MLB Most & Least Improved

Spring is in the air.  Bryce and Manny have finally signed, and now we can really start assessing the winners and losers of the offseason.  Of course, there's always that team that makes a big splash then crashes and burns, but we have no idea who that will be yet.  All we can do right now is speculate who's going to be better or worse based on the moves they've made.  Here are my top five on both sides...

Most Improved
Phillies: Even before they sealed the deal with Bryce Harper, the Phillies were the one team that had improved themselves the most this offseason.  Their owner said he was going to spend "stupid money" to get Harper, but his free agent spending also landed David Robertson and Andrew McCutchen.  They also traded for J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura, meaning that half of their starting lineup wasn't on the team last season.  And those four are all better than the four they're replacing.

Cardinals: Three years out of the playoffs is a long time in St. Louis.  Too long, in fact.  So the Cardinals addressed two of their most glaring needs by trading for Paul Goldschmidt and signing Andrew Miller.  Goldschmidt is one of the best players in the National League, and he gives them the right-handed power bat that they haven't had since Albert left.  Miller, meanwhile, shores up what had been a shaky bullpen.  Is it enough to get past the Cubs and Brewers?  Maybe not.  But they'll definitely be in the wild card discussion.

Reds: Cincinnati still probably isn't going to be that good.  But they'll be a lot more interesting and a lot more fun to watch now that they've got Yasiel Puig.  It was a salary dump for the Dodgers, but a smart move for the Reds, who needed somebody for people to get excited about other than Joey Votto.  They dramatically improved their pitching, too, signing Alex Wood and Zach Duke and trading for Sonny Gray (who, for their sake, I hope sucks less than when he was on the Yankees).  Hopefully they won't have a starter with a season like Homer Bailey's 2018 (1-14 with a 6.09 ERA in 20 starts) again.

Mets: The NL East is arguably going to be the most competitive division in baseball this season.  The Mets know that.  Which is one of the reasons why they knew they needed to improve their roster.  Their biggest move, of course, was the trade with Seattle that yielded Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz, that simultaneously excised them from Jay Bruce's contract.  Maybe they'll score more than two runs a game in deGrom's starts now.

Twins: After making the playoffs in 2017, Minnesota dropped off badly in 2018.  But, in a winnable AL Central, the Twins have put themselves in a position to do just that.  Even with Joe Mauer retired.  New Twins include first baseman C.J. Cron, second baseman Jonathan Schoop, former Astros Mr. Do Everything Marwin Gonzalez, and DH Nelson Cruz.  And if Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano can recover from disastrous 2018s that got them sent down, Minnesota's lineup will really be dramatically better.

Least Improved
Miami and Baltimore aren't included on the list of least improved teams because they aren't trying to be good.  Some of these teams are also "rebuilding," but they also hope to at least be competitive.  Which may be a challenge.

Mariners: MLB's longest active postseason drought seems destined to continue.  The Mariners have put themselves in a difficult spot.  They want to rebuild while not completely throwing in the towel.  But the team that they tried to win with last season was better than the one they currently have, which leads you to believe rebuild is going to win that battle.  Not that dumping Cano's contract was a bad thing.  Trading it for Jay Bruce's, though?  And they really have no pitching now that Big Maple is in pinstripes.

Braves: It's not that the Braves are necessarily going to be bad.  They retained a lot of their division-winning squad from a year ago.  It's just that the Mets and Phillies got significantly better and the Nationals, even without Harper, are still better than them on paper.  Atlanta did bring in Josh Donaldson and brought Brian McCann back, but are those two veterans enough to hold off three teams in the most competitive division?

Astros: Houston is still going to be the favorite in the AL West.  But, on paper, the 2019 Astros don't look as strong as the 2017 World Champions or the 2018 edition that won 100 games.  Michael Brantley is a huge risk because of his injury history, and I really think they're gonna be feeling the loss of Marwin Gonzalez.  They haven't shown much interest in re-signing Dallas Keuchel, either.  And that third starting pitcher is something they'll definitely need come October (which they should still get to).

Diamondbacks: Last year, the Diamondbacks were neck-and-neck with the Dodgers and Rockies for most of the season.  But entering 2019, they're lagging far behind both LA and Colorado.  I don't need to tell you how huge a loss Goldschmidt's bat is in the middle of that lineup.  I can't even say I know what their plan for first base is.  There are still a bunch of free agents out there, and I wouldn't be surprised if Arizona signs one.  But if they don't, they seem more likely to be battling the Giants and Padres than the Dodgers and Rockies.  Especially since Patrick Corbin was their best pitcher and he's gone, too.

White Sox: This is what happens when you put all your eggs in the Harper/Machado basket and don't land either one.  Even signing Machado's brother-in-law wasn't enough to convince him to join the White Sox.  As a result, it was a very fruitless offseason on the South Side.  And now they're left with lesser free agents if they want to make any moves to improve their team.  Had they been able to do something significant, they'd be a contender in the AL Central.  Instead, they're looking at 75 wins if they're lucky.