Two Teams Making Moves

It's been a quiet MLB offseason so far.  That's not entirely surprising.  Owners have significantly less money to spend after last season, and they don't know when (or if) fans will be allowed to attend games this year.  They also have no idea if this season will even start on time!  Combine that with the fact that the last few winters have been pretty slow in terms of player movement anyway, and it shouldn't be a shock that a number of big name free agents are still available.

That's not to say it's been entirely quiet, though.  Two teams in particular have been incredibly active.  And they've both improved themselves to the point that you can seriously see either (or both) challenging the Dodgers for the NL pennant in 2021.  LA is still the best team in the National League.  But their hold on that claim isn't as secure as it once was.

The Dodgers may even have some competition in the NL West for the first time in years.  That's because the San Diego Padres just got a whole lot better.  After ending their playoff drought last season, the Padres are going all in for 2021.

San Diego's been incredibly active in free agency over the past few offseasons, getting Eric Hosmer and Manny Machado in back-to-back winters.  Throw in superstar-in-the-making Fernando Tatis, Jr., as well as Wil Myers and Rookie of the Year finalist Jake Cronenworth, and the Padres have as good a lineup as any team in the National League.  But they knew that to compete with the Dodgers, they needed pitching.  Specifically starting pitching.  So they took care of that little problem.

In a move that really came out of nowhere, the Padres acquired former AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell from the Rays (a team they make a lot of trades with).  Then they shocked everybody by completing a trade for Cubs ace Yu Darvish, with his personal catcher Victor Caratini thrown in.  And, don't forget, they got Mike Clevinger at the trade deadline in mid-September.  Clevinger is out for at least the first part of the 2021 season, but that's 60 percent of the rotation...all of whom are better than what the Padres already had.

Dinelson Lamet was solid last season as the Padres' No. 2 starter behind Zach Davies (who was sent to the Cubs in the Darvish trade).  Now he's No. 4.  Which also moves Chris Paddack, who should be a back-of-the-rotation guy, to No. 5.  And their top prospect, Mackenzie Gore, is a left-handed starter who could be a regular in the rotation soon enough.  Suddenly, San Diego has too many starting pitchers.  That's a formidable quintet, even if the Dodgers' rotation of Buehler, Kershaw, Price, Gonsolin and May is slightly better.

If that wasn't enough, they also signed Ha-seong Kim, a Korean infielder who's making the jump to America this season.  Not sure what the plan is with Cronenworth since they both play second (a platoon seems most likely), but the point is, San Diego will be just as loaded again in 2021.  If not more so.  And they may not be done yet.

Neither are the New York Mets.  When Steve Cohen bought the team a few months ago, he made it clear that things were going to be different.  They play in a major market and they're gonna start acting like it.  The Mets are going to be active and aggressive.

With that in mind, it's not surprising that the Mets have been attached to nearly every big-name free agent still available.  From J.T. Realmuto to DJ LeMahieu, George Springer to Trevor Bauer, all of their names have been mentioned as potentially signing with the Mets.  While it's still possible that they'll sign one or more of them, too, none of that will compare to the blockbuster trade they pulled off on Thursday.

Francisco Lindor had been rumored to be on his way out of Cleveland for more than a year.  He'll be a free agent after 2021, and it was pretty obvious the Indians weren't gonna be able to afford to keep him.  They tried to trade him last offseason, but ended up keeping him.  Cleveland became even more intent on trading Lindor this offseason, though, preferring to get something for him in a trade instead of just watching him leave as a free agent.

Enter the Mets.  They had the money and the situation to offer Lindor, and they pulled the trigger, sending four players to Cleveland for Lindor and Carlos Carrasco.  And with that, the best shortstop in baseball is headed to Queens along with a quality veteran starter (keeping with the Mets' philosophy of you can never have too much starting pitching).

This trade is awfully similar to the one that was pulled off last year, when the Red Sox shipped pending free agent Mookie Betts to the Dodgers along with David Price.  Betts proved to be the missing piece, as the Dodgers won the World Series for the first time in 32 years.  And he signed a 12-year extension to stay in LA long-term.  While an extension wasn't part of the trade agreement, I would imagine Lindor wouldn't have gone to a team he didn't plan on signing with (or at least talking to).

Only two months after buying the team, Cohen showed Mets fans that he was serious when he said they're gonna be making moves.  They pulled off a blockbuster trade and got a perennial All-Star, and they still have plenty of money to add at least one high-priced free agent.  And I haven't even mentioned yet that they already had Pete Alonso and Jacob deGrom.

Even in a loaded NL East, the Mets are right up there.  Atlanta's still probably the division favorites.  At least right now.  But that could easily change if the Mets add a Springer or a Bauer or a Realmuto.  At the very least, they're the second-best team in the division.  And they're gonna be in the conversation for a long time.  Just like Cohen promised.

Of course, it's not like either team was "bad" before this.  San Diego made the playoffs for the first time in 13 years last season, and I think that would've been true even if the season had been its normal length.  The Mets had a Mets-like season.  But nobody has ever doubted the amount of talent there is in Queens, and everyone knows what that team is capable of if everything comes together.

Don't get me wrong.  The Braves and Dodgers are still the teams to beat in the NL East and West, respectively.  But the New York Mets and San Diego Padres will make life incredibly difficult for them in 2021 and beyond.  Watch out for the Mets and Padres!  Because neither one is going anywhere anytime soon!