On the Radar

Central: The Guardians made it all the way to the AL Pennant before losing to the Yankees and they did that without two of their best pitchers (Shane Bieber-Tommy John surgery and Triston McKenzie demotion). Those two with Tanner Bibee and Luis Ortiz who they traded for should make their rotation better plus they added Paul Sewald to help out top-tier closer Emmanuel Clase in the bullpen.

3B Jose Ramirez will keep showing the world he is the most underrated-two-way players in the MLB since they traded away two of their best players. He will be on an island in the middle of the lineup without Andres Gimenez/Josh Naylor unless 1B Carlos Santana who they brought back can help him out which isn’t likely or youngster OF Jhonkensy Noel improves. They are solid defensively with outfielders Steven Kwan, Lane Thomas, C Austin Hedges and SS Brayan Rocchio but how much offense will they put up?

The Royals made the playoffs last year after losing 100 games the previous season due to the strength of their rotation of Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Michael Lorenzen. They did trade Brady Singer for 2B Jonathan India but have Kris Bubic coming off surgery to fill the 5^th spot and brought in former All-Star closer Carlos Estevez to close.

They already had too many young position players before they got India so there will be a log jam between him, infielders Maikel Garcia, Michael Massey and OF MJ Melendez between LF, 3B, DH and 2B. They still have two of the best players at their positions in C Sal Perez and SS Bobby Witt Jr., leading them on both sides of the ball.

The Tigers made the playoffs last year despite being sellers at the deadline as they relied heavily on their young relievers until it didn’t work. Their hope is bringing back Jack Flaherty to help out reigning CY Young Award winner Tarik Skubal will make a difference, plus they brought in veterans Alex Cobb, Jose Urquidy to help out the young starters like Reese Olson and Casey Mize.

Their bullpen might be their weakness in terms of a proven closer as they did bring a few veteran relievers in John Brebbia, Andrew Chafin and Tommy Kahnle. They are deep when it comes to their position players as their outfield is Riley Greene, Parker Meadows, Wenceel Perez and Matt Vierling; while the infield has C Jake Rodgers, youngsters Colt Keith, Jace Jung, Trey Sweeney, Kerry Carpenter and Spencer Torkelson. The issue is they signed 2B Gleyber Torres so Keith is playing 1B meaning Torkelson is the odd man out and they are still paying Javy Baez.

The Twins days of out-bashing people to win divisions have come to end and are lucky their rival Chicago was historically bad or they would have been in last place. Outside of Pablo Lopez at the top of the rotation and Jhoan Duran throwing gas in the bullpen their pitching staff will again be their weakness. Their three best players do not stay healthy in SS Carlos Correa, CF Byron Buxton and INF Royce Lewis.

This is the team that traded Luis Arrez because they had a crowded infield and traded Jorge Polanco plus let Max Kepler leave in free agency. They did bring in OF Harrison Bader as insurance to Buxton and Ty France to fill the 1b hole but unless their young core of Lewis, INF Jose Miranda, INF Edouard Julien and OF Trevor Larnach stay healthy/produce it will be a long season.

The White Sox had a historically bad season from the ownership to the management to the manager himself to the coaching and the players all being hurt or underperforming. They have been bad for a few seasons and will still be but they will lose fewer games due to the fact they finally changed managers by firing Pedro Grifol and hiring former outfielder-long time coach Will Venable since he actually should know what he is doing. Their pitching staff will be headlined by Jonathan Cannon and veterans Martin Perez/Mike Clevinger who they can flip at the deadline besides their youngsters but the bullpen will be an issue without a proven closer or reliever.

They decided as a losing team they shouldn’t be developing their young talent as they signed Austin Slater, Michael A Taylor and Mike Tauchman to play the outfield/DH to flank Luis Robert/Andrew Benintendi. Their infield is also not decided as third base/second base/shortstop are wide open even though they did sign some veterans to minor league/major league deals. 3B Miguel Vargas hasn’t proven anything nor has infielders Bryan Ramos/Lenyn Sosa/Brooks Baldwin haven’t been given much time to develop, and Josh Rojas was signed to play 2B but is better at third base.

East: Well the Yankees got back to the World Series and on paper had the better pitching staff but literally everything went as they lost in epic portions to the Dodgers. They looked like the favorites in the American League again until they lost Juan Soto in free agency, lost their ace Gerrit Cole to Tommy John surgery and probably lost DH Giancarlo Stanton to both elbows needing some kind of surgery. Their rotation was supposed to be one of their strengths as they signed Max Fried who became the highest-paid left handed pitcher ever, have the reigning Rookie of the Year in Luis Gil (but will start the season hurt), Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman.

\They did improve their bullpen by trading for Devin Williams to pair with Luke Weaver but did lose Clay Holmes in free agency. Their lineup will still have thump to it with OF Aaron Judge, C Austin Wells, brought in OF/1B Cody Bellinger, 1B Paul Goldschmidt and moved Jazz Chisholm to 2B to improve their defense. Their weakness will be defense and do not have a starting 3B, youngster Jasson Dominguez hasn’t proved he can even play LF, Bellinger isn’t a CF so they are lucky they have Trent Grisham on the bench and Anthony Volpe at SS.

The Orioles looked like they would keep winning the division as they won over 100 games two seasons ago but untimely injuries to the pitching staff and key positions kept them from competing in the World Series. They are banking on the return of pitchers Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells and the signing of Charlie Morton to overcome losing Corbin Burnes in free agency. The trio of Zach Eflin(who they traded for at the deadline), Dean Kremer and Grayson Rodriquez will probably not be enough to pass the Yankees unless those three others step up.

They do at least get back All-Star closer Felix Bautista, get a full season of Gregory Soto, Seranthony Dominguez to pair with Yennier Cano and free agent signing Andrew Kittredge. Over the years they bragged about how talented their farm system was/how deep their roster was but with some trades it isn’t as deep but still have the core of SS Gunnar Henderson, C Adley Rutschman, 1B Ryan Mountcastle, INF Jordan Westburg, outfielders Cedric Mullins and Colton Cowser. To overcome losing Anthony Santander they brought in three outfielders Tyler O’Neil, Dylan Carlson and Ramon Laureano. Lastly they still didn’t address it in spring training that Henderson was one of the worst defensive SS in baseball as he should move back to 3B so Jackson Holiday can play SS and Westburg at 2B.

The Red Sox surprised many by finishing .500 and they might have the talent again to even compete for a playoff spot based on the moves they made. When you bring in Garrett Crochet via trade, signing Walker Buehler, Aroldis Chapman, Patrick Sandoval and 3B Alex Bregman you are going to improve. Their rotation of Crochet, Buehler, Brayan Bello, Tanner Houck and Lucas Giolito(coming off surgery) could be top tier, plus with Chapman setting up Liam Hendricks who is back from surgery as well it might be a top back end as well.

3B Rafael Devers is now not on an island offensively with Bregman in tow but that then makes the defensive alignment confusing. If you put Bregman at 2B Ceddanne Rafaela moves to CF which pushes Jarren Duran to LF but if you put Bregman at 3B with Devers at DH/1B that means Triston Casas sits or Mastaka Yoshida sits or plays the field which benches Wilyer Abreu who just won a Gold Glove as rookie. The only non question marks are Connor Wong at catcher and a full season of Trevor Story at SS.

The Rays used to always be a competitor no matter what talent they had on the roster but last year it was almost a full fire sale/this offseason and it looks like it will be a long season again. They still plan on playing Christopher Morel in the outfield(who had the worst batting average), former top prospect Junior Caminero at 3B and signing SS Ha-Seong Kim to play SS with Brandon Lowe at 2B and Yandy Diaz at 1B plus signing C Danny Jansen.

That is a lineup of maybes and question marks outside of Diaz so they are lucky their pitching staff is still strong. It is led by Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen with youngsters Taj Bradley, Shane Baz and Ryan Pepiot plus Peter Fairbanks at closer.

The Jays missed an opportunity to fully be sellers last year since their two best players SS Bo Bichette and 1B Vlad Guerrero Jr. could be free agents and would have gotten more for them last season or this offseason. They are playing Dalton Varsho out of position, moved George Springer to LF and brought in Anthony Santander for five years to play RF but have a hole at 3B/DH.

They also did get Andres Gimenez to shore up their defense at 2B and added Max Scherzer to their rotation. Scherzer, if he has anything left in the tank, will help out the core of Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt but their bullpen might be an issue. They let Jordan Romano go and signed journeymen starting pitcher turned reliever in Jeff Hoffman who had some medical issues with contracts before settling on the Jays so that is a downgrade.

West: This division is wide open between the top three teams all have weaknesses that will hold them back. Gone are the Astros dynastic teams of massive talent as lots of it has left the building as this offseason they lost Justin Verlander, Alex Pressly, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker and only brought in Christian Walker but are hoping the contract doesn’t end up like the Jose Abreu deal. They are banking on Luis Garcia, Christian Javier and Lance McCullers coming back at some point this season so Framber Valdez isn’t shouldering the load of the pitching staff. They also still have Josh Hader closing games out and Bryan Abreu setting up. Their offense is still centered around DH Yordan Alvarez, C Yainer Diaz, and 2B Jose Altuve but added for 3B Isaac Paredes.

The biggest issues will be replicating the offense without Tucker and Bregman but why is Altuve playing LF at the age of 34 when they do not have an everyday second baseman!?

The Mariners have one of the best pitching staffs led by Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Bryan Woo but their bullpen is still questionable even if Andres Munoz throws serious heat.

Their lineup still centers around CF Julio Rodriguez, C Cal Raleigh and LF Randy Arozarena plus C Mitch Garver and OF Luke Raley. The real question is why is Jorge Polanco going to play 3B because then second base is full of backups and RF is being patrolled by Victor Robles who is good defensively but can’t hit.

After winning the World Series the Rangers fell back down to earth last year but their lineup just got better. They added INF Jake Burger and OF Joc Pederson to a lineup that already has RF Adolis Garcia, SS Corey Seager, 2B Marcus Semien, C Jonah Heim, and youngsters OF Evan Carter, OF Wyatt Langford and 3B Josh Jung. They even made their bench better by adding Kyle Higashioka so in case Heim misses time they are set.

Their rotation is very thin as all of their key pieces as Jon Gray is out for awhile, Jacob DeGrom/Tyler Mahle are coming off major injuries and Nathan Eovaldi is 35 who has had multiple Tommy John surgeries and they do not have a closer.

The A’s finally didn’t finish in the cellar and are finally going in the right direction but hopefully the fans in Sacramento come to the stadium. They gave massive extensions to outfielders Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker to prove they want to keep their young talent around.

They have some other nice building blocks like C Shea Langeliers, 1B Tyler Soderstrom, 2B Zack Gelof and clubhouse favorite OF Seth Brown. They added 3B Gio Urshela, INF Luis Uria, Jose Leclerc, Jeffrey Springs and spent $67 million on Luis Severino to lead their young rotation. They still have one of the best closers in baseball in Mason Miller and held on to him. The odd thing is they think infielder Miguel Andujar should be their everyday LF when Brown or speedster OF Esteury Ruiz should be getting that opportunity.

The Angels will probably be in the basement for a long time because they keep giving out contracts to players who they do not need. Like right now it’s been 3B Anthony Rendon who will probably miss the whole season again. That is why they brought in at least seven infielders on both major/minor league deals to overcome that injury but also their starting middle infielder combination of Zach Neto/Luis Rengifo/Yoan Moncada/Tim Anderson and Kevin Newman.

The only set positions are Taylor Ward in LF who should have been traded, 1B Nolan Schanuel, C Logan O’Hoppe and Mike Trout who is moving to RF to see if he can stay more healthy. So that means Jo Adell/Mickey Moniak will split playing time in CF and they added Jorge Soler/Travis d’Arnaud to the lineup as well. Tyler Anderson now has some help in the rotation by adding Yusei Kikuchi, Kyle Hendricks and Dakota Hudson, plus they added Kenley Jansen to be their closer.

Central: The Brewers surprised everyone last season by winning their division despite their pitching depth and Craig Counsell leaving for their rival Cubs. Pat Murphy the bench coach/his former college coach won Manager of the Year and this season their rotation will be better as their ace Brandon Woodruff will be back from surgery to help Freddy Peralta, Aaron Civale who they have for a full season, and acquired both Jose Quintana and Nestor Cortes.

The real question mark is the closer role since Devin Williams was traded but they managed fine without him for most of the season but they might need to get a proven one at the deadline. Their offense still has former MVP OF Christian Yelich, All-Star C William Contreras, 1B Rhys Hoskins and OF Jackson Chourio. On the defensive side they have platinum glove winner Brice Turang at 2B, Gold Glove RF Sal Frelick, and SS Joey Ortiz. The real question will be will they be able to make up for the loss of SS Willy Adames in free agency as Ortiz shifted to SS leaving a hole at 3B?

Well the Cardinals did finish tied for second place at .500 last season, which is way better than being in last place the season before and with their strong rotation they should be back to competing for the playoffs. That rotation consists of Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Miles Mikolas and Stephen Matz plus All-Star closer Ryan Helsley.

They decided to let Paul Goldschmidt go in free agency and moved Willson Contreras over to 1B to save them from the bad contract they gave him which causes a huge shuffle of their depth of position players. The only set positions are SS Masyn Winn and 3B Nolan Arenado who they are trying to trade. So infielders Brandon Donovan, Nolan Gorman, Alec Burleson, outfielders Jordan Walker and Lars Nootbaar have to split time between 2B, DH and the outfield.

The Cubs did surprise many by still being in contention so late into the season tying for second place with some of the moves they made at the deadline. This offseason they traded away Isaac Paredes and Cody Bellinger but brought in INF Justin Turner and OF Kyle Tucker to help out outfielders Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ. The rest of the lineup has question marks offensively but not defensively in C Carson Kelly, 2B Nico Hoerner, SS Dansby Swanson and CF Pete Crow Armstrong.

They still have a solid rotation of Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and added Matthew Boyd, plus traded for Ryan Pressly to be their closer which was their biggest issue last season.

The Reds have a lot of talent but it is hard to pass up three teams ahead of you with more talent, but they did hire future Hall of Fame manager Terry Francona to lead this team in the right direction. Hunter Greene leads this young rotation that has Andrew Abbott, Graham Ashcraft and Nick Lodolo, plus they added Brady Singer by trading away Jonathan India.

They also added Taylor Rogers to the bullpen that already has Alexis Diaz, Brent Suter, Emilio Pagan and Nick Martinez. Even with India gone they have a log jam of infielders in Spencer Steer, Matt McClain, Elly De La Cruz, Jeimer Candelario, Christian Encarnacion Strand, Noelvi Marte and traded for Gavin Lux. Their outfield now has Austin Hays, a former outfielder to solidify the outfield of TJ Friedl and Jake Fraley.

The Pirates have a very young and talented team with Paul Skenes leading the rotation and OF Bryan Reynolds leading the offense. Skenes leads Jared Jones, Mitch Keller and offseason signing Andrew Heaney but the hope is former All-Star closer David Bednar rebounds from a terrible season.

The offense is a real puzzle to solve as they are shifting Reynolds to RF to accommodate Tommy Pham in LF and are keeping their short-term experiment of Oneil Cruz in CF after his move to SS instead of making him a corner outfielder so it is easier. With Cruz in CF instead of Nick Gonzales at SS (who is at 2B) they are playing Isiah Kiner-Falefa, a backup at SS which pushes Jared Triolo to the bench. Also at catcher they also have four players to figure out from. At least 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes, 1B Spencer Horowitz and Andrew McCucthen are set at their positions.

East: The Phillies again have a top tier rotation of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suarez and Christopher Sanchez plus they added Jesus Luzardo to Taijuan Walker and Joe Ross. They also did add an All-Star closer in Jordan Romano so Matt Strahm, Jose Alvarado and Tanner Banks can be setup men.

Their lineup is also one of the best with Trea Turner, Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and Bryce Harper in the infield, with Kyle Schwarber at DH and JT Realmuto at catcher. They also added Max Kepler to their outfield to make their offense better with Brandon Marsh in CF but having him play a new position is dumb because Nicky Castellanos isn’t a great defensive player in RF.

The Mets won the offseason by signing OF Juan Soto for fifteen years and even brought back 1B Pete Alonso to make one of the best lineups with SS Francisco Lindor, C Francisco Alvarez and 3B Mark Vientos. They also added CF Jose Siri and re-signed OF Jesse Winkler to pair with OF Brandon Nimmo and OF Starling Marte in the outfield or at DH.

The starting rotation will be the thing that holds them back since they lost Luis Severino/Jose Quintana in free agency but did re-sign Sean Manaea to pair with Kodai Senga as co-aces. The rest has question marks as Frankie Montas who they signed is always injured, Clay Holmes hasn’t started a game since their rookie season, and both Griffin Canning/Paul Blackburn are coming off major injuries. They did sign AJ Minter and re-signed Ryne Stanek to set up closer Edwin Diaz.

The Braves are usually a World Series contender but last year they had some of the worst luck in the injury department especially losing two of their best players OF Ronald Acuna and Spencer Strider who are going to come back this season but the question is when? Gone are Max Fried and Charlie Morton so it is on Chris Sale to replicate his Cy Young season and same for Reynaldo Lopez to repeat his All-Star season outside of that the rest is question marks. Their bullpen still has Raisel Iglesias as closer with Aaron Bummer, Pierce Johnson and Hector Neris setting up.

They still have an All-Star set of infielders in 1B Matt Olson, 3B Austin Riley, SS Orlando Arcia and 2B Ozzie Albies, plus DH Marcell Ozuna and C Sean Murphy. The outfield outside of Acuna still has Michael Harris but have a lot of questions as they invested in LF or to fill in RF with Jarred Kelenic, Bryan De La Cruz, Alex Verdugo and Jurickson Profar.

The Nationals are going in the right direction as they went from last place to 4^th place but again it is difficult to pass up three more talented teams but it is a nice start. They did invest a lot into making this team better by adding 1B Nathaniel Lowe, 1B Josh Bell, INF Amed Rosario, INF Paul DeJong, pitchers Michael Soroka, Lucas Sims, Jorge Lopez and re-signed Kyle Finnegan. They also have building blocks in the rotation with MacKenzie Gore, Josiah Gray and Jake Irvin.

The position player group of SS CJ Abrams, C Keibert Ruiz and 2B Luis Garcia is coming together and they have nice young players entering their second season in outfielders James Wood and Dylan Crews.

The Marlins lost 100 games last season and have had a fire sale since the deadline going through this offseason which also included getting rid of front office members, the manager, the entire coaching staff and even broadcasters.

Their best pitcher, former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara will be back at some point and the other young pitchers who are coming off major injuries as well. They do not have a closer or any proven relievers to flip at the deadline and no starting catcher. Their best player OF Jesus Sanchez will be on an island all season offensively as most of the position players are unproven players from their system or others and journey men who shouldn’t be starting. It will be a long season under new manager Clayton McCullough who left the successful Los Angeles Dodgers.

West: The Dodgers won the World Series in epic portions embarrassing the Yankees showing the haters that the Covid World Series wasn’t a fluke as they will keep being the best team going forward for a long time. They are getting back pitchers Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May and Brusdar Graterol from injury. They didn’t stop there they resigned UTL Kike Hernandez, OF Teoscar Hernandez and P Blake Treinen.

On top of that they signed P Blake Snell, OF Michael Conforto, two closers in Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott, P Luis Garcia and two foreign imports in Roki Sasaki and INF Hyesong Kim. With all of those moves we all forget they still have OF Mookie Betts who will play SS which isn’t a great idea, UTL Tommy Edman, 1B Freddie Freeman, 3B Max Muncy, C Will Smith, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and of course DH Shohei Ohanti who is now healthy to pitch on top of his offensive production.

The Padres surprised many they made the playoffs last year after missing it the year before but it was due to their deep pitching staff and CF Jackson Merill who was robbed of the Rookie of the Year award. That rotation is led by Yu Darvish, Dylan Cease, Michael King, and they signed Nick Pivetta to fill in for Joe Musgrove who is out for the year. Plus their bullpen still has Robert Suarez and Jason Adam.

Outside of Merill the lineup still is led by 3B Manny Machado, the reigning batting champ 1B Luis Arraez and OF Fernando Tatis Jr.. Jurickson Profar and Hae-Song Kim have left so Xander Bogarts will play SS even though he isn’t great defensively and Jake Cronenworth will move back to second with Arrez at 1B. They still have a hole at catcher and leftfield but hope Connor Joe and Gavin Sheets fill the DH spot.

The Diamondbacks hope to get back to contention after losing in the World Series and missing the playoffs last year and they might do that due to their rotation. Zac Gallen leads this rotation of Merill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez(who is hopefully healthy), and they signed the best pitcher on the market in Corbin Burnes not to mention they still have Jordan Montgomery.

They still need a proven closer but have veteran relievers Joe Mantiply, Kendall Graveman, Shelby Miller and AJ Puk. Their lineup is still solid as it is led by OF Corbin Carroll and 2B Ketel Marte with 3B Gino Suarez, SS Geraldo Perdomo, C Gabriel Moreno and LF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. They did lose franchise favorite Christian Walker in free agency but traded for 1B Josh Naylor to fill in.

The Giants are going to keep being middle of the pack because they keep giving up as they let Taylor Rodgers, Blake Snell, Thairo Estrada, Michael Conforto, Austin Slater and Jorge Soler all leave. They decided to sign SS Willy Adames for seven years to play shortstop despite having a top prospect at SS and Tyler Fitzgerald on the roster, and signed P Justin Verlander who is coming off a season of injury in his 40s.

Their rotation is still led by Logan Webb with Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks in the middle plus Verlander, but their bullpen is a question mark as the other identical twin Tyler Rodgers is alone as former closer Camilo Doval had a bad season. The lineup is still led by 3B Matt Chapman, C Patrick Bailey and OF Heliot Ramos besides Adames. They are hoping Jung Hoo Lee is fully healthy to patrol CF/lead off with Ramos and Mike Yastrzemski in the outfield but have two non first basemen at first base.

The Rockies are going to try to not lose 100 games for a third straight year but that will be hard even if their two best pitchers are back in German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela. Kyle Freeland and Austin Gomber are also there but they have no proven relievers and they still have a log jam of infielders who are in the outfield.

CF Brenton Doyle is the only lock in the outfield since he is a gold glove outfielder as Kris Byrant will be the DH and the other choices are infielders. They still have a gold glove catcher Jacob Stallingswith an infield of Michael Toglia who finally has been at 1B but has second base undecided. At least the left side of the infield is set with Ryan McMahon and Ezequiel Tovar.

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Sunday, March 23, 2025

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