2019 MLB Preview:
Central: This is the Indians division to lose based on their core talent of the left side of the infield in SS Francisco Lindor & 3B Jose Ramirez and their rotation led by Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer.
Their outfield and catchers are their weakness after trading Yan Gomes, letting Michael Brantley & Lonnie Chisenhall(to name a few that left) and their bullpen isn’t as good as used to be after losing both Cody Allen and Andrew Miller(13 total players left Cleveland). The multi-team trade they made of getting back Carlos Santana (with his contract) by trading away their best hitting prospect Yandy Diaz, sending away DH Edwin Encarnacion (with his contract) and getting a young 1B back in Jake Bauers which caused them to trade 1B Yonder Alonzo didn’t make much sense.
They could have played Diaz at 3B with Ramirez at 2B and improving their outfield output with Jason Kipnis in LF since they have 4 CFers who haven’t proven they can hit in the majors. This trade is a swapping of contracts which doesn’t make sense since they didn’t want to pay Santana the previous year when he was a free agent. Also Bauers playing the outfield isn’t the best route just to play Hanley Ramirez (who they signed to a minor league deal) at DH/Santana at 1B, it would be better to play OF Carlos Gonzalez in RF (who they signed to minor league deal) but winning the division is their ceiling with losing in the 1st round.
The Twins start of a new era without Joe Mauer and with a new manager in Rocco Balldeli with a chance for a wild spot. They made improvements to their team by upgrading at 1B/2B/DH by getting Nelson Cruz, Jonathan Schoop and CJ Cron but that means Miguel Sano has to stay at 3B despite his defense/injury history suggesting he’s better off at DH/1B. Again their strengths will be their position players like OFers Max Kepler, Eddie Rosario and new signing UTL Marwin Gonzalez but still haven’t figured out their CF situation. Their rotation is thin after Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi since their relying on Michael Pineda (missed all of last year) and Martin Pérez both with injury concerns plus their bullpen again is the same no name inexperienced crew like always except for Addison Reed. 
The next three teams could finish in any order between the Royals, Tigers and White Sox. Chicago tried to get Manny Machado and failed so they are stuck with OF Jon Jay and 1B Yonder Alonso, meaning their best hitter 1B Jose Abreu would DH since Alonzo isn’t a big time power guy, plus Jay takes away bats from other outfielders but he can help the top of the order.
They improved at catcher and the bullpen by signing James McCann and getting Kelvin Herrera and Alex Colome plus they finally realized Yoan Moncada is best suited to play 3B not 2B. With these moves their defense should improve exponentially which should help their rotation out which is strong behind Reynaldo Lopez, Carlos Rodon and trading for Ivan Nova but is weak at the backend if they have to rely on Lucas Giolito as your 4th starter with bad options as your 5th starter so they hope Ervin Santana (who they signed to a minor league deal) is healthy which he wasn’t last year to fill that spot.
In Detroit they will again try to lose on purpose which is why they didn’t do much to improve their team this offseason except fill the hole at 2B by signing the signing the Pirates starting middle infield in Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer to replace Jose Iglesias. They signed Tyson Ross and Matt Moore for them to eat innings despite the rotation being mostly set last year behind Matt Boyd, Michael Fulmer, Jordan Zimmermann and Daniel Norris but two of those starters weren’t healthy last year.
Now that Victor Martinez is retired it opened up the DH role for Miguel Cabrera to keep healthy over the course of a season so they can get production out of him/him chase down milestones. But again they are being dumb by playing Nick Castellanos in RF again with Cabrera at 1B despite it benefiting everyone involved like better defense, keeping people healthy, and giving another young outfielder a starting spot.
Kansas City like Detroit isn’t trying either it’s in full rebuild mode by starting their young guys at most spots like Raul Mondesi Jr getting the starting SS job after losing the 2B job a few years ago and Hunter Dozierstarting at 3B. They did sign CF Billy Hamilton to replace Cain which is a season too late since they had a hole at CF all last year but complicates the matter of the rebuild with Brian Goodwin and Brett Phillips were going to fight for that spot.
They lost catcher Salvador Perez for the season with Tommy John Surgery but signed Martin Maldonado to replace him leaving Alex Gordon and Danny Duffy as the only veteran Royal mainstay plus veteran Chris Owings who they signed. Their rotation will be thin after Duffy, Ian Kennedy and if Homer Bailey who was the only starter they added stays healthy but their bullpen could be good again by their signings of Jake Diekman, Drew Storen (who missed all of last year) and Brad Boxberger.
The thing that doesn’t make sense is not using Wily Peralta as a starter when your rotation is weak since he was the opening day starter for the Brewers a few years ago but will be their closer despite having two other good options.
East: The reigning World Series champion Red Sox again will be again competing for a World Series due to having their own killer B’s in Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr, Andrew Benintendi, and Xander Bogarts plus Rafael Devers and JD Martinez. They brought back Steve Pearce to platoon all season with Mitch Moreland and 2B Dustin Pedroia looks healthy to start the season making their team even stronger with Eduardo Nunez and Brock Holt coming off the bench.
They also brought back Nathan Eovaldi to keep their starting staff in tact with Chris Sale, Rick Porcello and David Price after they all came off their best postseason appearance for those three but the rotation is thin due to Eovaldi, Sale, Price and Eduardo Rodriguez’s inability to stay healthy all season.
Losing Stephen Wright to an 80 game suspension doesn’t help matters nor does losing their closer Craig Kimbrel and setup man Joe Kelly to free agency leaving their bullpen as their biggest weakness. Matt Barnes is a good reliever but not closer material they will need to resign Kimbrel or trade for a closer in order to fix that hole not by signing Jenrry Meija who we all thought had a lifetime ban or injured Zach Putnam to minor league deals.
The Yankees will again fight with Boston for a division/a World Series berth due to their lineup as well but the difference is their bullpen is by the far the best in baseball due to Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances, Zach Britton, Adam Ottavino, and Tommy Kahnle to name some.
They will also get Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres for a full season to go with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez but took a hit with SS Didi Gregorius having Tommy John Surgery. They signed SS Troy Tulowitzki to fill that hole and signed 2B DJ LeMahieu to be a utility player which screws many teams that wanted a top two way player at 2B.
Their rotation is also like Boston being thin because their whole rotation has an inability to stay healthy even if they resigned CC Sabathia, JA Happ and traded for James Paxton to add to Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino which means trading away Sonny Gray will come back to bite them but lucked into Gio Gonzalez who didn’t want to keep sitting out as he settled on a minor league deal.
We all thought the Rayswould finish in last place last year because they weren’t trying/always in rebuild mode but they surprised everyone finishing 3rd/competing for a wild card spot so this year they actually tried in the offseason so they will finish in 3rd again. They improved at catcher by trading for Mike Zunino after a few years of Wilson Ramos not being fully healthy or consistent like Jose Molina awhile back. Like always their pitching staff will be there strength since they keep just developing pitcher after pitcher like last year’s reigning CY Young award winner Blake Snell.
They added Jalen Beeks, Tyler Glasnow at the deadline after trading Chris Archer after years of they will or will not, and signing Charlie Morton so no more “Openers” if they have five starters. They stupidly let CJ Cron go after 30 hrs and traded away Jake Bauers so they could use Yandy Diaz who they got from Cleveland to play 1B despite him being a 3B and them having a crowded infield. They also added Avi Garciadespite a crowded outfield that will get a full season of Tommy Pham and Austin Meadows to pair with Kevin Kiermaier so Garcia will most likely DH as well but knowing them they will use Ji-Man Choi instead.
The Blue Jays are in a weird position if they can rebuild but also have too many veterans to be that bad but will not finish in last because of Baltimore. They have a crowded outfield of Teoscar Hernandez, Billy McKinney, Dalton Pompey and veterans Randal Grichuk and Kevin Pillar. Despite having to trade Aledmys Diaz because of a crowded infield of Brandon Drury, Richard Urena, Devon Travis, Lourdes Gurriel and not to mention Vlad Guerrero JR about to come up this year, they signed Freddy Galvis to play SS. They also still have Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales at 1B/DH as well so nowhere to slide Dury over.
Trading Russell Martin away leaves them without a good catcher and pieced together a rotation around Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman with three veterans with a past of not being healthy in Clay Buchholz, Clayton Richard and Matt Shoemaker. Like their rotation they are piecing together their bullpen anchored by Ken Giles, Ryan Tepera and veteran signe Daniel Hudson plus the other veteran relievers on minor leagues like Bud Norris, John Axford and Javy Guerra hoping they eat innings and be can be traded at the deadline. The Orioles start the year off with a new GM Mike Elias, a new manager in Brandon Hyde and a full year to rebuild but also a new era without Adam Jones, Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop.
They still have Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis but that is because they are stuck paying for them still and outside of Trey Mancini in LF who should be at 1B and Jonathan Villarthey have turned their team to all the youngsters. Cedric Mullins and Joey Rickard taking first crack in the outfield with a few others as well, Renato Nunez at 3B and a combination of Chance Sisco and Austin Wynns at catcher.
Their rotation still has Dylan Bundy, Alex Cobb and Andrew Cashner but outside of adding Nate Karnsto the rotation they only signed a few veterans to minor league deals for the bullpen which used to be their strength but will be their greatest weakness.
West: Despite losing a good amount of players in free agency like both catchers, DHs, two starters and a core member of the team this is still the Astrosdivision to lose based on the core talent they still have in Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve and George Springer leading their offense. They did add LF Michael Brantley to their outfield which makes the lineup even more formidable but it blocks top hitting prospect Kyle Tucker when maybe they should have gotten a CF to put Springer in a corner spot.
They did replace Marwin Gonzalez with Aledmys Diaz who has made an All Star team but didn’t really replace the starting catcher position with the caliber of catching Brian McCann/Martin Maldonado is by signing Robinson Chirinos who’s really a backup. Losing both Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton to free agency hurts their rotation depth but what hurts them more is losing Lance McCullers Jr for the whole season to Tommy John Surgery leaving them with just Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.
They have the luxury of taking Colin McHugh and Brad Peacock from bullpen because they had too many starters last year and they signed Wade Miley. They get a full season of Roberto Osuna and Alex Pressly leading the bullpen which will help the rotation that isn’t as good as last year.
The Athletics surprised everyone last year by winning over 90 games/making the wild card but they will not surprise anyone this year as they are a top 5 team in the AL who make the wild card game again. They got weaker in the outfield, at catcher and in their pitching staff by letting Matt Joyce, Jonathan Lucroy, Trevor Cahill, Jeurys Familia, Chris Hatcher, Kendall Graveman and Edwin Jackson leave and not really replacing them. They signed Robbie Grossman a defensive liability instead of letting one of their young outfielders play and will continue to play Mark Cahana/Chad Pinderin the outfield when one is a 1B and other is a middle infielder. The rotation will be without their ace Sean Manaea, Jharel Cotton and Daniel Gossett because all of them succumbed to surgery on their arms leaving the innings to Mike Fiers, Brett Anderson who they resigned and Marco Estrada who they signed.
They will have to rely on their lineup of DH Kris Davis, RF Stephen Piscotty, 1B Matt Olson, 3B Matt Chapman and newly acquired 2B Jurickson Profar who is there to replace Jed Lowrie. Their bullpen will be key to help this thin rotation with Blake Treinen, Joakim Soria, Fernando Rodney and Jerry Blevins.
The Angels will finish their in 3rdplace since they aren’t good enough to make the playoffs but not bad enough to be worse in Brad Ausmus’ first year. They still have a good outfield of Justin Upton, Kole Calhoun and Mike Trout, the best defensive shortstop in AL Andrelton Simmons and Albert Pujols.
They had no catchers for the 2ndhalf of the season after trading both Martin Maldonado and Rene Rivera so they signed Jonathan Lucroy and claimed Kevan Smith of waivers. They also signed Cody Allento fill the closer hole who might be their best closer since Hudson Street plus got Luis Garcia to improve this bullpen. Their biggest issue is their rotation which has had talent these past few years but hasn’t been the healthiest so they signed Trevor Cahill and Matt Harvey to replace Garrett Richards and Matt Shoemaker but still are relying on Tyler Skaggs and Andrew Heaney to stay healthy when leading this rotation.
The dumbest thing they are doing is keeping the Zack Cozart at 3B plan which failed when he had season ending surgery but only played there because they had Ian Kinsler and Simmons in the middle infield, but Kinsler isn’t there so Cosart should be at 2B which could have let them sign a veteran 3B. Plus they signed Justin Bour to play 1B/DH but have Pujols and Shohei Otani who can’t pitch this year but is going to DH.
The Rangers due to their offseason moves should not be a last place team but also because they still have good players like Nomar Mazara, Joey Gallo, Elvis Andrus, Rougned Odor and Shin-Soo Choo in their lineup.
Adrian Beltre retired but instead of playing Gallo at 3B they signed Asdrubal Cabrera to start and Logan Forsythe plus Matt Davison to pitch and hit. They also improved at catcher with Jeff Mathis who’s good at handling pitching staffs since this is a rotation of castoffs in Mike Minor, Lance Lynn(signed this year), Drew Smyly(traded for), Edinson Volquez(signed last when hurt), and Shelby Miller(signed this year). It will be a tough task for first year manager Chris Woodward to figure out his starting rotation, how he will handle LF,3B, DH and 1B with Gallo, Cabrera, Choo, Ronald Guzman, and Willie Calhoun or if Hunter Pence and Davidson make the team off league deals.
Their bullpen will be anchored by youngster Jose Leclerc at closer, resigned Jesse Chavez, brought in Shawn Kelly, and Jeanmar Gomez to balance out the veterans with youngsters.
It looks like the Marinersare trying to lose but also look like they don’t know what they are doing at the same time based on their offseason moves. They lost SS Jean Segura, C Mike Zunino, DH Nelson Cruz, 2B Robinson Cano, CL Edwin Diaz, RP Alex Colome, OF Denard Span, OF Cameron Maybin, SP James Paxton, RP Adam Warren, RP Juan Nicasio, RP Zach Duke, OF Ben Gamel, C Chris Hermann, OF Guillermo Heredia, INFers Gordon Beckham and Andrew Romine. You would think they are rebuilding by getting young players back which they did like OF Mallex Smith, SS JP Crawfordand C Omar Nevarez to name some but then they do stupid things like get OF Domingo Santana, SS Tim Beckham, OF Jay Bruce and DH Edwin Encarnacion with their huge contracts back despite not needing them.
Those four players take away playing time from youngsters like Crawford, INF Ryon Healy and 1B Dan Vogelbachto name some plus the point of trading Diaz was to get out of Cano’s huge contract not two get two more huge contracts plus are still paying their best player 3B Kyle Seager. Felix Hernandez isn’t the same pitcher he used to be so he can’t carry this weak rotation that has rejects like Mike Leake and Wade LeBlanc plus they lost both closers and a few good middle relievers so only adding Hunter Strickland and Anthony Swarzak will not make up for it.
Central: This is the Brewers division to lose since they have such a stacked lineup that is centered around reigning MVP OF Christian Yelich, OF Lorenzo Cain, 3B Travis Shaw, OF Ryan Braun and 1B Jesus Aguilar plus they just added C Yasmani Grandal one of the best offensive catchers along with resigning Mike Moustakas which doesn’t even include Eric Thames in it every day.
Their bullpen is still stacked despite losing a few relievers since they still have all stars Jeremy Jeffress, Corey Knebel, and Josh Hader as a three headed monster to close games. The trio of Zach Davies, Chase Anderson and Jimmy Nelson is what they are relying on this year to lead the rotation despite all three spending time on the DL last year which is why they traded for starters last year for the playoffs which might happen again.
They will have one of their three younger starters compete for the last spot. What didn’t make sense was not getting a real 2B, one of those utility players or resigning Jonathan Schoop after you played Shaw at 2B last year sometimes when they got Moustakas originally but Shaw is staying at 3B with Moustakas playing 2B; Moose is barely a 3B he is more of a DH/1B let alone a second basemen.
The Cubs will of course be a wildcard/division contender because of their lineup just like their rivals since they still have 3B Kris Bryant, INFers Javy Baez, Ben Zobrist, 1B Anthony Rizzo, C Wilson Contreras and LF Kyle Schwarber.
Their rotation is also very thin since they are relying on Yu Darvish to stay healthy, two 35 year olds in Jon Lester and Cole Hamels to lead them but if anything happens to them they would have to use Tyler Chatwood which they don’t want to. Their bullpen is also a strength this year because they added relievers like Brad Brach, Xavier Cedeno, and Tony Barnette to the core of Pedro Strop, Steve Cishek, and Brandon Kintzler to help till Brandon Morrow comes off the DL. The also signed INF Daniel Descalsoto replace Tommy LaStella and Addison Russell being suspended for the 1sthalf of the season.
The minor league deals they made for pitching depth like Kendall Graveman, George Kontos and Colin Rea to name some will not be enough to win the division or go far in the playoffs they will have to add another starter by trading one of their many position players who they don’t have enough at bats for.
The Cardinals will always be in contention because their organization continues to keep developing young and upcoming players to use for themselves or trade for better players which is what they did by getting 1B Paul Goldschmidt this offseason.
Their lineup was already their strength like the rest of their division before they made this trade because they have INF Matt Carpenter, OF Marcell Ozuna, OF Dexter Fowler, SS Paul De Jong, INF Jedd Gyorko and C Yadier Molina. Their rotation that is still led by Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez but they all have a problem with staying healthy which is why trading away Luke Weaver for Goldschmidt wasn’t the best for a thin rotation when they didn’t need Goldy since he is just a luxury to have.
They added Andrew Millerto the bullpen but wasn’t that healthy last year but combining him with youngsters Jordan Hicks and Dakota Hudson plus veterans Brett Cecil and Luke Gregerson makes it a good bullpen to shoulder the load of the thin rotation. Matt Wieters isn’t as good as he used to be but as a backup he instantly becomes a top backup and can keep Molina fresh all season unlike the past few seasons of bad backup catchers.
ThePirates again are talented enough to compete for a wild card spot but then make moves that make them worse so it is a rebuild or not because you have one of the best outfields in Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco and Corey Dickerson.
Their starting infield of the last few years both became free agents so they added Erik Gonzalez who was a backup they got from Cleveland but it cost them two of their players despite having internal options and their backup Adam Frazierfinally gets a chance to start. They added Lonnie Chisenhall which makes no sense since they have a set outfield and a set corner infield with Josh Bell and Colin Moran plus Jung-Ho Kang is back. Their rotation isn’t set in stone after ace Jameson Taillon and Chris Archer because they have too many young pitchers in Steven Brault, Nick Kingham, Trevor Williams, Chad Kuhl and Jose Musgrove who they haven’t figured out who to start and they all haven’t pulled away from the rest of the pack.
Which is why they added veterans in Jordan Lyles and Francisco Liriano but they traded away Ivan Nova who had been the consistent veteran for them. They have one of the best closers in baseball in Felipe Vazquez (formerly Rivero), and set up man Keone Kela but outside of that it looks like mostly the starters who don’t secure a spot in the rotation.
We should all give the Reds credit for making moves this offseason like hiring a new manager in David Bell but it will not matter since they will still finish in last place because lots of the players they got teams didn’t want or need anymore.
They improved their rotation of Luis Castillo and Anthony DeSclafani by adding Alex Wood, Tanner Roark, and Sonny Gray to their rotation but none of them are top line starters and it pushed out their four of their young starters who should be given starts since the team isn’t going anywhere. They also got former All-Star outfielders in Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig to replace Billy Hamilton who left but it pushes Scott Schebler to CF when he is not a CF and Jesse Winkler to the bench since they have no DH spot. Adding those guys make it easier on 1B Joey Votto, 3B Eugenio Suarez and 2B Scott Gennett but Puig has never truly figured it out and Kemp can’t stay healthy.
The bullpen added Zach Duke to a good core of David Hernandez, Jared Hughes, Michael Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias but most of their bullpen will be the starters that are not going to start or have already been converted to relievers.
NL East: They did lose OF Bryce Harper to their division rival but the Nationals had the best off season of any team in this division which will propel them to winning this division. They added Patrick Corbin, Anibal Sanchez and resigned Jeremy Helickson to form one of the best rotations with co-aces Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer and even fixed their bullpen by adding Kyle Barraclough, Tony Sipp and Trevor Rosenthal to set up for Sean Doolittle.
Their lineup is still stacked with OFers Juan Soto, Adam Eaton, SS Trea Turner, 3B Anthony Rendon and 1B Ryan Zimmerman but it got even better by signing 2B Brian Dozier who can actually also field his position unlike the previous 2B Daniel Murphy and traded for C Yan Gomez who can hit more than offensively declining C Matt Wieters. To make sure they are set at catcher and 1B they brought back Kurt Suzuki and Matt Adams as insurance.
The only question will be who plays centerfield top prospect Victor Robles or Michael Taylor but it will be nice to see Howie Kendrick back from rupturing his Achilles tendon which ended his season so I hope they keep him in the infield not in the outfield.
The Braves will have a hard time repeating as division champion based on the moves the other three teams made as they will have to rely on their young core and veteran core talent of OF Ronald Acuna, 2B Ozzie Albies, CF Ender Inciarte, 1B Freddie Freeman and RF Nick Markakis who they resigned. They also added 3B Josh Donaldson on a 1 year deal hoping he can regain his MVP form to strength the lineup and brought back C Brian McCann to pair with C Tyler Flowers.
Their pitching staff will be the issue that holds them back as they are thin once you get pass Julio Teheran and Mike Foltynewicz because they are relying on Sean Newcomb, Kevin Gausman and Touki Toussaint who each have their own limits plus by trading for Adam Duvall at the deadline last year they gave up two of their young pitchers for him to be a backup.
Once you get past Arodys Vizcaino who himself missed a huge chunk of the season which is why they had to trade for relievers last deadline only Jonny Venters (who has had Tommy John surgery three and half times) who they got back last year and Darren O’Day who was hurt when they got him last year can be considered reliable meaning both parts of their pitching staff will be thin all year.
The Phillies will definitely be a division/wild card contender because they made some of the flashiest moves by getting OFers Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, SS Jean Segura, C JT Realmuto and closer David Robertson. They did not need to get those two outfielders because they had a nice core of Aaron Altherr and Nick Williams flanking Odubel Herrerabut now they have to look to trade one of the corner guys.
They never really never gave JP Crawford a real chance because of their loyalty to Freddy Galvis or Sean Kingrey but Segura is an upgrade no matter what and they also had a nice young catcher in Jorge Alfaro who they barely gave a chance to because they traded for Wilson Ramos at the deadline to start but they both will get a chance with their new teams. Their rotation is still the same from last year despite having the reigning CY Young winner/a former one in Aaron Nola and Jake Arrieta as they will rely on some combination of young pitchers they have. This is why they added to their bullpen to cover the shortcomings with their acquiring Robertson to close, and Juan Nicasio to their core of Tommy Hunter, Pat Neshek and Hector Neris.
This lineup that now has Rhys Hoskins playing 1B not the OF after trading Carlos Santana will have to be the reason they make the playoffs since they added lots of firepower to it because their rotation will not carry them.
The Mets don’t have the best rotation anymore in this division but it’s very close when you have Jacob DeGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Zach Wheeler but it will come down to Jason Vargassince he had a poor season last year but their rotation is different because it is younger but it will all hinge on health.
The issues last year were the bullpen and the inconsistent lineup that really did them in when every time a starter pitched well it was blown by the bullpen or not enough run support. They improved the bullpen by trading for Edwin Diaz, bringing back Jeurys Familia, signing Justin Wilson and the minor league deals of Hector Santiago and Luis Avilan. With the offense they traded Jay Bruce away to swap contracts of 2B Robinson Cano and if he is healthy he as consistent as they come but he blocks Jeff McNeil’s development/path in the infield and pushes Jed Lowrie who they signed to 3B which pushed Todd Frazier to 1B. It also pushed Dominic Smith’s chances at 1B to trying for the OF but the outfield is still crowded despite Bruce being traded because their outfield should be set with Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes with Juan Lagares backing them up.
The other issue is that they traded for OF Keon Broxton, JD Davis who is another infielder by trade, signed C Wilson Ramos, kept Travis d’Arnaud who they might want to play at 1B/OF and signed four veteran outfielders to minor league deals. Mickey Calloway was hired to manage the pitchers but it is going to be about how he handles the position players if they succeed or if it will all blow up.
The Marlins did it again they traded away their best player and let other core players go in trading JT Realmuto to their rival, cutting Derek Dietrich and trading Kyle Barraclough. They got Jorge Alfaro back so they should be set at catcher, CF in Lewis Brinson, and SS in JT Riddle but the rest of the team is out of whack since they still have to pay for Martin Prado who could play 2B or 1B since they announced Brian Anderson will start at 3B but still have Starlin Castro at 2B.
They also signed Neil Walker to play some 1B/2B as well but have Pete O’Brien at 1B so he then takes playing time from a few of their younger outfielders if he plays in RF but also signing Curtis Granderson does the same thing when you should be playing your young guys when you’re in rebuild mode.
Their rotation is still weak after Jose Urena and veteran Wei-Yin Chen who could be traded this year plus their bullpen has only has one reliable pitcher in Sergio Romo who also could be traded.
NL West: This will again be the Dodgers division to lose despite losing a good amount of talent and the only major additions were a talented but injury prone CF in AJ Pollock, bringing C Russell Martin back and setup man Joe Kelly.
As always their rotation will be what holds them back after Clayton Kershaw even if he stays healthy because their whole rotation have all battled injuries in their career or consistency as the only thing they did was bring back Hyun-Jin Ryu. Their lineup is still strong despite losing 2B Brian Dozier, C Yasmani Grandal, SS Manny Machado and outfielders Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig because of Cody Bellinger, 3B Justin Turner, OF Joc Pederson and the return of SS Corey Seager plus adding Pollack and Martin. They didn’t fix the hole at 2B and still think Bellinger is an outfielder when he is a 1B who learned the outfield to make the big leagues so they resigned David Freese to platoon with Max Muncy.
Despite having Kenley Jansen as your closer and adding Kelly to setup they still have a weak bullpen with only having Tony Cingrani as a reliable reliever maybe putting back Ross Stripling in the bullpen is the best course of action despite a thin rotation that traded away Alex Wood too.
The Rockies again will compete for a wild card spot because of their lineup despite letting OFers, Gerardo Parra, Carlos Gonzalez and 2B DJ LaMiehu go because they still have 3B Nolan Arenado, SS Trevor Story, OF Charlie Blackmon, OF Ian Desmond who they are now playing in CF, OF David Dahl who finally gets a real chance to start and INF Daniel Murphy who they signed to play 1B not 2B.
Despite signing Murphy they will go with Ryan McMahon at 2B despite him being a 3B who was their opening day 1B last year so no real replacement at 2B and brought back Mark Reynolds. Their rotation is talented but young without much track record outside of Jon Gray and Chad Bettis so they will rely on their bullpen that is still strong despite losing Adam Ottavino because they still have Wade Davis, Mike Dunn, Jake McGee, Bryan Shaw and Seung Hwan Oh.
TheDiamondbacks made so many moves that it looks like a full on rebuild mode with 17 players gone but then added players that also look like they are competing for a wild card spot like trading away their franchise player 1B Paul Goldschmidt or signing RP Greg Holland and OF Adam Jones. They let two of their starters go in Patrick Corbin and Shelby Miller plus Taijuan Walker is coming off Tommy John surgery but didn’t do much to help Zack Greinke and Robbie Rayexcept get Luke Weaver back in the Goldschmidt trade which will prevent from being better then 3rd place when they have three holes not one.
As I stated earlier Holland is piece you add to your bullpen to help Archie Bradleyafter you lose six relievers and having Jones replace AJ Pollock so you don’t have to play a rotating cast of people there if you’re trying to compete but this team got worse really quickly compared to last season. They are also starting two utility players in the infield and pushed Jake Lamb to 1B despite having actual options at those positions and are not using Matt Andriese in the rotation despite it being weak.
Their only strength will be their outfield of David Peralta, Jones, Steven Souza and Jarrod Dyson backing them up which doesn’t make you a playoff team.
The Giantsin their final season of Bruce Bochy as manager have a good chance to finish in third place due to their own talent but due to the other teams taking a step back. Their rotation is still led by ace Madison Bumgarner but after that it is all question marks due to inexperience/proven track record of Dereck Rodriguez among the three they have or injury concerns to their veterans like Johnny Cueto missing the season due to Tommy John surgery and Jeff Samardzija staying healthy.
They only improvements were by resigning Derek Holland adding Drew Pomeranz who has his own injury concerns. Their lineup will be the reason they are competitive because it still has C Buster Posey, 1B Brandon Belt, SS Brandon Crawford, 3B Evan Longoria and 2B Joe Panik.
They no longer have Hunter Pence or Gorkys Hernandez and Gregor Blanco in their outfield as it is all young guys in Steven Duggar, Austin Slater, and Mac Williamson to name some but have insurance in OF Gerardo Parra who they hope have good spring to risk taking people off the 40 man roster to add him. Despite losing Hunter Strickland they still have a strong bullpen that they hope stays healthy unlike last year in Mark Melancon, Will Smith, Sam Dyson and Tony Watson to help the rotation with many questions.
The Padres did it again by signing arguably the best all-around player on the free agent market despite not having a clear need for them in SS Manny Machado. And like their signing 1B Eric Hosmer last year but will still make them a last place team. Their #1 prospect is SS Fernando Tatis so Machado would block him and didn’t use that money to fix the pitching staff or the 3B situation on a cheaper option like Mike Moustakas but hope he will accept playing 3B despite wanting to be a SS. The only positive thing is it prevents them from being dumb enough to play Wil Myers at 3B again as he will stay in LF to form a good outfield of Manuel Margot in CF and Hunter Renfroe in RF.
The move that actually made the most sense was signing Ian Kinsler for your infield defense and solve the top of the order issues since they haven’t had a good 2B in years or playing a guy out of position. Till Tatis comes up they will play Luis Urias or Greg Garcia which sounds like a good plan but both of them are natural 2B. Having one of the best defensive catchers in baseball in Austin Hedges will help because this rotation is the biggest mess since it’s full of no name youngsters like Jacob Nix and relievers like Craig Stammen they are trying to start which means they might as well start Adam Warren if they’re just trying anything because the only addition was Garrett Richards who will most likely not pitch all year after coming off Tommy John surgery.