The questions and discussion…
As a new year approaches for not only the world at large but for MLB’s off-season as well…
1) Which team has had the most successful off-season up to this point? Why?
Dan
Mets
Most successful off-season so far has to be the New York Mets.
They were able to improve their roster by signing the biggest free agent on the market in Juan Soto. There were close to making it to the World Series in making it to the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. They have the best shot at matching up with the Dodgers for 2025 and getting Juan Soto to improve their offense might just be the topping required to overcome the juggernaut in Los Angeles.
They also grabbed Clay Holmes and Frankie Montas and are in the running for Roki Sasaki which would be a huge addition to their rotation and, potentially, the next best pitcher out of Japan.
The Mets have only improved since the end of the 2024 season and can still get better!
Joe
Yankees
The Yankees.
And, while yeah, I am a Yankees fan, this isn’t just simply me having a “home team bias and/or opinion.”
As a Yankees’ fan I was betwixt and between on whether the Yanks should “win” the Juan Soto Sweepstakes or would it be better for them to “lose” him and then take the money and strengthen the team in other areas of need… like getting a first baseman, figuring out who is on third and second and two outfield spots and getting a pitcher wouldn’t hurt.
So when news broke the Yanks were not going to resign Soto I was more than a tad curious what Hal Steinbrenner’s/Brian Cashman’s next moves by the Yankees would be and I am so far more than satisfied on the pivot the team made.
Overall I give the Yankees a tentative B-plus to an A-minus for the players they did wind up getting after they “lost” Soto to the Mets..
GM Cashman reinforced an already strong area for the Yankees when he got a top free agent starter in Max Fried (A-plus) and then he made a deal to acquire Cody Bellinger (B-plus/A-minus), who is primarily a centerfielder, but can play all the outfield positions as well as first very capably, and he most likely will be their centerfielder so the team can move (very correctly) Judge back to where he belongs in right.
Then Cashman working from a kinda, sorta position of strength with “extra” starters due to the Freid deal traded for reliever/closer in the game in Devin Williams (A) for starter Nestor Cortes and promising second base prospect Caleb Durbin. Losing Durbin was hard to take since he has long been rumored to be free agent Gleyber Torres replacement at second but ya gotta give up something to get something and Williams is one of, if not the best, closers in the game.
And finally Cashman went out and signed Paul Goldschmidt for first base. Yeah, he is 37 and just had a down year offensively, but his down year with the bat was far better than what was, I believe at least four different players they had start at first for the 2024 season… plus he provides Gold Glove defense at first. The move to get Goldschmidt for first keeps N Bellinger in center… where his Gold Glove level defense belongs…and Judge in right… where he belongs.
Losing Soto was tough but the way they’ve responded since, the Yanks get a tentative grade of a B-plus to an A-minus.
Their final grade depends on how they fill in who plays third and/or second and they still need to resolve who plays left.
Can they trust minor leaguer Jasson Domínguez at left for 2025?
Trade for Nolan Arenado, or sign free agent Alex Bergman, for third? Which would move Jazz Chisholm over to second which is where he has had the most experience playing at the MLB level.
So at this point for the Yanks off-season…
So far; so good but they could use at least one more major to semi-major move to solidify their probable starting 2025 lineup.
Make that final move right and thy get an easy A.
Do it wrong and maybe a B which would not be the worst they could have achieved since they didn’t win the Juan Soto Sweepstakes. .
2) Which 2024 NL playoff team needs to do the most work for the remainder of the off-season if they intend to be a playoff team in the 2025 season? Why?
Dan
Brewers
The 2024 National League team with the most work to do are the Milwaukee Brewers.
They got rid of the best closer in baseball in Devin Williams while acquiring a pitcher who isn’t fully healthy and will likely be a one-year rental.
They also lost Willy Adames to the San Francisco Giants in free agency which will be an enormous hole to fill not only at shortstop, but in the line-up as well as he’s been an offensive catalyst for them this past season. He had 32 home runs, and 112 runs batted in last season while scoring 93 runs himself. Replacing that type of production is going to be a tough task, and they aren’t big money spenders, so they’ll have to work from low-expense players and their farm system.
There’s a lot of work ahead of Milwaukee if they want to compete again in 2025.
Joe
I agree it’s the Brewers…
Many expected the Brewers to take a step back after the team traded Corbin Burnes their number one starter, but they instead won the NL Central by 10 games, which was the largest margin for any division winner.
And since the playoffs the Brewers off-season has pretty much been has been trading their ace closer Devin Williams for the Yankees’ starter Nestor Cortes and promising second base prospect Caleb Durbin and losing their free agent shortstop Willy Adames. While Joey Ortiz (acquired in the Burnes trade) could move from third base to shortstop, the Brewers still need to replace Adames’ potent bat, which produced a team-high 32 homers and 112 RBIs in 2024.
If the Brewers intend to be a playoff team in 2025 then they need to do more than just replacing Adames… they need to resolve their shortstop/third base situation, acquire a power bat for the outfield/DH and add at least one mid-rotation starter and then maybe grab a reliever or two. And since they have been pretty much all quiet on the free agency scene… which is no great shock based upon the team’s recent history in that area… I expect the Brewers GM to be actively looking for trading partners with other team’s front offices.
And if that’s their strategy then they had best hope GM Matt Arnold is a hell of a wheeler and dealer because if he isn’t then in 2025 they will have a hard road to travel to repeat being a playoff team.
3) Which 2024 AL playoff team needs to do the most work for the remainder of the off-season if they intend to be a playoff team in the 2025 season? Why?
Dan
Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles have the most work to do among the 2024 American League playoff teams.
While their big free agent was Corbin Burnes, who has been one of the best and most consistently available pitchers in the league, trying to replace him after he went to Arizona is going to be enormous. And they’re in a division that’s only getting better with big spenders in New York and Boston.
The Orioles still haven’t really made any free agent splashes yet, so they have a lot of work ahead of them. I don’t think they’ll be able to win the AL East next season, nor pull out a Wild Card slot if they don’t address their starting rotation and get some upgrades.
Joe
The Orioles… and by a large margin in comparison to the other 2024 playoff teams.
Simply because the O’s haven’t done jack this off-season. Sorry but if their biggest moves are going to be to sign free agents right fielder Tyler O’Neill, starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano and catcher Gary Sanchez and add four other players on minor league deals then that’s basically not doing jack.
With Baltimore having come up almost empty throughout free agency thus far as well as the not making any trades worth talking about and with the free agent player marker becoming tighter and leaner as many of the best free agents are already off the board the Orioles this off-season seem to be regressing back to their former cheapskate ways of previous owner Peter Angelos.
This is supposed to be a contending team and its behaving as if it’s a team in the midst of a rebuild. The players the O’s have on their team to be their everyday players are a good foundation, but they need help… particularly at first, second and getting a power hitting DH (Pete Alonso anybody?).. if they are to be contenders i the AL East where the Yankees and Red Sox have been especially busy adding players who will enhance their teams every day lines and roster depth.
4) After starting off last season, in a word… slow… the New York Mets rebounded and not only made it into the playoffs but got within two games of being in the World Series. And they did it by being successful with what very arguably could be called a patch work starting rotation that didn’t have any big or noted names and by taking some chances on free-agent starters who had either been through various injuries or had some poor seasons or both.
Since the 2024 season ended the Mets saw three of those starters (90 starts worth of 2024 work) become free agents… Luis Severino, Jose Quintana and Sean Manaea… and the prevailing opinion was that at some point in the off-season the Mets needed to attack the pitching market.
So far this off-season the Mets club president David Stearns’ (who is chiefly responsible for compiling the Mets roster for the new season) key acquisitions have been to spend owner Steve Cohen’s money by signing Juan Soto, RHP’s Clay Holmes and Frankie Montas and by reupping with LHP Sean Manaea. And Holmes is a former closer who is converting to a starting role.
Can David Stearns/The Mets run it back again for the upcoming season with another year of “cutting and pasting” together a starting rotation and be a playoff team or could the team have some serious problems repeating as a playoff team despite adding the prize free agent for this off-season in All-Star Juan Soto? Why or why not?
Dan
Mets’ starters as of right now…
The Mets can definitely run it back next season and compete for the World Series. They were able to upgrade their offense with the biggest free agent splash available in Juan Soto. They just need to re-sign Pete Alonso, and they’ll have a very powerful, solid line-up between the two including Francisco Lindor, who had an excellent season last year.
The Mets are willing to spend money, have a great team overall and are going to be a tough team to beat by any opponent. They didn’t just keep what they needed to afloat from last season, they improved their roster. And the Mets aren’t done yet as they’re still in the running for Roki Sasaki and are attempting to steal him away from the competition.
This is poised to be a big year for the Mets.
Joe
This was expected to be a transition year for the Mets after they lost 87 games in 2023 and followed that up with a quiet offseason, during which their largest free-agent expenditure was a relative meager $28 million. Instead, the team surprised the baseball world and went on a run into the playoffs that ended in the NLCS when the Dodgers took the Mets down in six games.
GM David Stearns and owner Steve Cohen won the biggest bidding war of the offseason by signing Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million deal and that’s a win regardless what price they had to pay to get him to come over from the other team in NYC.
But after losing three-fifths of the their starting rotation… Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana and Luis Severino… to free agency the team needs to enhance their rotation some decent additions.
And so far this is what they have done… they reupped with Manaea and then added Frankie Montas and ex-closer Clay Holmes who they intend to transform into a starter.
While this Mets team with the addition of Soto will most likely score runs in bunches, especially if they resign Pete Alonso, if they believe running it back with another patchwork rotation is going to be as effective the 2025 season as it was in the 2024 season then in my opinion they need to seriously rethink that strategy.
5) And speaking of Juan Soto…
If you are the manager of the Mets where in the team’s batting order do you slot him? Why?
Dan
Juan Soto
If I’m the New York Mets, I’m slotting Juan Soto into the number two or number three slot with Pete Alonso in the number four hole and Francisco Lindor in the number one leadoff spot.
I can also switch Juan Soto with Lindor in the leadoff positional spot as well.
Juan Soto has the ability to bat anywhere in the lineup, and he’s very reliable to get on base. So with the reliability, plus speed he offers, I want to make sure he’s on base for Pete Alonso or can get the scoring started off before Alonso comes up to the plate. Him and Lindor are interchangeable, so I’ll always go with the hotter hand at the leadoff position, but getting the line-up started off with great players and get a quick lead in games is going to be a vital part of their offense. You can’t have him bat deeper in the lineup leadoff as you don’t want Pete Alonso to clear the bases with a home run or end the inning before Soto comes up to plate. He has to start the game off at the plate in the first inning and give the Mets an opportunity to have Alonso at the plate every game in inning one.
Joe
If the Mets do nothing else… which to me is not something they should be considering right about now as they presently don’t have a first baseman on their roster (just resign the Polar Bear already) and could still use another bat in their outfield and/or DH… then this is probably their best lineup as of this moment: Francisco Lindor (SS), Brandon Nimmo (LF), Juan Soto (RF), Mark Vientos (1B), Starling Marte (DH), Jeff McNeil (2B), Francisco Alvarez (C), Brett Baty (3B) and Tyrone Taylor (CF)
If the Mets re-sign Pete Alonso… that would make their lineup deeper and give manger Mendoza far more lineup flexibility… then maybe their batting order would look like this: Francisco Lindor (SS), Juan Soto (RF), Pete Alonso (1B), Brandon Nimmo (LF), Mark Vientos (3B), Starling Marte (DH), Jeff McNeil (2B), Francisco Alvarez (C) and Tyrone Taylor (CF).
Extra Innings…
MLB…. Happy New Years!
Leave a Reply