The calendar has flipped to February and the start of spring is just a matter of days away. While some notable free agents (including seven of MLBTR’s Top 50) remain unsigned, most clubs have already done the heavy lifting in terms of preparing their roster for the 2025 season. For the past week, we’ve been taking a look around the league at which clubs have had the strongest offseason to this point. The Mets, Cubs, Dodgers, and Tigers have decisively won the polls covering the National League’s three divisions and the AL Central, but things were much closer in the AL West where the Athletics narrowly beat out the Rangers. Today, we’ll turn our attention to the league’s final division: the AL East.
While the Yankees managed to make it all the way to the World Series before losing to Los Angeles in five games, 2024 was a less than stellar year for the rest of the division. The Blue Jays and Rays sold off pieces at the deadline after underperforming badly in the first half, while the Red Sox struggled down the stretch and ultimately missed the playoffs despite adding at the deadline. The Orioles, meanwhile, managed to make the postseason for the second year in a row but have still yet to win a playoff game between those two appearances after getting bounced by Detroit in two games during the AL Wild Card series. All five teams in this division are ostensibly attempting to compete again in 2025, however, and there’s been noteworthy moves all throughout the division this offseason.
Which team has done the most to set themselves up for success this winter? Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.
New York Yankees
A discussion of what the reigning AL champions have added this winter can’t begin without addressing what they’ve lost. Juan Soto signed a record-shattering contract to move across town to the Mets, and in doing so removed a vital piece from the heart of New York’s lineup. Down one perennial MVP candidate, the Yankees focused this winter on fixing up their roster around the one that still remains in Aaron Judge. The club kicked off the offseason by calling the bluff of veteran ace Gerrit Cole when he opted out of his deal with the club only to agree to return on his current deal rather than test free agency when the Yankees declined to tack on an extra year and $36MM to his contract to force him to stay. They then paired another veteran ace with Cole at the top of the rotation by signing southpaw Max Fried away from Atlanta, which freed them up to trade Nestor Cortes to the Brewers as part of a package that landed them star closer Devin Williams. Trading for Fernando Cruz and reuniting with both Tim Hill and Jonathan Loaisiga in free agency further bolstered the club’s strong bullpen mix.
While the club’s pitching moves have been quite impressive, the same can’t necessarily be said for the lineup. The club swapped Cody Poteet to the Cubs to acquire Cody Bellinger in what amounted to a salary-dump move for Chicago, and the addition of Bellinger allowed the club to move Judge back to his natural position of right field. With that being said, however, their only other move of note on offense has been to sign Paul Goldschmidt coming off a career-worst season. Those additions are likely upgrades over Alex Verdugo and Anthony Rizzo, but losses of Soto and Gleyber Torres on offense have not been addressed. The Yankees have tried to trade Marcus Stroman to free up funds for further lineup additions, but that goal has not yet borne fruit.
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles haven’t made the splashy addition many expected this winter after a difficult season that saw them get swept out of the playoffs for the second year in a row. Right-hander Corbin Burnes departed for Arizona and was replaced by veteran arms Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano rather than a true ace. Aside from those rotation additions, the club has also added Andrew Kittredge to its bullpen mix as a set-up man for returning closer Felix Bautista. Most of the focus has been on the lineup this winter, however, as they’ve added Tyler O’Neill to replace Anthony Santander, Gary Sanchez to replace James McCann, and then further bolstered the club’s outfield depth with deals for Ramon Laureano and Dylan Carlson. That leaves the club set to enter 2025 with a position player mix that might be even deeper than last year’s, but a pitching staff that carries even more question marks.
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox set out to improve their rotation this winter and accomplished just that. They swung a trade for White Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet at the Winter Meetings, shipping out top prospects Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery in a four-player package that brought back a lefty ace with two years of control remaining before free agency. They followed that addition up by replacing outgoing veteran right-hander Nick Pivetta with a high-upside roll of the dice on Walker Buehler, who struggled in 2024 coming off a return from Tommy John surgery but was among the best pitchers in the sport before going under the knife.
Outside of those moves, however, the Red Sox have been surprisingly quiet. They were involved in the sweepstakes for top free agents like Juan Soto and Max Fried but ultimately did not sign any of those impact players, or even players in the next tier down like Nathan Eovaldi and Teoscar Hernandez. The additions of Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson should help to improve the bullpen, but the team’s long-acknowledged need for a right-handed bat who can help balance their lineup has gone unaddressed. That could change as they appear to be involved in the markets for both Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado, but for now the offense has gone largely unaddressed.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays’ offseason moves have largely been overshadowed by the situation regarding Tropicana Field, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Milton and will not be usable for the 2025 season. That’s forced the Rays to temporarily relocate to Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, but the new location hasn’t stopped the club from being fairly active this winter. The club was long expected to deal from their starting pitching surplus this winter, and did so when they shipped Jeffrey Springs to the A’s alongside Jacob Lopez in a return highlighted by flamethrowing right-hander Joe Boyle. The club also traded Jose Siri to the Mets shortly before the non-tender deadline, leaving them with plenty of question marks in the outfield, but did manage to address other key areas of the roster in free agency.
After entering the winter with catcher as their biggest question mark, the club added the winter’s top free agent at the position in Danny Jansen. More recently, the Rays addressed their lackluster mix of players at shortstop by bringing Ha-Seong Kim into the fold on a sh0rt-term deal. The club’s lack of solid outfield options, which will likely force infielders like Christopher Morel, Richie Palacios and Jose Caballero onto the grass in 2025, leave a major question mark on the club’s roster, but the additions of Jansen and Kim along with the impending return for ace Shane McClanahan from injury leave the club into a relatively good place headed into 2025.
Toronto Blue Jays
Long considered to be the bridesmaid but never the bride when it comes to landing top talent in free agency, the Jays once again came up short in their pursuit of top free agents like Soto, Burnes, and Roki Sasaki. That didn’t stop them from upgrading the roster this winter, however, as they’ve been one of the more active teams around the league. Jeff Hoffman, Josh Walker, Nick Sandlin and Yimi Garcia were both brought in to shore up the club’s lackluster bullpen mix after the club non-tendered closer Jordan Romano, while future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer will be tasked with replacing Yusei Kikuchi in the club’s rotation as he enter his age-40 campaign.
In addition to those pitching moves, the Jays made two major additions to their lineup: they traded Spencer Horwitz to land Guardians second baseman Andres Gimenez alongside Sandlin during the Winter Meetings, providing them with a quality defensive option at the keystone and a viable long-term alternative to Bo Bichette at shortstop. That move was followed up by signing slugger Anthony Santander to a five-year deal, with Santander set to offer power in the lineup as well as some protection for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in his final season before free agency. Guerrero’s future has been a key topic of Toronto’s offseason to this point, and while the sides have discussed an extension there’s been no signs of a conclusion in sight even with Guerrero’s self-imposed deadline just a week away.
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The AL East stands out among the other divisions around the league in part because all five teams have at least a couple of notable additions to their roster in a winter where a surprising number of clubs mostly stood pat. With that being said, however, most of those additions either left a hole in the roster unaddressed or fell short of what outside observers felt was needed to push the team to contention in 2025. All five teams made worthwhile moves this winter, but will it be enough for the Yankees to overcome the losses of Soto and Torres, or the Orioles to overcome the loss of Burnes? Will the Red Sox be able to to get by without adding to the lineup, and will the Rays be able to compete with questions all over the outfield? Are the Blue Jays’ aggressive additions enough to put them back into the playoffs for Guerrero’s walk year? With all five teams trying to win in 2025 despite holes and question marks, the AL East figures to be perhaps the most interesting of the league’s divisions this year, top-to-bottom.
Of the five AL East clubs, which one has had the strongest offseason so far? Have your say in the poll below:
Yankees practically the only team in the division that feels like they had a real offseason.
The lost Soto. There off-season started with a huge loss.
They added a top pitcher in Max Fried, a top closer in Devin Williams (upgrade from Clay Holmes), Cody Bellinger, and Paul Goldschmidt. I agree that they could use some more (especially hitting) but that is a nice pivot from Soto.
First 3 are 1 win upgrades each (based on 22-24 avg war). 4th one is the key. Is it 22 goldy or 24? If he continues like last year, did not come close to replacing soto’s 8 war.
Not signing Soto was best move they made since trading for Ruth.
They just went to the WS for the first time since 2009 with him. I wouldn’t call losing him the best move lmao. They still could have signed a top SP and traded for Williams and sign Soto so this is just an insane take.
Yankees fans with the realistic breakdown with no hyperbole undefeated no 1.
YDG this goes well beyond a galaxy brained take lol. While there may be some silver linings to not committing that kind of money to soto in the bigger picture view, that doesnt make missing out on a generational offensive talent a big win.
I agree dream. Soto isn’t worth 5-600 million more than everyone else not named Ohtani, IMHO
So? Every team lost players, but they added Fried, Williams, Bellinger, and Goldschmidt, plus they are able to stop playing Judge in CF. I think they more than made up for the loss of Soto; I don’t expect the 2025 Yankees to be any worse than the 2024 Yankees, which keeps them in a position to win the division.
Losing Soto is a hit to the offense. The Yankees were also one of worst baserunning teams in MLB last season and had the terrible production at 1B. They’ve improved on that side with Belli and not having Torres. On paper, Goldy and Belli help improve the team’s defensive alignment. Devon Williams should also blow less saves than Clay Holmes last season.
YBC – I’m with you, I think the Yanks are just as good as last year …. better if Fried and Cole can stay healthy all year.
As an Orioles fan, I wanted them to resign Soto badly. I had a feeling, and it turned out to be correct, that the Yankees would be a more complete team by not signing Soto. They were able to shore up the rotation, bullpen and infield (ish) by almost exclusively using the money earmarked for Soto. I fear them now more than I did if they just sunk their money into Soto.
Soto was massively overpaid. But so was Max Fried. The Yankees mistake was giving another pitcher more than 6 years. And at age 31. With 8 years. My guess is he’ll have TJS by year 4 or 5. Which would suck and I don’t want to see him miss an entire year. Just a prediction though.
They also had to dump Cortes to make room for Fried. Both pitchers had exactly 175.1 IP last year. Cortes allowed 205 batters to reach base safely, Fried allowed 210. Cortes struck out 162, Fried struck out 166. The Yankees got very decent production out of Cortes last year, this is unlikely to be the huge upgrade everyone is expecting.
Fried got 8 years just to lower the AAV. They hope he’s still good then. Being lefty and getting ground balls helps his case.
Soto was signed to sell tickets. Yankees don’t have any tickets to sell. ? Should be why didn’t Boston or more importantly Toronto land him? If he was worth 800m for baseball only there would have been more than 3 teams in on him. He would have been a Dodger. Dodgers don’t have tickets to sell and knows that pitching wins championships so they paid for that instead.
Soto’s great. But the $ he’s going to make Cohen the Yankees simply can’t compete. He isn’t moving the needle financially for them. Cohen might have went to a billion. Only stopped because Toronto Boston stopped. Good contract for Mets. Awful for Yankees.
They made up for Soto.
Funny thing, nobody is saying that the Mets are a guarantee to win their division. The Angels had Mike Trout and Ohtani together for six years and, and,and…. The point is obvious, no single player wins a ring. And FWIW, Soto may be a “generational” HITTER for now (all players can be reduced to a shell with an unlucky misstep), but no way is he a generational PLAYER. He’s not Mike Trout, Mays, Mantle. Aaron… He will likely be a DH by thirty, possibly playing a marginal first base. Cohen will regret his own ego. Hal, gulp, will look like a genius.
I like Bellinger in Yankee Stadium
Pujols was a generational hitter and a huge albatross contract for the Angels, they can be both.
And they’re better off for having lost Soto
Are you kidding!? They lost Soto. The Blue Jays had the best off-season. They will see the biggest improvement in 2025 of any team in the AL East
This has to be sarcasm right?
Meow – The same BP that agreed with your Red Sox projection has the Jays gaining 12 games …. every other divisional team is projected to get worse except the Rays who are projected to gain 2 games.
Hoffman should be a huge improvement for the bullpen, Santander should be a huge new bat, Scherzer should improve the rotation, and the return of a healthy Bo should be huge – especially with both him and Vlad in a contract year.
I’m not necessarily 12 games bullish, but the Jays do have a legit shot of being the most improved AL East team.
Fever – Even so, I don’t see the Jays having enough to make a playoff run, which for them (given the timelines on Bichette and Vlad Jr) feels like a minimum requirement for 2025 to be a success. That notion, coupled with their failed attempts at landing multiple other FAs, is what makes me not even consider the Jays for “best 2025 offseason” in the AL east. Being the “most improved” after a last place finish doesn’t carry all that much for me.
They also had the most work to do in the offseason after losing 2 OFers, 2 IFers and their closer to free agency and needing to pick up at least one more quality starting pitcher.
Spankees had a terrible off season they lost ahole Soso!
The Rays, of course! lol (a guy can dream…)
The rage are definitely winning the offseason , this upcoming season they’ll be playing in a ballpark with an open air feel, easy to get to, and they’ll be able to sell out a couple of games finally who’s better than them , LOL
Though HS Kim isn’t exactly chopped liver
Not many teams can match the Rays pitching staff. If they get enough hitting from the outfield core, they could contend.
Yankees
Incoming Rays masterclass. Gonna win the division and 105 games from the power of friendship and Moneyball magic
two – You have no idea how much the Rays stadium situation will impact the team …. but by July, you will.
The Yankees win
1. Red Sox. Brought in 2 potentially ace level pitchers.
2. Yankees. Filled as many gaps as they could while losing 10WAR on a single guy.
3. Orioles. Replaced Santander with O’Neill and Burnes with two starters.
4. Blue Jays. Scherzer is not going to replace Kikuchi and that SS trade was bad.
5. Rays. Signed a catcher?
Soto was worth just under 8 war last season, which was a career high. That’s certainly replaceable across the board but I don’t like the Goldschmidt and Fried signings to replace said lost production.
I think the Yankees did well overall. I just personally think Crochet and Buehler are a net positive for the Sox after losing O’Neill. I think the Yanks are closer to breaking even. Orioles youth could go either way but their offseason otherwise is just slight of breaking even.
No mention of Santander under the Jays. Or Miles Straw which was huge.
I think the loss of Kikuchi and the SS trade outweigh Santander. They needed to sign at least one more serious bat and do more for their pitching.
Technically the Jays didn’t lose Kikuchi in the offseason but yes he had to be replaced with Max and eventually Manoah. Really Horwitz was out and Santander in if you don’t want to include Gimenez. Speed at the top of the lineup will help though too.
So he walks a lot
Fried not good? And they have him forever. Sox have to pay both those guys soon. Goldschmidt projected for bounce back for bargain 12m. Bellinger for free. Maybe best closer for free. Nice pen adds.
Fried has had two IL stints for forearm injuries in the past two seasons; he feels like a major injury risk at this point.
I give Cashman credit for the Bellinger and Williams trades but Goldy and Fried were poor judgement calls. The team could still stand to add a starting to 2b and a veteran insurance policy in left. The spend was spread around more this offseason, but still not enough.
To give some context, Hye-Seong Kim, Michael Lorenzen and Austin Hays signed for a combined $16.5 million. Yet there hasn’t been a single piece of reporting indicating that the Yankees offered a contract to any of the 3. That’s unacceptable.
Why would they offer contracts to Hays and Lorenzen when they already have Grisham and Stroman who doesn’t have a role? HSK may also be not ready until after the ASB.
Amazing how people gloss over Fried’s elbow issues.
The same argument applies to Fried, who comes at triple the price when factoring in the luxury tax. Personally, I think it’s risky to expect a seamless transition from Dominguez. If he struggles and needs a demotion to Triple-A, Grisham becomes a starter.
Lastly, Ha-Seong Kim is the injured Kim. Hyeseong just came to the MLB from South Korea.
Who is projecting Goldy for a big bounce back? Maybe, but there are lots of folks who believe he’s done.
I bet Matt Carpenter is
My projections have Goldschmidt bounce back. You used the word big.
Projections have Yankees winning the division.
Yeah-RSox. Crochet and Buehler at low financial cost. The former has to keep it going-he has ace stuff. If you hit on a TOR arm, prospects being good elsewhere is win-win.
The top 3 prospects not far off help them avoid panic spending on post-prime veteran position players.
Are we really pretending Walker Buehler is still an “ace level pitcher” in 2025? The Red Sox will be lucky if he gives them 150 innings and an ERA around 4
I think this year he could be back to his previous form. Still young. His arm may literally explode too though. Crochets might just fall off.
The Yankees made the smart move letting Soto leave. No team can win with so much money tied to one player. And that assumes no injuries and no falling off of motivation. The Orioles are dangerous because they have cheap, highly rated players in the high minors. They can trade for almost anyone when they determine their needs.
Agreed on Soto. Ohtani he is not.
Yeah the Dodgers struggled with Ohtani last year
Scherzer definitely does enough to replace Kikuchi and Gimenez is a much more valuable player than Spencer Horowitz.
And Kim
The Spankees lost ahole Soso, and jacka$$ Sterling is dead!
It’s really a 2 horse race between the Orioles and Yankees here, but I’ll narrowly give my O’s the nod since our biggest area of need heading into the offseason was significantly improving the lineup against lefties and Mike Elias accomplished that with gusto thanks to his newfound freedom to spend from the ownership change.
Lol come on dude
You forgot to post an argument, BITA.
(Not that that’s a new development or anything)
The Red Sox are going to win the division. Only team to get better in the east.
Jays definitely got better
Maybe but they are still projected to have a losing record. I guess it depends on how much their bullpen performs then last year.
mets – Projected by whom? Anonymous interested parties?
Here’s Pecota, they’ve got the Jays at 86-76, the only AL East team they have with a losing record is the Red Sox at 78-84.
baseballprospectus.com/standings/
That’s bc the Red Sox aren’t very good. If everything goes right and crochet and buehler are TOR arms and the kids come up and are useful right away then maybe they get to 90 and win a wild card. But the Yankees improved on paper street winning the division and the orioles won 91 games despite losing their whole rotation after burnes to the DL for extended periods of time in a true nightmare season. The gap between the Red Sox and these two teams is as significant as the gap between the second and third best teams in any division in baseball.
Fangraphs 74, ESPN 76, Fox 78 , Vegas 82. Not so anonymous. Good thing you took the outlier and tried to use it like it was the whole industries opinion.
@BITA
Marginally. They’re still on the outside looking in. A whole lot of bad is going to happen to the other teams ahead of them.
Metsin4 are you looking at pre-offseason projections? Just looking at fangraphs alone they have them projected to have a winning record (one game behind Tampa and Baltimore)
I pull up fangraphs and go to standings. Then they have an option for 2025 projection standings. Is that not accurate?
I apologize. I looked at the wrong column. It is 82 and not 74.
I don’t really see it, but crazier stuff has happened.
They are definitely on the rise again though.
As much as I would love for this to be true, I just don’t see it. Crochet is fine addition, I guess, but until I see him put together a few good months pitching in Boston I remain skeptical. Last season was his first season as a starter after all, hard to say how the league hitters might adjust now that they’ve had a whole season worth of seeing him. And the rest of the rotation, the biggest area of need, is a mess or unproven and/or injured: Houck, Bello, Giolito, Buehler, Crawford?
And the lineup just got worse as far as I can tell, without a solid RH bat. Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell might come up and make me eat those words, but they also might do nothing.
I have the Sox finishing 4th place, something like 78-84.
I don’t think you’ve watched Crochet pitch and have seen how nasty his stuff is. You are in for a treat this year as long as he stays healthy. Your lineup is one of the best in baseball. You have 3 young studs probably making their debut this year. Cedanna will be better. Go into the season with higher expectations. You are about to have a fun year.
If I had a nickel for every stud pitcher the Sox have brought in during my lifetime whose performance has seriously degraded while in Boston I’d have an uncomfortable number of nickels. Besides, longtime Red Sox fans have a special organ that limits our expectations going into any given season, for our physical and mental well-beings xD
Ok but what about all the others that dominated? You have won the most World Series in the 21st century. Every team has busts but Red Sox fans always seem to forget the ones that were good.
Those WS wins came when John Henry still seemed to care about the team :C
I will very much welcome being wrong about this, but I feel like the fangraphs projection of 81-81 again is pretty close to what reality will serve.
Meow – That’s the same projection as BP, except they have the Sox dead last.
If Crochet stays healthy his upside is the best lhp in baseball. When he was on (rested) last year he was damn near unhittable.
It’ll really be about the offense whether they are a 81ish win team or a 90 win team.
What Story and whoever ends up winning the 2b job do will go a long way towards determining that.
I’m sold on the pitching though.
mets – That’s not exactly raising the bar much to say Cedanna ….. err, Ceddanne will be better.
So you expect him to work a walk before Labor Day?
You expect him to raise his OPS up to .666 this year?
You expect him to increase his SB% over 65%?
Fever – guess we can put that 78-84 on the board, if BP and I both called it…
fwiw I do expect Rafaela to improve his game, but not to the level of being a middle-of-the-order bat. Maybe a productive 8/9 hitter or an okay leadoff hitter.
I know. You should give up on him because he struggled mightily the first couple months of his rookie season but came on strong. I’m sure he’s the first rookie to ever struggle getting called up but yes his numbers will be alot higher than his rookie season. Why do Red Sox fans always hate the Ted Sox so much? If they bring you that much heart ache then find a different hobby.
mnc – What? You’ve got it totally bass ackwards.
The first half of the season when he had a normal schedule, he dominated.
After June 30th when he pitched only 44 innings through the end of the season, he was awful …. he got absolutely pounded.
Meow – Well ….. BP also has Houck as the #5 SP, soooo ….. I wouldn’t put too much stock in their projections. O)
Personally I think the Sox are at least a winning team, provided good health of course.
Meow – Please don’t give me nightmares of Rafaela and his career .275 OBP batting leadoff ;O)
If Rafaela can tap into whatever he had going last June/July he otherwise has the tools to be a leadoff-type guy. Not an elite OBP guy by any means but he could be okay up there with a little poish. Though I do see him as more of a bottom of the order piece. I expect his overall numbers to improve a bit (remember, he was only 23 last year!), and he could be one of the better 8/9 guys, which would be a win in my book when paired with his defense in center.
His whole 8 abs batting lead off?
Meow – He didn’t say “John Henry won the most World Series” …. he said “YOU have won the most World Series”.
So YOU are the double-secret real owner of the Red Sox!
Fever: Don’t let my mom know; she’ll want free tickets to every home game and I need to squeeze out every last dollar of gate revenue.
Meow – I hope you’re right! All indications are he’s gonna be on a short leash this season with the additions of Anthony and maybe Campbell, so I am fairly certain he won’t be a starter with the big club if his OPS is under .700 heading into July …. again, presuming good team health.
Fever: First you’re talking about Crochet getting pounded, now Rafaela on a leash… what kind of board is this???
Mets Rafaela was simply one of the worst and most undisciplined hitters in baseball for the last month and half of the season. The last walk this guy had was August 9th. He slashed .214/.225/.321 for a hearty .547 ops. He chased pitches more than a foot off the plate routinely he struck out nearly 30% of the time he was very bad to end the season.
The question is will he become even a little more disciplined this season? He will have to he chased at at nearly 50% clip of pitches out of the zone and I’m sure it was quite a bit higher in that last month and half. The book is out on the kid and until he starts taking some walks no one is going to throw him a pitch anywhere near the zone. The balls in his court he simply can’t continue to chase pitches a foot off the plate.
Meow – That’s two consecutive posts of yours that made me literally laugh out loud …. thank you!
@fever we’re saying the same thing about Garrett. He was awesome early in the year before hitting the wall. And the majority of few starts be struggled in early in the year were the result of being pushed the previous start.
Red Sox
Third Place: 85 – 89 wins; WC
Book it Ippei!
The Red Sox don’t have any chance at all. I mean, they do to the extent they play 162 games and you can argue anything can happen…but they’re not remotely close to the two teams ahead of them. Right now their ceiling is a lesser version of the orioles.
6 AL Playoff Teams 2025: New York, Baltimore, Minnesota, Texas, Seattle, Houston
Yankees win the off-season easily and are winning the division barring injury. Jays will end up in last place or 2nd last place in the ALEast.
Fill in the blanks yourself in between.
Yes how oh how could the Yankees roster be succeptible to injury. Unpossible!
Yankees by default
It still doesn’t feel like they did what they wanted to do but somehow…the Jays I think.
New York landed big names but aren’t necessarily better than they were at the end of the year. Same for Baltimore.
But if the metric of which team “won the offseason” is which one improved the most and is better than it was going in then it’s almost gotta be Toronto even if it feels like they didn’t make the impact we hoped for.
Yeah i agree and the Jays might not be done.
Yeah, this isn’t about who is going to win the division, but about who improved their team the most. That has to be the Jays
Crochet alone is the biggest upgrade for a team pitching this off season. That move alone might be the most impactful acquisition for this coming season.
Jays lol I’m a Jay’s fan they’re not any better than they were last year.
t probably is still the Yankees but the moves they are making are reactionary. Reactions to losing Soto, But they have filled other holes quite well. Though I don’t see enough improvement in the baserunning/defense department.
It’s either Yankees or Red Sox. For me, it came down to Fried. At best, I think that signing will be a slight positive for a year or two. In the long run, I think it’ll be remembered as the worst FA deal of this off-season.
The don’t boo nobodies and they don’t give out trophies for “winning the off-season”.
Boo.
Well, at least one of those isnt true anymore.
Bregman = Bluejays.
I’m very happy that like 2004, 2007, 2013, 2018, no one looks at the Red Sox as a championship contender.
I think the Red Sox are really scary team. I think they win the East this year.
2004 and 2007 teams were both very championship-contender hyped teams.
Meow – Hayzee just says wild stuff to be entertaining, it’s his thing. LOL!
2018 they had the highest payroll in MLB and were coming off consecutive division titles in 2016-2017 (and would have won the WS in 2017 if not for Cora’s cheating).
2013 was a mild surprise, but only because 2012 was the year we do not mention but sometimes secretly refer to in code as “The Valentine Debacle”.
The Valentine’s Year Massacre.
2013 was the year the Red Sox flipped a coin 100 times and got like 97 heads, truly magical. My face still itches thinking about the stupid beard I grew for that, hah!
Well…in my eyes the Orioles should get a shoutout because Cowser and Laureano and O’NEILL have plus arms….it has been a long time long long time since the Orioles had a complete outfield of plus arms
Lefty – Last year O’Neill’s arm was ranked 45th out of 74 OF’ers (min 750 innings) but look on the bright side ….. he’s so bad at fielding the ball, a lot of times he doesn’t even need to worry about throwing the ball.
He won two gold gloves!!
So how can this be?
[Rafael Palmeiro has entered the chat.]
I voted for the Orioles. The other 91..54% of respondents are incorrect.
I agree.
Most non-Orioles fans don’t realize how desperately we needed to beef up the offense against lefties. It was far more important than re-signing Burnes or getting a 1:1 replacement for him and Elias did a fantastic job on that front.
Your lineup against lefties was going to get better regardless with Westburg healthy again. Is O’Neil an upgrade over Santader? Your lineup will be stacked. It’s your pitching that will be a mystery. Grayson Rodriguez is the most important player you have to watch. If he gets to the next level then you are a really dangerous team.
Our offense was flat out bad against lefties last year and it really showed against Ragans in the playoffs. It needed major upgrading and that was accomplished.
The current rotation is nothing special, but it’s solid enough when paired with our elite offense, and further upgrades can always be made at the deadline if needed, although with Bradish on track for a second half return, that may not even be a huge need.
I’m trying to think of all the lefties the Orioles will need to face. There aren’t that many. Crochet, Rodon, Fried, McClanahan. Those guys they will see the most. It could make a difference.
The Orioles arguably had the worst offseason of the bunch
I mean, there are still people who argue that the Earth is flat, so I guess you technically aren’t wrong here.
As a Yankees fan I feel like we lost the Off-season. Losing Soto = automatic loss. Plan B never works out in sports, it just turns into throwing money away. I’ll be shocked if Belli, Goldy and Fried don’t take huge steps back this year.
Goldy will Start off hot but fade big time as June comes around
Belli will get away from what makes him successful and struggle out of the gate trying to hit home runs to right field. Probably because the Yankees will convince him that hard contact above all else, so swing for the fences at all times.
Fried will get hurt in spring training and be out till July/August
The Bellinger and Williams trades were major upgrades. Regardless of how they turn out I’ll continue to defend them based on what was known at the time.
To me, the Goldschmidt and Fried signings were the most problematic. We still need a veteran insurance policy for Dominguez and a clear starter at second.
Defenders of this offseason correctly note that Cashman spread around the funds this time but the true imperative was addressing every weakness on the 26 man roster.
Again, Lorenzen, Hye-Seong Kim and Hays signed for a combined $16.5 million. There have been zero reports indicating the Yankees offered a contract to any of the three.
I agree with you. I’m a little over the top with my above post I will admit. I did not like the Fried signing at all. SP was not going to be our problem this year. We needed to replace the offense we lost. You. Ant do that with a pitcher who plays once every five games. Upgrading the offense affects EVERY GAME!! Tyoical cashman offseason…upgrade your strength and ignore your weekness.
None is the correct answer as they are not in the AL Central.
If the award goes to most improved it’s probably the Jays. They should clearly be better but not sure it’s enough to make the playoffs.
They really haven’t improved all that much, they tore down at the deadline and also waived their closer. So when you compare the pre deadline team, really only Santander is an upgrade.
Blue jays are still hoping to get 1 more meeting with juan soto & roki sasaki
The Red Sox are the only team to get better. They win the East this year.
How did the Rays not get better?
On a side note, why do they have to wait to trade Stroman to sign anyone else? Can’t they sign someone and then trade Stroman during spring training or early in the season? Teams will be more desperate when injuries happen.
Also don’t the final team commitments get calculated until after the season?
Make the moves you need to make now and adjust as the season goes on.
I picked the Yankees, but Red Sox and Orioles will be great teams to watch as well.
As long as the Sox don’t sign Bregman they had the best offseason
Yankees, who will win the east again and the league.
I’m a Yankees fan, but also a realist.
We swapped…….
Soto for Bellinger = loss
Rizz for Goldy = win?
Holmes for Williams = win
Nestor for Fried = win
Gleybor for a medley of prayers at the moment = loss
Verdugo for Martian = win
I still think we’re a bat away from being serious WS contenders. Would like to see it happen via trade. Someone like Renigfo or Donovan would round out the lineup nicely.
Who would you trade for Renigfo?
There is a guy who plays 3b for the Cardinals available but his last name is not Donovan.
This writer wrote this article throwing major shade against the Yankees and what they’ve done, but the polls show a different story.
Yankees won this offseason, and dare I say not signing Soto ended up as a net win overall. I love Bellinger and Williams, and think Goldy will bounce back, should be better than Rizzo and Rice regardless. Fried is a great pickup but no one loves that length. Still I like the pitcher. Cruz is under the radar, but I love that deal.
I do think Toronto rallied to come in second. Gimenez adds speed and defense, Santander power, and they pretty much redid the bullpen. Scherzer could be a good Kikuchi replacement depending on health.
I like the Crochet trade for the Sox and Buehler could be good depending on how he progresses. Chapman is a good pickup, too.
The O’s are interesting. The progress of their young nucleus will be the story of their season, but their pickups are just ok. Morton, a favorite of mine, is good not great at this point and Sugano is a coin flip. I don’t like O’Neil personally and adding even more outfielders makes me question their faith in their own. Kitteridge is good.
Tampa surprised me with the Kim deal, and I think it’s the steal of the offseason. Color me jelly. Overall though not enough, but it’s the Rays…
I feel like if the Blue Jays did it, then it must be a bad decision. I could see every one of their additions flopping.
To me, though, these exercises are to rate their offseasons in the bubble of it’s own deal, and not how overall it pans out. Yes, Toronto could have signed all duds, but on paper they did well in my book and brought in guys with helpful tools.
I would feel a lot better about the Yankees offseason if they had brought in a veteran for LF and a clear cut starting 2b. The Williams and Bellinger trades were necessary upgrades but Fried is an injury risk and Goldschmidt is wishful thinking.
Personally, the team that improved the most from last season to 2025 was the Jays or. It’s easy to focus on the team’s volume of decline contract offers but short of that they still added a considerable amount of value.
I think Fried is a pretty great pitcher, the length is a couple years too much, but no doubt he’s a good pitcher and the type that I could see being crafty as he ages.
We needed to give Jasson the shot in left, it’s time. If it doesn’t work out that’s what the deadline is for. Also the 2b/3b spot is one of those where we do have guys to play there so I don’t think Cashman treated it as a priority unless a deal HE liked came along. Honestly with all they did, I don’t blame him.
I like the Jays, too, and they are indeed improved, but I don’t think the moves themselves are better than what the Yankees did.
If we start Cabrera at second, then we need to replace a utility infielder. Fried has had two IL stints for forearm injuries in the past two seasons. Becoming crafty assumes he can recover and provide the necessary volume of production. I don’t buy it.
I’m in favor of “letting the kids play” but there is no proven depth behind Dominguez, which leaves us exposed if he struggles and needs a demotion.
We still have a better overall roster than Toronto but the overall improvement was larger.
I don’t think the Yankees are done, though, most of these teams aren’t. They will certainly be adding at least one depth option somewhere.
Don’t understand why the Orioles don’t bolster their SP. They have plenty to tradeable assets.
Crochet is the only SP traded so far this offseason that could really be considered a replacement for Burnes (even if I am not as high on Crochet as many others are) and I’m perfectly fine with not having outbid the Red Sox for him.
The Rays lose every off season. Their chances in the regular season are a lot higher.
Very true
Correction, Orioles lost to the Royals, not the toothless Tigers.
I really like what Toronto has done, despite not getting their top star. Andres Gimenez and Anthony Santander really lengthens their lineup. They remade their bullpen with solid arms. And signed Scherzer to replace Kikuchi. I think Toronto improved their team on paper the most in this division. The Yankees brought in Fried and lost Cortes. Brought in Bellinger but lost Soto. Goldy at first to replace Rizzo is fine. Devin Williams is a good move. But the hole they had to dig out of with Soto, Torres, and Cortes leaving was massive. They just did a great job not getting worse.
Outside of Tampa, as a division I thought the teams did fine in the off-season. I wish Baltimore would’ve been as proactive as Boston/New York were with pitching, but they’re doing what they feel is best. I hate the Yankees but give them a ton of credit for how they pivoted from Soto, especially with repurposing his demanding salary. Toronto made complimentary moves, but I didn’t agree with the Gimenez trade. They should be in the playoff mix along with Boston
red sox roster is so far away. I just don’t see it looking at it. They reminded me this past yr of the Rangers the year they won the world series.
You looked at that Rangers team and they had 2 all stars and then a bunch of minor leaguers that were playing way above their talent level. Then this past year they started playing back to their talent level. It was just an outlier year for them.
Thats how i view the red sox. I think they get 3rd or 4th in the diviiosn….they are just too far away.
As a Red Sox fan, I have to give it to NYY as much as it pains me. Even though they lost out on Soto, they made many other good moves such as Fried and Williams.
If Boston added a safer bet for their other starter (not Buehler who was last good in 2021) and a good RHB (Teoscar was the only real option in FA, I don’t love Bregman due to contract length) they could have easily won. Instead, they pinched their pennies in hopes for next off-season.
Sure, the Yankees win 2025….but I think the Sox have set themselves up for 2026 forward by remaining disciplined while adding much-needed pitching depth and not blocking their top three prospects or giving up a compensation pick. Even if the Sox added a bad contract, Bregman…it wouldn’t change the needle much compared to the top 4 teams in the NL. The Yankee defense and bullpen remain sketchy…pretty amazing to be this softin key areas when paying out this amount of cash. This is an aging team….it could get ugly.
So winning the “winter” might be about nothing blocking a bright future. They will compete for a wild card, and the young players will learn to play at this speed. Next year is when the Sox should “win” the offseason.
Yankees had the biggest loss but made a bunch of good moves. Sox made a couple good additions to the rotation i like. Jays feel like a loss since they were the ‘runner up’ so many times but ended up making several good additions. Would have to say the Yankees but any of the 3 you could make a case for.
These “who won the offseason” queries are premature, with so many free agents still out there and history reminding us that there’s a lot of room for movement throughout February. Ask us on March 10th.
I honestly think losing Juan Soto and then making their pick up’s with Belli etc results in a break even adjustment at worst.
Rizzo was basically no longer able to play like a normal, healthy player, even diminished, so picking up Goldschmidt in his elder statesman/twilight years is still a plus move for them.
Belli is an okay player, not great, but still okay and might see his numbers improve a bit across the board, so while yes, they’re losing a ton of overall WAR value from Soto moving on, they dodged a massive long term albatross with that contract he demanded and they can make up his production in a patchwork style that will work well enough for their purposes.
Yankees sacrificed some offense with losing Soto, but gained more defense with Bellinger and Goldschmidt as defensive improvements, and on the plus side they may provide enough offense in 2025.
The Yankees’ offseason would feel more complete had we added a clear cut starter at 2b and an insurance policy for LF. Between Fried’s repeated forearm injuries and Goldy’s rapid. decline, I would be shocked if they contribute a combined 4 wins in 2025.
That puts most of the burden on Williams and Bellinger to replace Soto’s lost production.
Perhaps Cashman spread the spend around more this time, but for yet another offseason, the money still ran out with holes remaining. Just infuriating to watch the front office repeat the same mistakes over and over.
Sorry, that should have been a separate comment.
How are the Sox even THAT close?? They added one player of any value for the future
The NL West poll had the Rockies coming in second. I also voted the WS for AL Central. There is nothing scientific about these polls.
The Rays certainly don’t have openings all over their outfield — they’re set in CF (DeLuca) and RF (Josh Lowe). DeLuca, in particular, only needs to contribute a .675 or so OPS with good defense to be an improvement over Siri, and that should be well within his capabilities. LF will be a revolving door among several players, most of whom offer some upside. It’s not a dominant group by any means, but they’ll be fine.
The pitching will be the strength of the team, as it traditionally has been.
Don’t know, however I’m predicting a Mariners vs Evil Empire ALCS and this time with a pitching staff made for the playoffs the Seattle Mariners will prevail.
Jays lost big time. Traded they’re second best hitter last year and took on $100 mill for a defensive only 2b. Lost Kikuchi signed Max. Resigned Garcia and a supposedly injured or going to be injured Hoffman. The only good signing is Santander.
The Yankees’ offseason would feel more complete had we added a clear cut starter at 2b and an insurance policy for LF. Between Fried’s repeated forearm injuries and Goldy’s rapid. decline, I would be shocked if they contribute a combined 4 wins in 2025.
That puts most of the burden on Williams and Bellinger to replace Soto’s lost production.
Perhaps Cashman spread the spend around more this time, but for yet another offseason, the money still ran out with holes remaining. Just infuriating to watch the front office repeat the same mistakes over and over
Yankees had a -0.7 WAR along with the worst OPS at 1B last season. It would take a complete Goldy collapse to eclipse that. Goldy at 1.2 and Fried at 2.8 isn’t any kind of stretch.
No guarantee that Goldy even matches his 2024 production. The spiking strikeout rate, coupled with a declining walk rate and DRS total (zero last season) suggest the decline is permanent.
As for Fried, he’s had two forearm injuries in the last two seasons and ended last season on the injured list. Expecting him to stay healthy enough to provide the volume necessary to reach 3 wins is a major risk.
Personally, I think the assumption that the two are guaranteed to provide a substantial improvement over last season is completely detached from arguments that take into account where they are in this stage of their careers.
Well, we shall see.
Is the Dodger$ part of the AL East?
The Yankees had the highest ceiling offseason, but I think it also comes with a low floor with almost all the players they brought in. They were largely a 2 player team last year, and lost one of those players. How the season plays out for them will be interesting. Toronto, Boston, and Tampa all had pretty good off seasons in their own ways imo. The only team with a pretty poor one is Baltimore.
I’ll have to take Tampa out of the “good offseason” category. They made decent moves but nothing that will tip the scales
I would put Toronto last and Baltimore fourth.
The Orioles have been very disappointing but they will be good this year. The Orioles are also positioned to make the biggest moves during the season to fix problems.
The Blue Jays have no direction, they are lost like a ship with no power and no anchor drifting into the unknown.
Toronto didn’t have a good offseason lol. They are no better than last year.
That is just crazy to say. The bullpen additions alone will add a couple more wins to the team, and Gimenez, Scherzer, and Santander should add close to 8 WAR, while they had no real major departures. You can argue that they aren’t a playoff team, but to say they aren’t better isn’t really a defendable take.
The Yankees LOST Juan Soto to the Mets. They signed Max Fried, an overpay, but still good. Garrett Crochet, who the Red Sox got is better and only beginning to reach his prime years! The Cubs couldn’t wait to cast off Bellinger’s salary and who has one of his softest hit rates going. He OK. Devin Williams pitched half a season, is a hot head, but can pitch, just not in the clutch. Just ask Pete Alonso!!! And then a 37 year old 1B in Goldschmidt, who is way past any prime, and more like a crime! Maybe he bounces back some, hopefully won’t be getting worse for the Yankees. And they still have a hole at 3B, aling with possibly LF unless The Martian is ready for the big time, which he wasn’t last year. The Yankees pivoted the best they can, so I give them some credit for that, but questionable moves are an understatement. The Red Sox made bold moves that look so much better, IMO!
Time will tell, as always!
It was close between Boston and New York. I gave the edge to New York even though they lost Soto because Boston hasn’t addressed getting a right handed hitter. What pushes New York ahead of Boston is adding Williams.
The Yankees only win by default, no one else did anything. The Yankees didnt finish the job and has a hole at 3rd
The Yankees. Easy. They win by default due to the lack of game-changing moves by all the teams that finished behind them
The Jays definitely improved but the only way they win the offseason is when they lock up Vlad long-term.
Have to give Toronto credit. Every molecule of their DNA was geared to sign Bregman to a monster contract to buy his decline. And yet they seem to have steered themselves clear. Or perhaps he wouldn’t let them self-immolate.
All the AL west and AL central wildcard hopefuls won the Al east offseason. The bad teams got better by a bit while the good teams feel more vulnerable.
Glinda