn’t up to the task of shepherding the group in 2022, as they traded him to the Reds in a straight-up swap that brought hard-throwing lefty reliever Amir Garrett to Kansas City.

The trade gave the Royals two years of control over Garrett, a clearly talented but highly inconsistent lefty who, if he can right the ship at Kauffman Stadium, will give manager Mike Matheny a viable high-leverage arm. Command issues have plagued Garrett in the past, but from 2019-20 he pitched to a combined 3.03 ERA while striking out one of every three batters he faced. Home runs were an issue in 2021, but the move from Great American Ball Park to Kauffman ought to help him in that regard.

As importantly — if not more importantly — the Minor/Garrett swap trimmed more than $7MM from the Royals’ payroll. Kansas City agreed to pay the $1MM buyout on Minor’s 2023 option and also chipped in $500K to help cover salary. The Reds otherwise surprisingly took on $7.3MM in additional salary for a 34-year-old lefty with a 5.18 ERA over the past two seasons and a shoulder issue that Cincinnati knew would have him behind schedule in camp. (Minor opened the season on the injured list but was sent on a rehab assignment yesterday.)

That bit of extra payroll space proved vital. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported not long before the trade that the Royals had been hoping to shed payroll in order to bring in some rotation help. They both saved money and created a rotation vacancy in one swoop, setting the stage for a reunion with Zack Greinke, who won a Cy Young Award with the Royals back in 2009. Greinke, the No. 6 overall pick in 2002, returned to Kansas City, spurning similar offers from the Twins, Tigers and others in deference to a full-circle homecoming.

Swapping out Greinke for Minor should be an upgrade but it wasn’t the only starting pitching avenue the team explored. Even after signing Greinke, the Royals continued to pursue Oakland’s Frankie Montas, but the reportedly exorbitant asking price on the 29-year-old righty was too much for Kansas City — or any club, for that matter — to meet. Montas remains in Oakland, and Greinke is now charged with serving as the veteran leader of a rotation that enters 2022 with the same questions it did in 2021.

Kansas City has an impressive collection of young arms, including Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Kris Bubic, Jackson Kowar, Jonathan Heasley and Carlos Hernandez, but to this point that sextet has only had scattershot success. Every member of the group has shown flashes of mid-rotation potential (if not more), but consistency hasn’t been there. That makes a rebound from 26-year-old Brad Keller, who pitched to a career-worst 5.39 ERA in 133 2/3 frames last year, all the more important. Greinke is no longer an ace, but if he and Keller can provide serviceable bulk innings and even one or two of the organization’s touted young arms can take the next step, it’s easy enough to see a quality starting staff coming together.

It’s also possible that any of those six young hurlers could eventually wind up in the bullpen on a full-time basis. Singer is there right now in a long relief capacity, though he has the most big league experience of Kansas City’s young arms and could get a look back in the rotation sooner than later. There’s a fair bit of uncertainty beyond Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont and the previously mentioned Garrett, however. Lefty Jake Brentz had a nice year in 2021 but needs to improve his command, and righty Dylan Coleman has impressed thus far but in a very limited set of innings.

It’s surprising, then, that Kansas City’s only bullpen addition was righty Taylor Clarke, whom the D-backs non-tendered on the heels of a generally nondescript run in 2020-21 (86 2/3 innings, 4.67 ERA, 21% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate). Perhaps owner John Sherman simply wasn’t comfortable pushing payroll past the current $97MM Opening Day mark, but if that’s the case, the decision to restructure Whit Merrifield’s contract to pay him more in 2022 is unusual. Some teams are hesitant to add players late in the offseason when their 40-man roster is full and they fear losing a decent player, but it’s hard to argue that the Royals’ 40-man roster doesn’t have a player or two who could justifiably be jettisoned for some proven bullpen innings.

Nearly 20 relievers signed one-year deals worth under $4MM, and there are even still a few unsigned names who’d have seemingly made some sense for Kansas City (e.g. Yusmeiro Petit, Tony Watson). As with the rotation, though, it seems the Royals will hope in-house options like Coleman, Collin Snider, Gabe Speier and others can step up and fill in the gaps. To their credit, Barlow and Staumont are a pair of developmental success stories.

Turning the focus to the lineup, the Royals are running out the same group of hitters they did late in the 2021 season — with one notable exception. Top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. obliterated Cactus League pitching, just as he did Double-A and Triple-A arms in 2021, and forced his way onto the Opening Day roster. The 21-year-old, second-generation talent was the No. 2 overall pick in 2019 and is viewed as a star in the making. He’s slotting in at third base early in the season, though he’s played primarily shortstop in the minors. The Royals plugged Adalberto Mondesi back in at short, however, and moved Nicky Lopez from shortstop to second base. As was the case in 2021, the Royals should be a tremendous defensive club.

Still, it’s fairly surprising the Royals didn’t find a means to move on from Santana on the heels of such a poor showing. If the first-base cupboard beyond Santana were bare, it’d be more understandable, but that’s not the case at all. Rather, Kansas City has a pair of top-50 prospects who burst onto the scene with mammoth 2021 seasons between Double-A and Triple-A. First baseman Nick Pratto slashed .265/.385/.602 with 38 home runs between those two levels, while catcher MJ Melendez led the minors with 41 homers and posted an even better .288/.386/.625 line. Pratto is the heir-apparent at first base, and it’s a bit puzzling to see Santana getting playing time over him. Melendez isn’t going to unseat Salvador Perez behind the plate anytime soon, but he could mix in at designated hitter and the infield corners — the Royals tried him at third base a bit last year — were more at-bats available.

Santana, fellow first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and utilityman Hunter Dozier combined for a .217/.297/.368 batting line in 1456 plate appearances last year. All three are on the Major League roster right now, while Pratto and Melendez are in the minors. Dozier is signed through 2024 with a 2025 option, so it’s understandable if the Royals are committed to getting him right at the plate. But he’s also played all four corner positions and could be dropped to a utility role because of that versatility. O’Hearn and Santana, meanwhile, seem more like pure roadblocks to the Royals’ more promising prospects. Perhaps they’re both on short leashes, but it’s a bit odd that Witt’s huge Spring Training landed him an Opening Day roster spot while Pratto and Melendez were optioned relatively early despite outstanding performances themselves.

If that seems like a lot of focus on the Royals’ incumbent options rather than their new additions, that’s because there simply weren’t any new additions on the position-player side of things, aside from the promotion of Witt. The Royals firmly believe the core of their next contending club is already in the organization, but that only makes it more curious that two of their three best prospects were sent out after huge spring showings. Again, in Kansas City’s defense, both Melendez and Pratto have struggled through a handful of Triple-A games so far, so perhaps this is the right tactic for their development. If Santana continues struggling as he has early in 2022, however, it’ll be increasingly difficult not to dip into the farm.

Ultimately, it was a quiet offseason for the Royals, setting them up to live or die by the developmental strides of young players like Lynch, Singer, Bubic, Kowar, Hernandez, Heasley, Pratto, Melendez and, of course, Witt. That group should get as many reps as possible this year once the organization deems them ready, and while they won’t all pan out, a full year of evaluation should give Moore and his staff the chance to determine where they need to supplement next winter. The Royals are a long shot to contend, but if enough of the kids step up, there’s at least some Wild Card potential with this group.

Offseason In Review: Pittsburgh Pirates

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It was a quiet winter in Pittsburgh, to be expected for a team still firmly in the midst of a rebuild. The Bucs made a couple low-cost additions on the margins, but it’s another evaluative season for the front office. The biggest move for the franchise: a Spring Training extension with a player they expect to be an integral part of their next core, one that marked the largest investment in the organization’s history.

Major League Signings

2022 spending: $16.025MM
Total spending: $16.225M

Trades and claims

Extensions

  • Signed 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes to an eight-year, $70MM extension (deal also includes 2030 club option and potentially buys out four free agent seasons)

Notable Minor League Signees

Notable Losses

The Pirates are still firmly in rebuild mode, one of a handful of teams that enters the 2022 season with no real hope of contending. As with Ben Cherington’s first two years as general manager, the Bucs entered the winter looking as if they’d be one of the league’s least active teams. They again shied away from any long-term commitments to players outside the organization, but Pittsburgh was comparatively more aggressive this time around than they’d been in recent seasons. After spending just $7.25MM in free agency over the prior two winters combined, the Bucs exceeded $16MM in open market expenditures this year to bring in a handful of veteran role players.

The first of those acquisitions was southpaw José Quintana, a former All-Star who has fallen on hard times. Quintana hasn’t posted a full season out of the rotation since 2019, as he missed the bulk of the 2020 campaign with injury and was kicked to the bullpen last June after a dreadful beginning to the year. The 33-year-old had by far the worst ERA of his career (6.43) in 63 innings with the Angels and Giants last season, surprisingly struggling to throw strikes. Yet he also missed bats at a personal-best rate, and he’s a perfectly sensible flier for a modest $2MM.

Quintana steps into an otherwise very young rotation as a veteran stabilizer. The Bucs hope his acquisition will turn out as last winter’s Tyler Anderson signing did. Anderson was a competent starter for the season’s first half, took the ball every fifth day, then netted the Pirates a couple prospects at the trade deadline. Quintana will need to be better this season than he was in 2021 to attract interest from contenders, but there’s little harm in trying.

Not long after bringing Quintana aboard, the Pirates worked out a one-year deal to keep Yoshi Tsutsugo around. Pittsburgh signed the former NPB star after he was released by the Dodgers in August and watched him turn in the best month and a half of his MLB career down the stretch. That late-season showing earned Tsutsugo a few million dollars and an everyday first base job, as Pittsburgh then jettisoned their previous lefty-hitting first baseman Colin Moran. The Pirates couldn’t trade Tsutsugo last fall (and his impressive showing was probably in too small a sample to merit much interest anyhow), but he’d intrigue contenders if he continues to perform at that level in this season’s first half.

Small pickups aside, the Pirates obviously remained amenable to moving veteran players off the roster. The most straightforward trade candidate of the bunch was catcher Jacob Stallings. The 32-year-old has blossomed into a Gold Glove defender and is still plenty affordable, but his age made him an unlikely long-term fit in Pittsburgh. The Bucs moved him to the Marlins for righty Zach Thompson and prospects Kyle Nicolas (a 2020 second-rounder) and Connor Scott (the No. 13 overall pick in 2018) shortly before the lockout.

Structurally, that deal made sense for both teams. The Marlins were aggressive in rebuilding their lineup in an effort to contend immediately. Pittsburgh grabbed a pair of minor leaguers and a depth arm in Thompson who had been squeezed out of Miami’s loaded starting pitching mix. The Pirates have more opportunity to take a look at Thompson, a 28-year-old who was available in minor league free agency a season ago but pitched to a 3.24 ERA with a solid 11.7% swinging strike rate as a rookie. He didn’t accrue a full year of service in 2021, meaning he can be controlled another six seasons.

With Stallings gone and backup catcher Michael Pérez previously outrighted off the 40-man roster, the Pirates had to bring in two catchers. The starter is former Cleveland backstop Roberto Pérez, inked to a $5MM deal shortly after the Stallings trade. Pérez doesn’t offer much at the plate, but he’s a gifted defender who was lauded for his work with Cleveland’s young pitchers. As with Quintana and Tsutsugo, he could be a deadline trade candidate, but Pittsburgh may value his intangible presence enough to hold onto him all year rather than recoup a minimal prospect return. Just before Opening Day, the Bucs brought in former Phillie Andrew Knapp to back Pérez up.

Pittsburgh took a couple more low-cost shots to round out the infield. First baseman/DH Daniel Vogelbach signed for $1MM after being non-tendered by the Brewers. He adds an on-base oriented lefty bat to the mix and is controllable for multiple seasons; Vogelbach has a cheap club option in 2023 and would be arbitration-eligible in 2024. Also controllable for multiple seasons is lefty-swinging utilityman Josh VanMeter, who was acquired from the D-Backs in Spring Training. Pittsburgh gave up a minor league pitcher to land the out-of-options VanMeter, suggesting they believe he’s capable of sticking on the active roster all year (and maybe beyond).

VanMeter joins young players like Diego Castillo, Hoy Park and Michael Chavis in the mix at second base. He could also see some time in the outfield, where holdovers Ben Gamel and Cole Tucker have jobs. The Pirates claimed Greg Allen (who’ll miss the first couple months of the season with a hamstring injury) and signed Jake Marisnick to fill out the depth on the grass.

The left side of the infield figures to eventually be manned by two of the Pirates’ most promising young players. Ke’Bryan Hayes will be around at third base for the long haul (more on that in a minute), while shortstop prospect Oneil Cruz is one of the sport’s most electrifying young talents. Cruz is opening the season in the minors after being optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis, a move that looked to be motivated by service time considerations. He doesn’t have much experience at the minors’ top level, to which the Pirates can point as justification. Yet it’s difficult to argue he’s not a better player than the light-hitting Kevin Newman already, and a non-competitive 2022 season should give the team plenty of time to live with any growing pains the 6’7″ Cruz experiences on either side of the ball.

Newman will hold down shortstop for now, as he has for a few seasons. The Pirates would probably be amenable to dealing him as well, although there may not be enough interest in a glove-only player to generate a ton of demand. It’s possible Newman just kicks over to second base or the bench whenever Cruz returns to the majors.

There’s no question, on the other hand, that rival teams would love to get their hands on star outfielder Bryan Reynolds. The switch-hitting Reynolds has been an excellent hitter in both full seasons of his MLB career. He’s drawn attention from teams like the Marlins, Mariners, Yankees, Brewers and Padres (and doubtless many more) since last summer’s deadline alone. Pittsburgh has maintained they’re more inclined to build around Reynolds than trade him, made all the more evident by the reported asking price they’ve floated in talks.

Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald reported last month that the Pirates wanted both Kahlil Watson and Max Meyer, each of whom are generally ranked among the game’s top 75 or so prospects, in any Reynolds deal. Pittsburgh’s demand from the Padres hasn’t been reported, but Dennis Lin of the Athletic wrote that San Diego considered it “prohibitive.” Cherington more or less confirmed the Bucs would only move Reynolds for a king’s ransom last week (link via Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). “Bryan is a really good player,” Cherington said. “He’s also young, and we’re not winning yet. You combine all those things, teams are gonna call. … Those calls are incoming calls. They’re not outgoing calls.”

Those calls will keep coming, at least unless the Pirates and Reynolds work out a long-term deal. The team controls him through 2025 via arbitration. Reynolds reportedly turned down an extension offer from the Bucs prior to the 2021 season, and he told Mackey that talks about a long-term deal never seriously arose this spring. The sides figure to revisit discussions at some point down the road, but for now, they’ll presumably proceed through arbitration with their star outfielder.

That’s a path they won’t have to take with Hayes, as they agreed to terms with their franchise third baseman on an eight-year extension on Opening Day. The deal guarantees him $70MM, setting a new high-water mark for a franchise commitment to a single player. Nevertheless, it’s a more than reasonable price to pay for essentially the entirety of Hayes’ prime. The deal buys out as much as four free agent years and could keep him around through his age-33 season. For a player who ranked No. 15 on Baseball America’s top prospects list heading into 2021, it’s a sensible investment.

Interestingly, Pittsburgh front-loaded the Hayes deal. That’s an unconventional tack for an early-career extension, which typically align with the standard year-by-year process of progressively paying players more later in the deal for what would’ve been their arbitration and free agent seasons. Instead, the Bucs will pay Hayes $10MM apiece in each of the next two years before paying him $7-8MM per season through the rest of the decade. That gets the young third baseman some noteworthy money up front while allowing the Pirates to keep a fair bit of cash in reserve for future seasons when they anticipate being more competitive.

Who’ll join Hayes as part of the core remains to be seen. Reynolds seemingly will, barring a Godfather-style offer from another team. The Pirates no doubt hope Cruz breaks through, while recent first-round draftees Henry Davis and Nick Gonzales are among the other hitters coming up the pipeline. Much of the attention will again be focused on the minor leagues, but the Pirates have a few arms in the majors trying to pitch their way into the long-term picture.

Mitch Keller and Bryse Wilson are former top prospects who have struggled thus far in their MLB careers. It very well could be a make-of-break year for both righties, but they should get another extended look in 2022. Thompson and JT Brubaker are older and don’t have the prospect pedigree of Keller or Wilson, but they’ve each flashed enough against major league hitters to intrigue. Roansy Contreras and Miguel Yajure each came over from the Yankees in the January 2021 Jameson Taillon deal and could be long-term starting options. Contreras, in particular, is a consensus top 100 prospect whom many evaluators suggest has mid-rotation upside. Not everyone in that group will develop, but the Bucs have plenty of innings to go around in hopes that a couple cement their places on the 2023 pitching staff.

That’s true of the bullpen as well, where Contreras and Yajure are currently stationed. David Bednar broke out as a late-game weapon last season and is controllable through 2026. Reliever performance is volatile enough the Bucs would probably still be open to trade calls on the hard-throwing righty, but he seems likelier to stick around for a few years. Veterans Chris Stratton and Heath Hembree — the latter of whom signed a one-year deal this winter after striking out 34.2% of opponents in 2021 — are more obvious midseason trade candidates.

In aggregate, 2022 will be another rough season for the Pirates and their fans. The club is still firmly in “evaluation” mode of the rebuild, although the hoped-for light at the end of the tunnel is coming closer into view. The time hasn’t yet come for the Pirates to make particularly meaningful pickups on the open market or via trade, but they’ve locked up Hayes as a key piece of the future and declined to move Reynolds for anything more than a massive return. Some of this offseason’s stopgap adds could be dealt away in the coming months, but the Bucs have begun to lay the foundation for what they hope to be their next competitive teams.

Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Angels

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After another season of underwhelming results on the mound, the Angels poured a significant portion of their resources into the pitching staff. This year’s arms have more upside than most of the Anaheim staffs of years past, but there’s still some uncertainty at the back end and a couple notable question marks on the position player side.

Major League Signings

2022 spending: $59.25MM
Total spending: $123.75MM

Trades and Claims

Extensions

  • Signed C Max Stassi to a three-year, $17.5MM extension (deal also includes 2025 club option and potentially buys out three free agent seasons)

Notable Minor League Signees

Notable Losses

At the outset of the offseason, general manager Perry Minasian said the front office was hoping to “significantly improve” the starting rotation. Angels fans may have had hopes for a splash on a top-of-the-market arm like Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman or Robbie Ray, but it quickly became apparent the team remained averse to making a long-term commitment to a free agent starter.

Fortunately for the Angels, this offseason presented a few opportunities to add firepower to the starting staff while avoiding a lengthy investment. A trio of starters — Noah Syndergaard, Justin Verlander and Carlos Rodón — hit free agency with top-of-the-rotation production not far in the rearview mirror but serious enough health- and/or age-related red flags to keep them from cashing in at the top of the market. Los Angeles checked in on Verlander’s health early in the winter, but they struck quickly to lure Syndergaard away from the Mets as their big rotation add.

Syndergaard had only pitched two innings in the past two seasons on account of a March 2020 Tommy John surgery. He posted an ERA of 3.24 or lower in three of his four full seasons in Queens, though, giving skipper Joe Maddon a possible top-of-the-rotation arm. In terms of 2022 spending, Syndergaard proved the biggest addition to the roster, and the Angels forfeited a draft choice to roll the dice on a bounceback. If he returns to his pre-surgery form, he’ll be well worth the investment, and the front office/ownership can reevaluate next winter whether to make an exception to their aversion to long-term deals.

Alongside Syndergaard, Los Angeles took a lower-risk flier on another volatile arm: Michael Lorenzen. The right-hander has worked almost exclusively in relief since his 2015 rookie season with the Reds, but he hit the open market in search of a rotation opportunity. The Angels obliged, reasoning that Lorenzen’s combination of athleticism and five-pitch mix could allow him to be effective in a heavier role. The Anaheim native is coming off a rough season, in which he pitched through some shoulder trouble, but he’s been an effective reliever in years past.

Those two new hurlers step into a six-man starting staff also comprising two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, José Suarez, Patrick Sandoval and Reid Detmers. The Angels reportedly inquired on the availability of Reds All-Star Luis Castillo before the lockout, but there’s no indication talks got far and Cincinnati ultimately held Castillo into the season. One could argue the Angels should’ve added another arm to the group, particularly with top depth option Griffin Canning facing another extended injury absence. All six of the Angels’ starters have question marks (most related to durability/workload concerns), but it’s also a talented staff with more ceiling than the groups the team has rolled out in recent seasons.

In addition to their rotation pickups, they kicked off a series of notable bullpen moves in the days leading up to the lockout. Closer Raisel Iglesias was the top reliever on this year’s free agent market. He rejected the team’s qualifying offer, but they struck to bring him back on a four-year deal. Iglesias has posted a sub-3.00 ERA in four of five seasons since moving to the bullpen full-time. The Angels bought low to acquire him in a trade with Cincinnati the prior offseason, but they issued the fourth-largest contract ever given to a reliever to keep him from departing on the open market.

Retaining Iglesias was a critical move to keeping the late-inning group intact, but Minasian and his staff set out for more. Even with an excellent year from Iglesias, the Angels bullpen posted a 4.59 ERA last season. That’s not good enough for any hopeful contender, and the rotation’s durability concerns make the middle innings group all the more important.

Even before re-upping Iglesias, Minasian and company brought in southpaw Aaron Loup on a two-year deal. The veteran is coming off an incredible season for the Mets and wound up receiving the loftiest guarantee of any free agent lefty bullpen arm this winter. Following the lockout, righties Archie Bradley and Ryan Tepera followed Loup to Orange County, lessening the need to rely on pitchers like Mike Mayers and Austin Warren in high-leverage spots.

Those additions should solidify the middle to late innings, but the emphasis on the pitching staff came at a cost. The Halos devoted virtually all of their financial resources in upgrading on the mound, seemingly leaving little left over for a position player group that’s not without weaknesses of its own.

The only external pickups on the position player side were infielders Matt Duffy, Tyler Wade and Andrew Velazquez — each of whom came at little cost. The Halos re-upped backup catcher Kurt Suzuki on a small one-year deal as well. That course of action was a vote of confidence in the position player core, or at least a declaration that Angels brass viewed the pitching staff as a much greater concern.

Obviously, the Angels can go toe-to-toe with any team in baseball in terms of star talent. Ohtani is fresh off an MVP-winning campaign the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades. Mike Trout missed much of last season with a calf injury that didn’t heal as quickly as anyone hoped or expected, but he’s back in the lineup and might still be the best player in MLB. Anthony Rendon is coming off an injury-plagued season of his own, but he’s only a year removed from being among the game’s top handful of third basemen.

Beyond that trio, Jared Walsh broke out as an All-Star first baseman and middle-of-the-order presence. Max Stassi has more quietly emerged as a productive catcher on both sides of the ball. He’s endeared himself to the front office in the process, as they signed him to a three-year extension this spring to keep him from hitting the open market next winter. That’s five lineup spots accounted for with above-average or better players, but the depth behind that group is shakier.

The middle infield, in particular, looks like one of the weaker spots for any hopeful contender. David Fletcher signed a long-term extension last winter, but he’s coming off a miserable offensive season. Fletcher’s a good defender who has been serviceable at the plate on the strength of his bat-to-ball skills in the past. He was always going to get a shot to rebound, but the Angels curiously did very little to add any insurance.

Duffy is coming off a decent season with the Cubs and could outhit Fletcher at the keystone. Even in that event, the Angels might need Fletcher playing regularly at shortstop. Last offseason’s flier on José Iglesias didn’t work, and the club took even less initiative at the position this time around. Wade and Velazquez were both acquired after being designated for assignment by the Yankees, a team that itself spent much of the winter chasing shortstop help. Despite a star-studded free agent class, the Angels seemingly sat that market out and were content with those depth pickups supplementing in-house options Jack Mayfield and Luis Rengifo.

It seems that’s largely a payroll concern. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported last month that Los Angeles had looked into the possibility of adding a right-handed bat but ultimately proved reluctant to keep spending after signing Bradley and Tepera. The Halos entered the season with a franchise-record payroll in the $182MM range. They might simply be nearing owner Arte Moreno’s financial limits, and rebooting the pitching staff took priority over the bottom of the order.

That’s also a concern in the outfield, where the group around Trout is unsettled. Brandon Marsh is opening the year as the everyday left fielder. That’s a perfectly defensible course of action given his recent top prospect status, but he’s not a lock to hold his own at the dish. Marsh should be an asset defensively, but he struck out in an untenable 35% of his plate appearances as a rookie.

Right field, meanwhile, is even more of a question mark. Jo Adell is another still-young former top prospect who has thus far yet to show he can hit big league pitching. It’s certainly not out of the question he finds another gear, but that’s not an inevitability. In fact, it’s not even clear Adell will play regularly once Taylor Ward returns from the injured list. Maddon told reporters last week he viewed Ward as the primary right fielder (link via Sam Blum of the Athletic). Ward is coming off a capable season but has a below-average career track record of his own.

The Angels will need steps forward from a young player or two, lest the lineup again become a bit too top-heavy. While there may not be everyday run available for Adell out of the gate, he figures to eventually get a chance to play his way back into the mix if he makes strides from a bat-to-ball perspective. The Angels released veteran corner outfielder Justin Upton at the end of the spring, placing even more pressure on the likes of Marsh, Adell and Ward to perform capably.

After missing the playoffs in seven straight years, the Angels are gearing up for another shot at hopeful contention. There’s no alternative with a core as talented as theirs, and they open the year with a higher-ceiling rotation than the ones which have so frequently let them down. Yet it still remains in question whether there’s enough depth to withstand some inevitable pitching injuries and bottom-of-the-lineup struggles to post their first winning season since 2015.

Offseason In Review: Baltimore Orioles

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The Orioles’ rebuild continues to slouch forward. But with their best prospects on the cusp of breaking the majors, perhaps they’re about to turn a corner.

Major League Signings

  • Jordan Lyles, SP: one-year, $7MM plus club option for 2023
  • Robinson Chirinos, C, one-year, $900K plus incentives
  • Rougned Odor, 2B: one-year, $700K (Rangers paying the remainder of the $12.3MM remaining on his contract)
  • Total spend: $8.6MM

Options Exercised

  • None

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

The biggest headlines surrounding the Orioles this season involved things that didn’t end up happening. John Means had his name come up in trade talks, though a deal never materialized. Cedric Mullins was a popular target for teams around the league, though he is also still in Baltimore. Ditto for Austin Hays and Trey Mancini. As the offseason wore on and Carlos Correa lingered on the open market, it was suggested by some that the Orioles could be dark horse candidate to sign him, due both to their lack of spending commitments and the connection with GM Mike Elias. While with Houston, Elias was reportedly the one who convinced the rest of the Astros’ front office that they should take Correa with the first overall pick in the 2012 draft. As fun as that would have been, that also didn’t happen.

In the early portion of the offseason, the club made a handful of waiver claims and minor league deals. Just on the verge of the lockout, in late November, they signed Rougned Odor to a major league deal. With Odor still being paid by the Rangers as part of the extension he signed in 2017, the Orioles were able to bring him aboard at the league minimum rate. He hasn’t posted a wRC+ above 100 since 2016, but there’s virtually no risk for the O’s to give him a shot and see if he can turn himself into a valuable trade chip for them.

On December 1st, with just a few hours to go until the lockout was set to begin, it was announced that Baltimore had agreed to sign Jordan Lyles to a one-year, $7MM guarantee. (It wouldn’t be made official until after the lockout.) This would go on to be the biggest move of their offseason. In fact, this is the largest contract handed out by Elias since he was hired as the GM in 2018. It seems the M.O. is to focus on the youth pipeline until it’s fully connected to the majors, with little concern given to the short-term competitiveness or watchability of the big league team. Spend as little as possible and wait for the kids to arrive.

In other offseason news, it was announced in January that the dimensions of Oriole Park at Camden Yards would be changing, with the left field fences being both pushed back and elevated. This is an attempt to curtail the extreme homer-friendly nature of the park, which has allowed the most dingers in the league since it opened in 1992. Elias later admitted that the club also hopes this will help them lure free agent pitchers to Baltimore in future seasons.

After the lockout, the Lyles deal was made official and the O’s also signed Robinson Chirinos. At the time, the 37-year-old was the only catcher on the 40-man roster but was still expected to be the backup to top prospect Adley Rutschman. But Chirinos will become the starting catcher for now, as Rutschman was later shut down with a triceps strain that’s expected to keep him out of action until mid-April. Anthony Bemboom was upgraded from depth option to big league backup.

As the calendar flipped to April, Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser were sent to Miami. In exchange, Baltimore received a couple of prospects, a player to be named later and the Marlins’ pick in Competitive Balance Round B in the upcoming draft, yet another move dedicated towards building the team of the future. After that, Chris Owings had his contract selected. He had a  .326/.420/.628 line with the Rockies last year before a broken thumb curtailed the remainder of his season. He can act as a veteran utility man and perhaps turn into a trade chip if he can hit at anywhere near last year’s pace.

That’s surely what Orioles fans will be focused on, the future, for the present and the recent past provide little to feel good about. Baltimore has finished last in the AL East in four out of the last five seasons, with the only exception being the shortened 2020 campaign when the Red Sox burrowed beneath them. Five years of almost constant basement dwelling seem almost certainly to carry forward into a sixth, as Baltimore’s four division mates are all projected to be quite strong yet again, on the heels of each winning at least 91 games last year.

When it comes to the future, though, there’s plenty to be excited about. Baseball America’s most recent Organization Talent Rankings placed the Orioles system fourth on the list, with many of the club’s top prospects nearing their MLB debuts. Rutschman, considered by many to be the best prospect in the game right now, seemed like he had a chance to crack the Opening Day roster before the unfortunate injury news. That will push his debut down the road but hopefully not for too long. Grayson Rodriguez will start this year in Triple-A, meaning he could push for a roster spot soon. D.L. Hall and Gunnar Henderson will be just behind in Double-A.

The path out of the bottom of the AL East will be steep, but with an impressive collection of prospects about to join the squad, it’s possible that this is the year where it actually feels like the Orioles are climbing. Though they haven’t spent any money in recent years, that also means they have a wide open future payroll. Just about everything comes off the books this year, including the ill-fated Chris Davis contract. Though 2022 is likely to be another dreadful year, it should only get better from here.

Offseason In Review: Colorado Rockies

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Despite three straight losing seasons, the Rockies believe in their core and backed it up with a series of extensions, along with one huge free agent strike.

Major League Signings

Options Exercised

  • Charlie Blackmon, OF: exercised $21MM player option. (Blackmon also has a $10MM player option for 2023 and has already said he will exercise that option as well.)

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Notable Losses

The Rockies have long had a reputation for loyalty, often filling their front office vacancies from within. The most recent evidence of this was last year’s hiring of Bill Schmidt to replace departing general manager Jeff Bridich. Schmidt has been with the Rockies since 1999 and became interim GM in May of last year. The “interim” tag was dropped from his title just as the regular season was winding down in early October, allowing Schmidt to head into his first offseason as the one making the baseball decisions.

Schmidt decided to pay that loyalty forward to the players, as he handed out extensions to four members of the roster. Just a few days after officially becoming GM, even before the playoffs were done and the offseason began in earnest, C.J. Cron and Antonio Senzatela were signed to stick around. In Cron’s case, he was a few weeks away from hitting free agency. Senzatela was still two years away from the open market, but the club also announced his extension on the same day as Cron’s, keeping him in the mountains through at least 2026, with a club option for 2027.

A few weeks later, it was Elias Diaz’s turn. The catcher had one year of team control remaining, but the club gave him a three-year deal, allowing them to hold on to him for an extra two seasons. After the lockout, the Rockies managed to get one more player to put pen to paper, signing Ryan McMahon to a five-year extension that bought out his final two years of arbitration eligibility and his first three free agent years. (However, McMahon can earn the right to opt out of the deal if he becomes an MVP contender.)

The club’s apparent faith in their guys is admirable, though it often clashes with the way they are viewed from the outside. In February of 2020, owner Dick Monfort predicted a 94-win season for the club, despite the fact that they were coming off a 71-91 finish in 2019 and hadn’t made any significant outside additions. After the pandemic reduced the season to just 60 games, Colorado ended up going 26-34. Given the unprecedented nature of that bizarre year, it would have been understandable if they didn’t want to drastically alter their view of their own organization. However, they did trade away Nolan Arenado after a public spat between the star and the team. Despite that, the faith remained, as Monfort had this to say in the wake of the Arenado deal in February of 2021: “I truly in my heart believe that this is a very talented team that underperformed the last couple of years. I’m not even going to count last year because it was a difficult year, but I think we underperformed.” Despite that belief in the core, it was another disappointing season in 2021, as the club went 74-87, staring way up at the Giants and Dodgers, who topped the division with 107 and 106 wins, respectively.

There won’t be 100% continuity, though, as there will be a couple of significant players absent. As last year’s trade deadline neared, the Rockies were sitting on a record of 46-59, 13 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. They had a couple of quality regulars in Jon Gray and Trevor Story who made for logical trade chips as they were both heading into free agency at season’s end. However, both players stayed in Colorado beyond the deadline, something that left Story feeling confused. In Gray’s case, the club made an attempt to extend him with an offer in the $35-40MM range, an offer he wisely turned down, eventually securing a $56MM guarantee from the Rangers. The Rockies curiously declined to make him a qualifying offer, meaning they received no compensation for his departure, making the lack of deadline deal all the more confounding. In Story’s case, though he hung around free agency past the lockout, it never seemed like there were much interest in bringing him back to Colorado. He eventually signed with the Red Sox, with the Rockies at least receiving a draft pick due to his rejection of the qualifying offer.

The period between the end of the season and the lockout was fairly quiet for the Rockies, at least in terms of new additions. In addition to the aforementioned extensions, they also re-signed Jhoulys Chacin in November. At the end of November, just before the lockout, their interest in Kris Bryant was first reported. But at the time, that seemed to be something of a pipe dream, as he was predicted to sign a contract in the range of $160MM, while the Rockies had never given a free agent more than the $70MM they gave to Ian Desmond. The lockout came with Bryant still unsigned and the Rockies still without the power bat they desired.

During the lockout, with transactions frozen, the club focused on in-house matters, extending manager Bud Black’s contract by another year. He was set to enter a lame-duck season in 2022 but now has a bit of extra security. As for other internal matters, the club fired director of research and development Scott Van Lenten, whom they had just hired months earlier in an attempt to pay catch-up in the analytics game. Though we don’t know exactly what the “major disagreements” were that led to the firing, it’s fair to wonder if this is another example of the club’s commitment to certain approaches actually becoming an alienating stubbornness.

Although teams were forbidden from contacting players and agents during the lockout, word trickled out that the Rockies had some interest in Kyle Schwarber and Michael Conforto as alternate routes to adding some power to their outfield mix. However, once the lockout ended and communications re-opened, it became clear that Colorado’s interest in Conforto was mild, and Schwarber quickly signed with the Phillies.

The Rockies’ first significant addition in the post-lockout period was adding Jose Iglesias, a low-cost move designed to fill the shortstop vacancy left by Story. That was followed by yet another low-cost move, adding Chad Kuhl to take Gray’s rotation spot. Alex Colome was then added to the bullpen mix. Those three additions combined for just a $12.1MM increase to the club’s payroll.

The big move was still to come, as reports started emerging that the club was aggressively pursuing Bryant. Although they reportedly considered other options like Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler and Corey Dickerson, their desire for Bryant never wavered and they eventually landed him on a seven-year, $182MM contract, more than doubling their Desmond deal. The Rockies finally had the big slugger and face-of-the-franchise superstar they desired, taking the mantle previously held by Arenado and Story.

That would certainly be the biggest move of their offseason, though they managed to add a bit more pop to the outfield by acquiring Randal Grichuk from the Blue Jays, sacrificing the speed and contact profile of Raimel Tapia, who went to Toronto. The club’s payroll is currently projected at $134MM, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource, just a bit shy of their franchise record of $145MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts.

In the end, a lot of the core is being carried over. Gray, Story and Tapia are out. Bryant, Grichuk, Iglesias, Kuhl and Colome are in. Whether that latter group marks a significant improvement over the former is a matter of debate. (For what it’s worth, Gray, Story and Tapia produced 6.2 fWAR last year, while the latter group was worth 5.0.) As much as Bryant makes sense for the team, he alone can’t turn a 74-win team into a 94-win one. There isn’t likely to be much help coming from the farm either, as each of FanGraphs, MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus have just one Colorado farmhand on their top prospect lists: 20-year-old Zac Veen, who has only played A-ball in his lone season in the professional ranks.

In order for the Rockies to perform better than they have in the past three years and get back to postseason contention, they will need that core to step forward. Ryan McMahon, Brendan Rodgers, Garrett Hampson, Connor Joe, Sam Hilliard, Kyle Freeland, and Austin Gomber are the players who will have to justify the team’s faith and prove they’re capable of either greater production or consistency than they’ve shown so far.

While it may be hard to see the club’s plan at times, it’s at least admirable that they believe they can win and are acting like it. Though that may seem more like a baseline expectation than something to boast about, it’s certainly not something that can be said of every team these days.

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