Caption: New San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman swinging
By Sam Morris
Sam Morris is from Madison Heights, Michigan, and is an undergraduate student at BGSU majoring in Sports Management. He has a passion for sports writing and journalism. In his free time, he also performs, writes, and produces his own raps for the music industry club at BGSU.
March 15, 2024
10. Detroit Tigers (B+)
Major Additions
- SP Kenta Maeda
- OF Mark Cahna
- SP Jack Flaherty
- RP Shelby Miller
- RP Andrew Chafin
Starting off the top 10 is the Detroit Tigers, who did something that they haven’t done in a while, they had by far the best offseason of any AL Central team. The Royals and White Sox overhauled much of their rosters to build for the future, the Guardians made minimal changes to a mediocre roster, and the 2023 divisional champion Twins lost major pieces from their playoff team. Detroit added 4 quality veteran pitchers to an extremely young but talented staff. They took Maeda from Minnesota who will likely slide in behind Tarik Skubal as the number 2 guy in the rotation. They also signed Jack Flaherty from Baltimore. Flaherty will likely be the 3rd or 4th starting pitcher in the rotation; he has major upside as he was an all-star and consistent Cy Young candidate just a few years ago with St Louis before his rough 2023 campaign with the Orioles. If Flaherty can return to his previous form he will be a steal to a much improved Detroit rotation from 2023. Both Chafin and Miller will provide veteran leadership in a young bullpen that includes breakout stars from last season, set-up man Jason Foley, and closer Alex Lange. This will help them contend with the Twins’ and Guardians’ bullpens that have been some of the best in the league the last couple of years. Cahna is also a decent signing from Milwaukee who will likely play left field as a need fit opposite young outfield stars Riley Greene and Parker Meadows. Detroit will also likely bring up Colt Keith and Jace Jung, two top 100 MLB prospects, to bolster their weaker infield offense. The downside to the Tigers’ offseason is that they lost their ace Eduardo Rodriguez to Arizona, but it was unlikely he would resign after he declined his player option last season.
9. San Diego Padres (B+)
Major Additions
- SP Dylan Cease
- SP Michael King
- C Kyle Higashioka
- CP Woo-Suk Go
- SP Randy Vasquez
- RP Johny Brito
After paying massive contracts to a ton of players last season, San Diego has decided to use the Golden State Warriors’ strategy of moving on from a few stars in hopes of contending now while simultaneously building for the future. San Diego was involved in the biggest off-season trade as they sent OF Juan Soto and OF Trent Grisham to the Yankees in return for three quality young pitchers and catcher Kyle Higashioka. Although they lost two stars in the trade, Michael King and Randy Vasquez should make for a good 4 and 5 combo in the back end of their rotation, and Johnny Brito is one of the most promising young relief pitching prospects in the game. Higashioka is also a calculated signing as he becomes a bridge and mentor for 17-year-old catching phenom Ethan Salas who is quickly making his way through San Diego’s farm system. San Diego also lost Hader to the Astros and Lugo to the Royals but signed Korean pitcher Woo-Suk Go which will significantly help their bullpen. Ace pitcher Blake Snell is also gone to free agency but the Padres signed ex-White Sox ace Dylan Cease at the end of the offseason which will be a top-tier replacement in what will be a monster three-star rotation of Darvish, Musgrove, and Cease. If San Diego did not lose so many stars they would easily be in the top 3 off-seasons on this list.
8. Chicago Cubs (B+)
Major Additions
- SP Shota Imanaga
- RP Hector Neris
The Cubs’ main priority this offseason was to resign Marcus Stroman and Cody Bellinger. They did half of this goal by signing Bellinger last week. Bellinger pulled an inverse of Tim Anderson and had a career renaissance last year by having the 7th best average in MLB (.307), hitting 26 homers, and having 97 RBI’s. He hadn’t hit over .300 since his 47 home run 2019 MVP campaign. In fact, in the three seasons since his MVP season, he didn’t even hit over .240. This shocking resurgence with the Cubs should make Chicago fans excited for a potential repeat performance this year. On the other hand, ace pitcher Marcus Stroman has left for the Big Apple, but the Cubs pivoted in a big way by adding the 3rd best Japanese free-agent pitcher, Shota Imanaga who played for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. For the last 8 seasons he had over 1,000 strikeouts with a 3.18 ERA in that span. He should easily slot in as the opening day ace and will be a pivotal player in how this offseason is viewed by the end of the year.
7. Washington Nationals (A-)
Major Additions
- OF Jesse Winker
- 1B/OF Joey Gallo
- OF Eddie Rosario
- 3B Nick Senzel
- CP Dylan Floro
The most underrated off-season has to be the Washington Nationals, who lost nobody and added a ton of talent. Washington won’t be able to contend this year, but don’t be surprised if in the next few seasons they become a sleeper team in the NL East. After winning the World Series in 2019, Washington shipped most of their expensive stars to other teams and they have been at the bottom of the National League for the past few seasons. However, they have done a great job drafting and will now likely bring up to the majors 2 top 15 prospects, outfielders Dylan Crews and James Wood. Along with these rookies, they added high-quality offensive talent this offseason with power hitters like Joey Gallo and Eddie Rosario as well as consistent contact hitter Jesse Winker. Nick Senzel will also slide in nicely at third base which has been their weakest position the past few seasons. Adding Dylan Floro from Miami also gives the Nationals another option for closer, which has been a very inconsistent role the past few years as well.
6. Seattle Mariners (A-)
Major Additions
- 2B Jorge Polanco
- OF Mitch Haniger
- C/DH Mitch Garver
- 1B/OF Luke Raley
- 3B Luis Urias
Seattle went all-in on offense and it could pay dividends for them in a division that had generally weak offseason transactions. Seattle was just 2 games behind the Astros and World Series Champion Rangers for first in the AL West but didn’t even make the playoffs, falling one game short of the Blue Jays for the final Wild Card spot. To get over this small hurdle they added talent throughout their lineup to combat their many free agent losses. Seattle lost two of their biggest power hitters in Eugenio Suarez and Teoscar Hernandez, so they resigned former Mariner Mitch Haniger from the Giants to be a power-hitting outfielder and signed rising star Luke Raley from Tampa to help the infield offense. Jorge Polanco is also a huge signing for Seattle because it will give them more consistent contact in a lineup that had the most strikeouts in the league last season and will also give them a good defensive middle infield opposite J.P Crawford. I could see Seattle in the top 3 or 4 of this list if they would have signed a pitcher as they lost Robbie Ray in the Mitch Haniger trade.
5. San Francisco Giants (A-)
Major Additions
- 3B Matt Chapman
- CP Jordan Hicks
- SP Robbie Ray
- OF Jung-Hoo Lee
- OF/DH Jorge Soler
After years of barely missing out on stars like Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa, San Francisco finally hit on big-name free agents. 3B Matt Chapman was one of the biggest offensive signings of the offseason and paired with Miami pickup Jorge Soler in the middle of this order is going to be a scary sight for opposing pitchers and could leave a lot of balls in the bay. The Giants also signed Japanese star Jung-Hoo Lee who they are hoping will become their everyday Center Fielder for years to come. Lee is one of the youngest Japanese free agents this season at 25 and he has the 5-tool ability to become their franchise player. Robbie Ray and triple-digit hitting Jordan Hicks are also massive signings for San Francisco as they try to compete with the Dodgers, Padres, and Diamondbacks, who all have phenomenal rotations. Despite these big moves, the Giants also lost quite a lot compared to the Dodgers and Diamondbacks as they lost 5 of their 6 starting pitchers in the offseason to free agency and trades. Simply adding Robbie Ray won’t fix their pitching depth issue.
4. Arizona Diamondbacks (A)
Major Additions
- SP Eduardo Rodriguez
- 3B Eugenio Suarez
- OF Joc Pederson
Fresh off an insanely surprising National League Championship, the Diamondbacks went into the offseason with a few goals. First of all, they wanted to re-sign many of their players from their World Series roster, which they did. Second, they wanted to improve upon their offense in free agency, which they did by adding Suarez and Pederson. And lastly, they wanted to add another starting pitcher to compete with the top-tier NL West pitching staffs, which they did by getting ex-Detroit ace Eduardo Rodriguez. Completing all three of these lofty goals earns Arizona the first straight A on this list. So why aren’t the Diamondbacks in the top 3? Because the teams in the top 3 had one move each that defined the 2024 offseason.
3. Baltimore Orioles (A)
Major Additions
- SP Corbin Burnes
- CP Craig Kimbrel
Baltimore made an enormous splash this offseason on February 1st when they traded for former Cy Young Award-winning ace Corbin Burnes. After years of building up their farm system but having subpar MLB seasons, all the player development paid off last year when a young homegrown core lineup of Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and Ryan Mountcastle led Baltimore to an AL East title and an overall 1 seed. Baltimore has even more top prospects coming through the system in the near future like Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, and Colton Cowser, but these are position players. Burnes should be a solidified number 1 for Baltimore to help balance their team out and adding Craig Kimbrel as a closer will give Baltimore a complete team with very few holes for the upcoming season.
2. New York Yankees (A)
Major Additions
- OF Juan Soto
- SP Marcus Stroman
- OF Trent Grisham
- OF Alex Verdugo
It’s no surprise that New York used their outrageously high payroll and marketability to attract free agents and trade pieces this offseason, but it’s who they got and for what cost that ranks them this high on the list. First, they landed the top offensive player on the trade market in Juan Soto while only giving up a few young pitchers that haven’t performed remarkably well for the Yankees. In the same trade, they got Trent Grisham and then later got Alex Verdugo from the arch-rival Red Sox. All of these signings will pair well with Aaron Judge and should create the top outfield/DH quartet in baseball. Because New York gave up 3 pitchers in the Soto/Grisham trade as well as Luis Severino, they needed a bona fide number 2 pitcher to go behind Gerrit Cole who will be out one to two months with a right elbow injury. They found their guy in Marcus Stroman who had a career year in Chicago last season. All in all, the Yankees had the best off-season in the American League, in my opinion, and should compete with Baltimore for an AL East crown this season, but it still was not enough to nab the top spot on this list.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers (A+)
Advanced
Major Additions
- SP/DH Shohei Ohtani
- SP Yoshinobu Yamamoto
- SP Tyler Glasnow
- OF/DH Teoscar Hernandez
- SP James Paxton
- OF Manuel Margot
This wasn’t really a question. The top offseason belongs to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and it’s not even remotely close. The Dodgers won the Ohtani sweepstakes and didn’t have to give up anything to get him through free agency. While this alone might have put them at #1 on this list, they also signed Japanese all-star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a long-term deal. Yamamoto would be an ace on half the teams in MLB, and coupling him with Ohtani is just unfair. If this wasn’t enough, the Dodgers then got more pitching by acquiring James Paxton from Boston. After that, they executed a massive trade to get another top-tier pitcher from Tampa Bay: Tyler Glasnow, while also adding Manuel Margot from Tampa to gain outfield depth. Even with Ohtani not being able to pitch this season as he recovers from an elbow injury, the starting pitching staff will include a plethora of options including Yamamoto, Glasnow, Paxton, Bobby Miller, Walker Buehler, and Clayton Kershaw. Additionally, after losing J.D Martinez and Kiki Hernandez to free agency, they shored up the outfield by adding power-hitting Teoscar Hernandez from Seattle. This offseason is a classic example of the rich getting richer, much richer in the Dodgers case. However, baseball is a 162-game season and anything can happen in the playoffs. Dodgers fans have become way too familiar with this in the recent seasons since their 2020 World Series Championship. We’ll see if these blockbuster moves finally push the Dodgers over the championship hump.
Which team do you think had the best off-season, and which moves will help teams contend for the 2024 World Series title?
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