There are quality relievers sitting in free agency and the Cubs are in position to make noise in that market. Matt Chapman's market has been very quiet, and although his strikeouts can be frustrating, he offers power and top-shelf defense at third base. Cody Bellinger, who was so good for the Cubs last year, remains available and a reunion makes sense for both sides. The good news is opportunities still exist. Counsell is a great manager and an upgrade over the incumbent David Ross, but surely the front office knows it must improve the roster. They're the only team in baseball that has not traded for a major leaguer or signed a major-league free agent this offseason. What they should do: Something? Anything? That's an oversimplification, but for real though, the Cubs shockingly hired Counsell a week into the offseason, and they've done nothing other than sign a few players to minor-league contracts since. If they're not going to use that flexibility to improve the team now, when will they? Wanting a team to get better after a 101-win season is not sacrilege. The O's will never have as much financial flexibility with this core as they do right now. Also, Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson won't make the league minimum forever. Do that and you should add to your roster and try to get better the next year. Why they should do it: Well, for starters, the Orioles won 101 games and the AL East in 2023. Dylan Cease would be ideal because he comes with two years of control, but even one year of Corbin Burnes would go a long way to improving their World Series odds in 2024. Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell are the best available free agent starters, though the trade market is a better match for the O's given their wealth of prospects (they don't have enough roster spots for all these infielders). That was obvious last offseason, throughout the 2023 regular season, and again in the postseason, when their starters allowed 13 runs in eight innings in three games. Couldn't at least try? Make him say no to you.Įven with John Means returning from Tommy John surgery, the Orioles need another quality starting pitcher. Yamamoto fits Baltimore's contention window and youth movement perfectly, and while he may have (likely would have?) turned down the Orioles and picked the Dodgers anyway, as far as we know Baltimore didn't even make an attempt to sign him. Why weren't the O's in on Yamamoto, exactly? He's only 25 and he was available for nothing but money (not even draft pick compensation). What they should do: Add a high-end starter. These are five teams we hope are more active in the 2024 half of the winter than they were in the 2023 half. With that in mind, here are five teams with designs on contention this coming season that have had a fairly quiet offseason to date. Never feel guilty for wanting your team to improve. They just want to see their team get better. I know it's not the deepest free-agent class, but there are a lot of frustrated fan bases out there. Something impactful that meaningfully improves their postseason and/or World Series odds. Other teams, well, we're still waiting for them to do something this offseason. Louis Cardinals aggressively attacked their needs as well, and so did the New York Yankees. No team has been more bold than the Los Angeles Dodgers. The pace of the hot stove league has been slow though, which only means there's a lot of action ahead of us.Īs always, some teams have been more active than others this offseason, and some teams need a lot more help than others too. We are closer to the start of spring training than the end of the World Series, but doesn't it feel like MLB's offseason has barely gotten underway? Granted, we have seen major trades ( Juan Soto) and blockbuster signings ( Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |