The hot oven was a deep piece. The Padres have an insurmountable lead in the race to ” win the winter.””As for almost all the others, we expected a slow moving market, given the uncertainty in the air, and that’s exactly what we saw.
Hot Stove Tracker
But as Cardinals baseball operations president John Mozeliak put it, ” January is the new December.”Maybe the non-Padres part of the market will soon move.
In this sense, these are 10 teams that have been quite calm so far, but have difficult tasks to accomplish.
1. Phillies
The Phillies desperately needed clarity in their front-office structure, and they reached it with Dave Dombrowski’s monumental attitude on Dec. 11. But you don’t bring in Dombrowski if you’re not serious about making a push for the offseason, and the Phils have a lot to do if they’re going to make such a push. Your bullpen in 2020 has been one of the thrash in baseball history, your rotation has no depth, your starting shortstop (Didi Gregorius) is a free agent, you have a long-unsolved midfield problem and-oh yes-you risk losing one of the best receivers in the game (JT Realmuto) who acts as a cleaning guard. You have to address all of this while trying to reduce your payroll. We hope you will have some rest between the shows, Mr. Dombrowski, because there is a lot of work to be done here.
2. Angels
The “Wanted: Outs” sign hung on the door of the Halos for as long as any of us can remember, but this need was especially evident in 2020. Angels starter had the second thrash ERA in the Majors, and the bullpen blew an MLB-thrash 14 saves. It’s up to new chief executive Perry Minasian to fix this. If you have Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon on your team and Joe Maddon in your shelter (all cost a nice Penny) and you haven’t been in the playoffs for 14 years, don’t engage in long-distance planning. The Angels must now win, and it will be interesting to see how far they extend the budget to achieve this.
3. Blue Jays
While the Padres appear to have acquired any commercial candidate, the Blue Jays appear to have interviewed any free agent. Not only do you have the financial flexibility to make a big deal (or deals), but you also have the flexibility of position in your team to throw the tires on infielders, outfielders, designated hitters and receivers. They are also open to the idea of a blockbuster trade and have the coins to pull it off. To date, all this discussion has resulted in only a few waiver requests, but Toronto seems poised to jump into this market significantly to develop its burgeoning young ball club.
4 Twins
It’s silly to get carried away in off-season horse racing, but if we were forced to rank them now, the White Sox probably pulled in a lot of people’s minds with Lance Lynn in an exciting group on the south side in front of the Twins. Minnesota, meanwhile, needs to know if it will keep beloved DH Nelson Cruz, and it has holes in its pitching staff with Jake Odorizzi, Rich Hill, Tyler Clippard and Sergio Romo, all of whom have reached free agency and may have gone for the Mets. The free agencies of Marwin Gonzalez and Ehire Adrianza are also leaving the Twins in search of versatility and banking depth.
5. Reds
It was Trevor Bauer’s award-winning Young National League pitcher who helped the Reds overcome one of the Majors ‘ most disappointing offenses (.212 average) and reach the playoffs. But Bauer will probably leave, and the offense is still bad. So while the Reds won’t spend as much money as they did a year ago when they transferred million to Nick Castellanos, Mike Moustakas, Shogo Akiyama and Wade Miley, they will undoubtedly have to call on the rotation and shortstop if they are back this season.
6. Cardinal
Two of the Cardinals ‘ cornerstones-Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright have their hands free. And since both players are in their after thirties, serious decisions must be made about the price associated with sentimentality. Even though st.Louis brings them both back, the Club still has to decide what to do at second base after turning down Kolten Wong’s option, and he has to tackle a glaring absence of offense at outfield and / or third base.
7. A’s
Not one, not two, but 10 (!) players important to American League Defense West champs have reached free agency, and executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane reportedly left the club for a new business venture. So there’s a lot of heavy lifting to do, and as it is, Oakland will have to do it on a limited budget. It is always fascinating to see this club put the pieces together, but the possible departures of Marcus Semien and Liam Hendriks make it a particularly difficult situation.
8. Indian
Cleveland will not only have a new name soon, but, in all likelihood, a new shortstop. Francisco Lindor will likely be treated until Opening Day, and with all due respect to Blake Snell and Yu Darvish, this trade could be the biggest offseason blockbuster in baseball. As the tribe tries to avoid big rebuilding projects, it will be interesting to see if a deal can be negotiated to bring in a young and ready play from the Major League, especially in an outfield that has had historically terrible results in 2020.
