Offseason Winners & Losers

We're just about a month from pitchers & catchers reporting to Spring Training and most of the big-name free agents have decided where they'll be playing in 2023.  As always, there are teams that go big and ultimately end up missing.  This year, that team was the San Francisco Giants.  Likewise, there's always that team that looks so good on paper because of all the guys they bring in, but ultimately underperforms those expectations.  We have no idea what team that'll be, but the Texas Rangers are probably a good bet.

For the most part, free agency played out somewhat predictably.  Aaron Judge re-signed with the Yankees (and was named captain), as most people thought he would, and Clayton Kershaw will continue to sign one-year deals with the Dodgers until he's ready to retire, so he doesn't even really count as a "free agent" anymore.  The Mets surprisingly lost Jacob deGrom, but immediately replaced him with Justin Verlander, who's coming off a Cy Young Award (although, it's definitely a risk to pay a combined $80 million to two 40-year-old starting pitchers).  And Willson Contreras to the Cardinals and Jose Abreu to the Astros were signings we all saw coming, too.

Then, of course, there's Carlos Correa, who had one of the strangest free agency sagas ever to play out.  He was all set to sign with the Giants and was even getting ready for the press conference when the deal fell through because he failed his physical, so he ended up agreeing with the Mets instead...only to fail their physical, too!  While it looked for a while like he'd rework his Mets contract and still end up in Queens, Correa ultimately stayed with Minnesota, which, I suspect, is the only team whose physical he was able to pass!

Among players, it's fairly obvious that Judge, who got $360 million over nine years to stay with the Yankees, was the biggest winner and Correa, after his three-team odyssey and significantly lower deal with the Twins, was the biggest loser.  But what about among the teams?  Here are who I think are the five biggest winners and five biggest losers...

Winners
Yankees: Re-signing Judge was their only priority heading into the offseason, and they were able to retain the Face of the Franchise for the next decade.  Once that box was checked, they moved on to upgrading the rotation, which they did with Carlos Rodon, who slots in as a solid No. 2 behind Gerrit Cole and gives the Yankees a much deeper rotation (Severino, Cortes and Montas all move back to the 3, 4 and 5 spots).  They still have some other areas they need to address, but losing Judge would've been disaster, so achieving their No. 1 goal and keeping their captain (who just happens to be the reigning MVP) in Pinstripes is enough to make their offseason a "win" regardless of what else they do.

Phillies: Even after their surprising World Series run, the Phillies knew they had to be active if they want to have sustained success, especially in the NL East.  Mission accomplished.  They filled their need at shortstop with one of the biggest free agents available in Trea Turner.  They also signed Taijuan Walker as a third solid starting pitcher to behind Nola and Wheeler.  Most importantly, they significantly upgraded their bullpen by trading for Gregory Soto and signing Craig Kimbrel.

Cubs: Am I expecting the Cubs to suddenly be good in 2023?  No.  But they'll be significantly less bad.  And it's not totally inconceivable to see them contending for a wild card.  They had money to spend, and they spent it, netting shortstop Dansby Swanson and starting pitcher Jameson Taillon.  They also made some low-risk, potentially high-reward signings in Cody Bellinger and Eric Hosmer, who'll platoon with another new addition, Trey Mancini, at first base.

Rangers: Last year, Texas went big on offense over the winter, signing both Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.  It wasn't enough.  Not only did they not compete with the Astros, they finished well under .500.  This offseason, they focused on pitching, completely rebuilding their rotation with three free agent starters--Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney--plus Jake Odorizzi, who they got in a trade with the Braves.  Is it enough to catch Houston?  Probably not.  Does it have the potential to fail spectacularly?  Absolutely!  But, on paper at least, this new rotation should make Texas much better.

Red Sox: Boston's had an interesting offseason, and you could make a strong argument to place the Red Sox in either category.  But I ultimately settled on "winners," because I do think they're better than 2022's last-place squad.  They lost Xander Bogaerts, but they were bracing themselves for that, especially since they were prioritizing locking up Rafael Devers long term, which they did.  They were the ones who landed prized Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida, and Justin Turner is an upgrade at DH over J.D. Martinez.  Plus, they have an actual closer now in Kenley Jansen.

Losers
Giants: San Francisco can blame that reporter who tweeted out that they were about to sign Judge for losing out on him (if the Yankees didn't know San Francisco was willing to go to nine years, Hal Steinbrenner never would've personally gotten involved to seal the deal with Judge).  Then they missed out on Correa, too.  Two big swings.  Two misses.  (Although, I don't blame them for backing out on Correa if they did have legitimate concerns.)  So far, the biggest name they have been able to sign is Michael Conforto, their outfield consolation prize.

Dodgers: I know it's weird to see the Dodgers listed as an offseason "loser," but they're significantly weaker now than when the 2022 season ended.  They lost both Trea and Justin Turner as free agents, and they decided to cut ties with Cody Bellinger after a few disappointing seasons.  Meanwhile, they weren't in on many of the big names, with their only major additions being Noah Syndergaard and J.D. Martinez (who'd better not put his entire name on his jersey!).  Of course, one of the reasons they held off on free agent signings was because they didn't know what was going on with Trevor Bauer.  That situation's been resolved and, as expected, they cut ties with the pitcher.  However, they still have to pay him at least $27 million this season not to pitch for them.

Braves: The Braves' offseason has just been confusing!  They let Dansby Swanson leave as a free agent because they're confident enough in their young players that they think they can replace him with somebody they've already got.  That's fine.  It saved them some money.  And letting Adam Duvall leave also makes sense since they have like six starting outfielders.  But what I don't get is why they traded five players to Oakland for Sean Murphy and signed him to a long-term deal when they already had Travis d'Arnaud at catcher.  If you wanted to still have two starting catchers, why did you trade William Contreras then?

Angels: You could tell that the Angels are for sale.  Because they didn't do anything this offseason!  A team that has Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani yet somehow consistently finishes below .500 made absolutely no effort to suck less, despite the fact that they're always in the mix for the biggest free agent names out there.  Their most significant free agent signing?  Starter Tyler Anderson, who came out of nowhere last season with the Dodgers and made the NL All*Star team.  Does he get them closer to competing with Houston (or even Texas)?  Not even close!

White Sox: Are the White Sox still capable of winning the AL Central?  Yes.  Is it likely?  No.  Jose Abreu was the one guy on this team they could consistently count on to provide power, but he's now in Houston making the Astros' lineup even scarier!  However, despite all of the available free agent first basemen, they didn't sign one!  Their only major addition is Andrew Benintendi, who's a good signing to play left field and bat leadoff (or second if Tim Anderson leads off), but I still don't know where their offense is coming from!  It'll be up to the pitching staff, which is solid but not spectacular.