What a Crazy Week

We all knew that with the lockout not being settled until so late and so many top-level free agents still unsigned that it was gonna be a crazy few days.  But, thanks to the Reds and A's trading everything except the baseballs, it's been even crazier than we imagined!  It's not done yet, either!  It's three weeks until Opening Day, Spring Training games are starting, and we still don't know where some pretty good players will be playing!

All of the movement has definitely had an impact on the upcoming season, too.  The AL East was already a beast, and the Blue Jays and Yankees both just got better.  With the third wild card, it's possible that the division could have four playoff teams.  Speaking of four, the Dodgers now have four former MVPs on their roster, which is even more ridiculous than it was now that they've added Freddie Freeman.  They're the World Series favorites because, well, duh!

Adding Freeman makes Muncy the DH and turns second base and left field into a Taylor/Lux/Pollock platoon.  And did I mention Kershaw re-signed too?  It's not like there was much doubt that Kershaw was going anywhere (as much as some people might've wanted to believe it), but it was also inconceivable to envision Freeman wearing anything other than a Braves uniform prior to a few days ago, so you never know.

And Kris Bryant to the Rockies?!  Where did that come from?!  I must say, I like it, though.  Both for him and for them.  Colorado's saying they're actually gonna try to win, and Bryant can play third base instead of signing with somebody who's gonna move him around.

Speaking of moving somebody around, I'm still not entirely sure what the Yankees' plan with Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu is.  I also don't entirely get the Josh Donaldson trade, but I'll get to that in a second.  Gleyber and DJ are both starters, but they can't both play second base!  Yet, they don't want Torres at shortstop, which is why they also got Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the Donaldson trade.  Except, slight problem, Kiner-Falefa can't hit!

Of course, I don't think the Yankees are done yet.  That's especially true now that Anthony Rizzo is officially coming back to the Bronx (which was another Duh! free agent signing).  It seems likely that Luke Voit will be on the move, hopefully for a catcher, maybe to Oakland?

The A's have officially been eliminated from the AL West race, and the season hasn't even started yet!  I kid, of course, but they're making it pretty clear that their days in Oakland are numbered.  As they prepare to move to Las Vegas in a few years, their final seasons in Oakland project to be long ones, having traded both Matts (Olson and Chapman), as well as Chris Bassitt, with Sean Manaea perhaps to follow (in the Voit trade?).

Likewise, Cincinnati is showing little interest in winning this season.  The Mariners, however, are desperate to end their playoff drought.  Which is why they swung the trade to get Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez.  Dare I say that the Mariners might be the favorites in the AL West?

That may depend on the Astros.  Carlos Correa is the biggest name that's still unsigned, although you'll have to figure that'll change within the next couple days.  And, frankly re-signing with Houston makes the most sense.  Both for Correa and the Astros.  I've also seen him linked to the Phillies, which wouldn't surprise me.  Although, how many big contracts can you take on to still finish 84-78?

One thing that we've also seen is a direct result of the new CBA.  National League teams are signing DH's.  Nelson Cruz was the first, agreeing to a deal with the Nationals, while former National Kyle Schwarber is back in the NL East as the Phillies' DH.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a few other NL teams sign DH's, either.  Which only grows the market for Jorge Soler and Nick Castellanos.

Nick Castellanos is apparently the reason Derek Jeter is no longer with the Marlins.  Evidently, he wanted to go after Castellanos and the rest of the front office didn't.  Which is why I find it surprising that Castellanos, who's still available, is being linked to Miami.  After all that, Castellanos could end up with the Marlins anyway?  Really??!!

This is all stuff we shouldn't still be talking about three weeks before the start of the season!  But that's what happens when there's a three-month-long lockout and teams can't even talk to players during that time!  If they'd been able to, maybe the Padres and Red Sox would've found out that Fernando Tatis, Jr., and Chris Sale are injured and won't be able to start the season earlier.  (Although, with Sale, shouldn't they have just assumed that?  He's always injured!)

Those injuries will likely add another wrinkle to what's already been the craziest March Hot Stove ever!  Will the Padres make a run at Correa or Trevor Story, then figure out what to do with Tatis when he gets back?  The Red Sox will almost certainly do something after watching the Yankees and Blue Jays be incredibly active.  And I haven't even mentioned the Rays yet!  Will they do anything to counter the moves of their division rivals?

If there was a silver lining of the lockout, this may have been it.  An entire offseason crammed into a few weeks, and right before the start of the season, too!  And it was worth the wait!  This week has been wild.  In the best way!  The crazy thing is there's still three weeks until Opening Day, so there may be so much more ahead.