On the Radar : March 2024

Central: This is still one of the worst divisions in baseball which means this is anyone’s division as two of the teams are in a rebuild with young talent and two teams that are trying to win, with the White Sox in the middle.

The Guardians have a solid rotation led by Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie plus they brought back Carlos Carrasco. They also have one of the best closers in Emmanuel Clase but as always the question will be their offense since they always have a good defense. Cleveland still has a top tier 3B Jose Ramirez leading their lineup with 1B Josh Naylor, 2B Andres Gimenez and LF Steven Kwan. The questions will be who will line up at shortstop since they traded Ahmed Rosario at the last deadline, right field with Oscar Gonzalez gone, how much production they get in CF out of Myles Straw, and the continued development of Bo Naylor at catcher. The best idea would have been to put Gimenez at SS and looked into finding a free agent second baseman, and unsure who will be their DH unless Josh does it with Bo or David Fry playing first base.

The Tigers surprised many by finishing in second ahead of Cleveland and this year they might do it again based on having the best rotation in the division. They stole Kenta Maeda from the Twins, signed Jack Flaherty to pair with Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize and Matt Manning which is a good balance of youth and veterans. They also added Shelby Miller and Andrew Chafin to help out the very young bullpen. They are relying heavily on their youth with 1B Spencer Torkelson leading this lineup with rookie Colt Keith at 2B, outfielders Parker Meadows, Riley Greene and DH Kerry Carpenter. The issues are they are still paying SS Javy Baez for the next four seasons who has fallen off a cliff, and who is going to catch between their former top prospect Jake Rogers or Carson Kelly another former top prospect. Lastly, they brought in Gio Urshela to play third base or fill in elsewhere and Mark Canha to provide some offense.

The Twins still have a good lineup with outfielders Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, new addition Manuel Margot, infielders Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis, Edouard Julien, Alex Kirilloff and new addition Carlos Santana. They are unsure what is going on at catcher with Christian Vazquez still under contract for two seasons and the offensive production from Ryan Jeffers. They lost four starting pitchers and two relievers which has always been their concern of how much pitching they will get as last year it carried them to the playoffs which was a surprise. Pablo Lopez is still an All-Star caliber pitcher but not an ace supporting this staff that has injury concerns with Chris Paddack and Anthony DeSclafani, but have a fireballer closer in Jhoan Duran.

The White Sox will hope to be competitive with changes to their front office, coaching staff, and pitching staff otherwise manager Pedro Grifol will be fired. They were finally able to trade their ace Dylan Cease for prospects but the rest of the rotation will all be question marks with Michael Kopech, Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde after a year in the KBO, Michael Soroka, and Chris Flexen. Unlike last year they will not have a good bullpen to trade at the deadline as they signed eight veterans to low cost deals. They will try to bank on the health again of DH Eloy Jimenez, 3B Yoan Moncada, and CF Luis Robert to lead this lineup with 1B Andrew Vaughn and LF Andrew Benintendi. But the question will be how much offensive production they will get out of 2B, SS with their signing of Paul DeJong, RF with the trade for Dominic Fletcher, and at C with Martin Maldonado.

The Royals will rely on their youth which starts with SS Bobby Witt Jr. who signed an 11 year extension, infielders Maikel Garcia, Michael Massey, Vinnie Pasquantino, and outfielder MJ Melendez. They still have franchise stalwart C Salvador Perez, and signed veterans Adam Frazier, Hunter Renfroe, and Garrett Hampson. They will also rely on youngsters Brady Singer, Cole Ragans at the top of their rotation but they also signed veterans Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo to stabilize the backend with Jordan Lyles. Their bullpen did add Will Smith, Chris Stratton and Nick Anderson as trade deadline candidates. The real issue is who their starting centerfielder between six players plus Melendez who should be their DH.

East: The Orioles surprised many by winning 100 games and winning the division but they are here to stay and here to win this division again. They improved their rotation by adding former CY Young winner Corbin Burnes to lead this deep rotation of Dean Kremer, Kyle Bradish, John Means and Grayson Rodriguez. They signed Craig Kimbrel to fill in for a season with Felix Bautista out for the season and still have Yennier Cano and Cionel Perez. They have the best catcher in the AL in Adley Rutschman with James McCann backing him up, plus have one of the best outfields in Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays. Their infield has Ryan Mountcastle and the reigning rookie of the year in Gunnar Henderson at 3B. The only question is how they align this infield till the #1 prospect in baseball Jackson Holliday comes up as he is a SS and they have five guys to fill in the infield.

The Blue Jays actually have a rotation where each starter has made the All-Star team in Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi and Alek Manoah (their former ace). They let Hyyn Jin Ryu leave in free agency and replaced him with Yariel Rodriguez to give them six starters plus still have closer Jordan Romano. Their bullpen still has Genesis Cabrera, Yimi Garcia, Chad Green and Tim Maya. Their lineup is still stacked with 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., SS Bo Bichette, outfielders Daulton Varsho, George Springer, and kept Kevin Kiermaier. They added Justin Turner, Eduardo Escobar and Isaiah Kiner-Falefa to their third base-DH mix. Their only concerns are what to do at second base and catcher, since they have Cavan Biggio, Davis Schneider, and Santiago Espinal at second, and Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk at catcher, which are too many options.

The Yankees finished in 4^th last season but due to their offseason moves of adding Marcus Stroman to the rotation and adding the likes of Juan Soto, Trent Grisham and Alex Verdugo to the outfield-DH mix they will be better. Stroman joins CY Young pitcher Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes but their bullpen isn’t what it was seasons ago filled with journeymen and injury prone pitchers. They are banking on rebounding seasons due to performance or injuries from Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres and DH Giancarlo Stanton, plus they are relying on youngsters SS Anthony Volpe and C Austin Wells. The biggest concern should be keeping their franchise player in Aaron Judge healthy as he missed 42 games last season, and the projection of him being their everyday centerfielder may be a bad idea. Play Verdugo in CF and maybe rotate Judge between RF and DH with Stanton.

The Rays normally make the playoffs somehow with their pitching magic of getting the most out of their players/reclamation projects but that will come to an end this season. They are relying on Aaron Civale and Zach Eflin to lead a rotation when they both have been injury prone and are waiting for Shane McClanahan , Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen to come back from major surgeries. While the rest of the rotation are journeymen or unproven pitchers which is different from their good bullpen led by Pete Fairbanks, Jason Adam and Shawn Armstrong. They also brought in Phil Maton and re-signed Chris Devenski and Erasmo Ramirez. Their lineup like always will have to do just enough to scrape by with LF Randy Arozarena, 2B Brandon Lowe, 1B Yandi Diaz and 3B Isaac Paredes. Their concern will be production from CF/RF/DH between Josh Lowe/Harold Ramirez/Jose Siri and the catching position with Rene Pinto/Alex Jackson/Francisco Mejia. The shortstop position is something they are not sure what the plan is. Do you go with your top prospect in Junior Caminero or let him develop more by going with backups like Taylor Walls or play their free agency pickup Amed Rosario till the prospect is ready and then flip him?

The Red Sox will continue to be a last place team ,due to trading/letting go of good players or leaving like Mookie Betts/Xander Bogarts/Verdugo/Benintendi/Chris Sale, and not spend on the team as a whole. They are leaving Rafael Devers on an island in the lineup especially when they bat him second stupidly. They still have Trevor Story at SS but he hasn’t been healthy or great so far, a hole at all three positions, second base, catcher and right field. But they did add Tyler O’Neil to the lineup to play LF, which pushes Masataka Yoshida to DH, have a promising young first basemen in Triston Casas and same for centerfield for Jarren Duran. By trading Sale that rotation isn’t as good as it was with him even with Lucas Giolito coming in he has never been consistent to lead any rotation and is now out for the season with shoulder surgery. The interesting thing is they have three closers on their roster in Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin and Liam Hendriks who will not pitch till the second half of the season.

West:

The Rangers have a chance to repeat as World Series Champions but it hasn’t been done since the New York Yankees three peat from 1998-2000, due to their quality starting rotation. They still have Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, and Andrew Heaney and will get Jacob DeGrom, newly signed Tyler Mahle, and Max Scherzer back from injuries at some point. Their bullpen might not be as good as they lost four key relievers but still have closer Jose Leclerc, plus they signed both David Robertson and Kirby Yates, two former closers. The lineup is still stacked with RF Adolis Garcia, their entire infield of Josh Jung, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Nate Lowe, and C Jonah Heim. The question will be how much production they get out of their CF/LF and DH spots as Evan Carter had a great postseason but can he keep it up? They also lost Mitch Garver to free agency.

The Astros finished with the same record but lost to their state rival in the ALCS and lost some key free agents as well. The lineup is still stacked with Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and Jose Abreu but questions will be how much production they get elsewhere. SS Jeremy Pena had a down sophomore season, Michael Brantley retired, and Martin Maldonado left in free agency. Also is Alvarez going to DH full time or play LF and push Chas McCormick to the bench and let Jon Singleton be the DH? The rotation is still solid with a full season from Justin Verlander and Lance McCullers plus can go eight deep with Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Jose Urquidy, and Luis Garcia to name some. The bullpen did lose three key relievers to free agency/a fourth to season ending surgery, but signed Josh Hader to a five year $95 million dollar deal to be their closer pushing Ryan Pressly to the 8th inning.

The Mariners just missed out on the playoffs by one win but will be as tough as it was last year being in the same division with both Texas teams. Their lineup is still stacked where it is led by superstar CF Julio Rodriguez, C Cal Raleigh, 1B Ty France, SS JP Crawford, and added two DHs in Luke Raley, Mitch Graver, 2B Jorge Polanco, plus brought back RF Mitch Haniger. They did trade away their starting 3B in Eugenio Suarez and will go with two fringe players in Josh Rojas and Luis Urias, and LF can go anywhere with three young guys on their roster. Their rotation is still very young with George Kirby and Logan Gilbert with Luis Castillo still their ace, but the bullpen is still lacking as it has been since they traded their closer at the deadline last year.

The Angels are lucky the A’s don’t try to be good because they would be in last place continuously and things will get worse from here with Shohei Ohtani gone plus eight more veterans left. CF Mike Trout hasn’t been healthy for a full season in awhile along with 3B Anthony Rendon and LF Taylor Ward which doesn’t help when key players are missing. They are going with a rookie at both first base and shortstop, unsure who will be their starting right fielder or DH but at least know who the starting 2B and catcher will be (Brandon Drury & Logan O’Hoppe). Their rotation obviously got weaker with Ohtani gone since it wasn’t good last season as Tyler Anderson is the only good starter. They did beef up their bullpen by signing Robert Stephenson, Matt Moore, Adam Kolarek, Adam Cimber, Drew Pomeranz, Hunter Strickland and Luis Garcia to help closer Carlos Estevez until they get flipped at the deadline.

The Oakland Athletics will be homeless until they go to Las Vegas so this is the last year in Oakland and it will still be another 100+ loss/ last place season as they again try not to win but will always try to flip players at the deadline. DH Brent Rooker, RF Seth Brown, INF Aledmys Diaz, 1B Ryan Noda, 3B Abraham Toro all could be traded at the deadline. While 2B Zack Gelof had a good start to his career, and they have two young catchers in Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom as cornerstones. The rotation got better since Paul Blackburn has help in veterans Alex Wood and Ross Stripling who will definitely be dealt; while their bullpen is bad with only Trevor Gott being tradable.

Central: This division has four teams that could win it and one team that will finish in last(Pirates).

I know it sounds crazy but the St Louis Cardinals will go from last to first this season by strengthening their rotation along with quality position players to rebound. They added Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson to Miles Mikolas and Steven Matz plus Matthew Liberatore. Their bullpen added Kenyan Middelton and Andrew Kittredge to pair with Giovanny Gallegos and closer Ryan Helsley. Their lineup is very well stacked but the question will be how they deploy their players outside of the obvious of Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Willson Contreras. They have Jordan Walker, Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson, Brendan Donavan, Dylan Carlson, Tommy Edman, Nolan Gorman and Matt Carpenter to figure out who will lineup in the outfield, 2B and at DH. They are turning over the reins at SS to a rookie in Masyn Winn while veteran Brandon Crawford was signed for depth.

The Cubs also have a solid rotation of Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Jameson Taillon, Drew Smyly, and signed Shota Imanaga. Their bullpen also got better adding Hector Neris and a few veterans on minor league deals to help out closer Adbert Alozlay. Their lineup is also solid with outfielders Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, re-signed Cody Bellinger, SS Dansby Swanson, UTL Christopher Morel, Patrick Wisdom and 2B Nico Hoerner. They are going with youth-veteran combination catchers in Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya, plus are going with newly acquired Michael Busch at first base. Bellinger will be splitting time at first while also sharing time with their top prospect Pete Crow Armstrong in CF.

The Reds surprised many with being a playoff contender for most of the season which they can be again but will come up short due to their thin pitching staff and outfield. They have a gluttony of infielders: Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain, Noelvi Marte, Jonathan India, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Spencer Steer who has to play LF now; plus they signed Jeimer Candelario to a multiyear deal causing more confusion which is why they let Nick Senzel and Joey Votto go in free agency. Their outfield is still not great with Jake Fraley, Will Benson, TJ Friedl and Stuart Farichild-not quality starting players. Their rotation is still very young, very fragile, and very thin with Hunter Greene leading the young guys but at least they signed two veterans in Frankie Montas who is super injury prone and Nick Martinez who is better as a reliever. Their bullpen did get better by adding Brent Suter and Emilio Pagan to help out closer Alexis Diaz.

The Brewers strength of a good rotation will not be true this season when they traded Corbin Burnes, Adrian Houser, losing Brandon Woodruff to surgery at the end of the season but re-signed him to a two year deal but will be back next season, so it is just Freddy Peralta by himself. They are going to rely on Joe Ross, Colin Rea and Jakob Junis who are all reclamation projects and veteran Wade Miley but still have a top closer in Devin Williams. They also do not know how their infield is going to lineup at 2B/3B since they are going young with Brice Turang, Joey Ortiz and Andruw Monasterio, but are set at SS with Willy Adames and signed Rhys Hoskins to play 1B despite missing all of last year. They also are going young in the outfield but also do not know who will play between Sal Frelick, Joey Wiemer, Garrett Mitchell, Blake Perkins and Jackson Chourio who they gave an eight year deal before he has even played in the majors. That leaves right field open to four players since Christian Yelich is still there in LF, but do not have a DH so maybe he plays there or catcher William Contreras gets some starts at DH since he has two backups in Eric Haase and Gary Sanchez.

The Pirates will continue to be a last place team due to the other teams just being better but also since they keep trying not to be competitive. Their rotation outside of Mitch Keller is missing two key young starters due to injury and their only veterans are not going to stick around much in Martin Perez/Marco Gonzales since they always trade their starters. They did add Aroldis Chapman to help out David Bednar but both could be traded as well. Their lineup is also full of questions like who is going to play second base between Ji Hwan Bae and three other guys and how will their outfield lineup look? Jack Suwinski is their centerfielder, Bryan Reynolds in left field but how do you work in Connor Joe, Andrew McCutchen who also will be in the DH mix and Henry Davis who should be catching will be asked to play RF some days. They are set on the left side of infield with Ke’Bryan Hayes and Oneil Cruz plus signed Rowdy Tellez to play 1B, but are unsure what is going on at catcher if Davis is playing in the outfield since the other good catcher is hurt so they are turning to Yasmani Grandal.

East:

The Atlanta Braves are still one of the most stacked teams and improved this offseason by adding Chris Sale to their rotation of Charlie Morton, Max Fried, Spencer Strider and Bryce Elder. They added to their bullpen with Reynaldo Lopez and Aaron Bummer to help Pierce Johnson, Tyler Matzek, Joe Jimenez, AJ Minter and closer Raisel Iglesias. Their lineup is still deep with infielders Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia, Austin Riley, Matt Olson, DH Marcell Ozuna, catchers Sean Murphy, Travis d’Arnaud and outfielders Michael Harris and Ronald Acuna. The only question will be how to replace Eddie Rosario’s production with Jarred Kelenic being the replacement.

The Phillies also have a stacked lineup led by Bryce Harper, SS Trea Turner, DH Kyle Schwarber, RF Nicky Castellanos, CJT Realmuto, UTL Whit Merrifield and 3B Alec Bohm. Their only offensive questions will be how much production they get out of CF/LF? Harper is moving full time to 1B from the outfield and Schwarber is the full time DH so they will go with Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas and Merrifield in LF/CF. Their rotation is still strong with Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler both of whom were extended, Taijuan Walker, Ranger Saurez and four guys competing for the fifth spot. Their bullpen will always be a question mark but still have Gregory Soto, Seranthony Dominguez, Jose Alvarado and Matt Strahm.

The New York Mets had a season to forget last year trading key pitchers and firing their manager but added to their pitching staff to make it deeper. They added Sean Manaea, Adrian Houser, Luis Severino to the rotation of Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana. Their bullpen will be getting Edwin Diaz back from injury to close games out and brought back Adam Ottavino, added Jake Diekman, Jorge Lopez, Shintaro Fujinami and Michael Tonkin. The lineup is still led by 1B Pete Alonso, 2B Jeff McNeil, SS Francisco Lindor, RF Starling Marte, C Francisco Alvarez and LF Brandon Nimmo. The questions will be if signing Gold Glover Harrison Bader which pushes Nimmo to LF will keep him healthy and how much production are they going to get out of the 3B/DH combo of Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and DJ Stewart.

The Marlins will have a hard time making the playoffs due to their pitching staff being very young with Jesus Luzardo and Eury Perez leading the way but most importantly their CY Young pitcher Sandy Alcantara is out for the year. Their bullpen also does not have a real closer or anybody with experience except JT Chargois. Their lineup is actually their strength having batting title champion Luis Arreaz, 3B Jake Burger, DH Avi Garcia, 1B Josh Bell and Jazz Chisholm. They brought in SS Tim Anderson but he had a down season. They also do not have a real starting catcher and Chisholm will again miss time by playing out of position in CF. Also, how much production will they get out of their RF/LF combo of Bryan De La Cruz and Jesus Sanchez?

The Nationals will still be the worst team in a division full of playoff caliber teams due to the many holes this team has all over the field. The Patrick Corbin deal is finally coming to an end where if he is healthy enough they can maybe trade him so they can go with a full rebuild rotation from other teams in Mackenzie Gore and Josiah Grey, plus their bullpen isn’t strong. They still have the former top prospect catching duo in Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams and another former top prospect at SS in CJ Abrams. At second base and third base they haven’t figured it out with Nick Senzel the latest try at third and signed Joey Gallo to help out Joey Meneses at 1B or DH. Their outfield is two thirds set with Victor Robles and Lane Thomas but have many options for LF which do not scream good.

West:

The Dodgers did what they do every offseason which is spending money on free agents and they started with Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez, re-signing Kike Hernandez and Jason Heyward. The question was what the pitching staff was going to be without Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and Walker Buehler all coming off major injuries at some point this season plus Ohanti isn’t pitching this season. They traded for Tyler Glasnow, signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto and James Paxton. Their bullpen is still shaky even with Joe Kelly, Daniel Hudson and Blake Treinen as key relievers. Their lineup of Mookie Betts, 3B Max Muncy, C Will Smith, 1B Freddie Freeman, plus their offseason moves makes them scary. But the idea of Betts playing 2B or SS part-time was crazy but full time is even more if James Outman, Chris Taylor, Hernandez/Heyward is going to be your outfield production. Plus their middle infield positions is Gavin Lux coming off a serious injury or Miguel Rojas which isn’t scary.

The Arizona Diamondbacks surprised many by going all the way to the World Series and they only improved in important areas making them better. With them signing Eduardo Rodriguez for this rotation it would give them a real playoff rotation with Merrill Kelly, Zac Gallen and Brandon Pfaadt plus a full season of Paul Sewald as their closer. They are the deepest team for outfielders with reigning rookie of the year in Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel who they re-signed, Joc Pederson who they signed to DH, Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy and they signed Randal Grichuk. Their infield isn’t too shabby either with Gold Glovers 1B Christian Walker and C Gabriel Moreno, All Stars Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, and traded for Eugenio Suarez.

The Padres definitely want to forget how last season ended with no playoffs while the offseason saw their manager leave for a divisional rival and trade away Juan Soto and Trent Grisham, plus fifteen veterans left. The rotation of Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove will not be good if they have to support a weak staff with Blake Snell, Michal Wacha and Seth Lugo gone but traded for Dylan Cease. They also spent a good amount on the bullpen to make up for their loss of closer Josh Hader/other relievers with Yuki Matsui and Woo Suk Go. They are not sure who is going to flank Fernando Tatis Jr in the outfield, still are playing Jake Cronenworth at 1B and have three backup catchers without an actual starter plus no DH. They also decided that they made a mistake giving Xander Bogaerts all of this money to play SS so he is now going to play 2B with Ha-Seong Kim to SS, but will leave their best player alone at 3B in Manny Machado.

The Giants have a new manager in Bob Melvin from their rival the Padres who will drop the whole use of starters in the bullpen, and added three new bats to the lineup in Matt Chapman, Jorge Soler and Jung Hoo Lee. Logan Webb leads this rotation with Alex Cobb and new additions Robbie Ray, Blake Snell and Jordan Hicks who will get a real chance to be a full time starting pitcher. Camilo Doval leads the bullpen with the twins Taylor and Tyler Rogers. The way they are going to be set up is Michael Conforto, Mike Yastrezmski will flank Lee in the outfield. Chapman, rookie Marco Luciano and outfielder turned first baseman LaMonte Wade seem to be the only set players besides Soler at DH. They actually have five catchers on their roster, veteran or former prospects. They have Thairo Estrada, Wilmer Flores and David Villar on this roster but only one can play 2B since Chapman was signed.

The Rockies will keep being in last place/lose 100+ games by trying not to get any better. Their rotation is not very good as both of their best starters had Tommy John surgery in German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela. They are piecing this rotation together with other team’s rejects in Cal Quantrill, Dakota Hudson and their incumbent staff of Kyle Freeland, Austin Gomber and Peter Lambert. Their bullpen will have some guys who could be traded at the deadline like Daniel Bard, Justin Lawrence and Jalen Beeks. With the huge long term commitment to Kris Bryant and with how bad his health has been, rather than playing the outfield he will be their first baseman. Charlie Blackmon will be their DH leaving them with too many 1B/DH guys on the roster with nowhere to play. Nolan Jones, Michael Togila and Elehuris Montero are those guys, so it is either the bench or the outfield plus two thirds of their outfield consists of more backups than starters. They are set at 3B/2B with Ryan McMahon and Brendan Rodgers but still have a question at SS. Even at catcher with Elias Diaz having a career year which meant they should have traded him they added veteran C Jacob Stallings.

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