There has been so much activity — both at the Winter Meetings and during the frantic week that has followed — that it can seem like all the major offseason issues have been resolved. But with less than two months until pitchers and catchers report, there are still plenty of questions that need answers. Here are seven.
1. Where’s Dansby Swanson going?
Of the four big-ticket shortstops on the free-agent market this offseason, three have found their destinations: Trea Turner is headed to Philadelphia, Xander Bogaerts will join all those stars in San Diego and Carlos Correa is the new centerpiece of the Giants. That leaves Dansby Swanson, who is still highly skilled and who has a World Series ring. (It’s a nice touch that all four had already won championships.)
Even as the fourth option of the quartet, Swanson isn’t going to be a bargain for his suitor. Returning to the Braves is still an option, and the Dodgers could use a shortstop. But the same could be said for lots of teams, including the Cubs, the Angels and the Red Sox. Swanson is really the only big one left.
2. Are the Dodgers appropriately fortified?
It’s fair to say that the rest of the NL West continues to resist ceding the division to the supposed juggernaut that is the Dodgers. The Padres brought in Bogaerts and the Giants signed Correa for so long that your children will be long out of the house by the time that 13-year contract ends. Pocket the Dodgers? The Dodgers have been oddly idle, re-signing Clayton Kershaw and bringing in the former All-Star triumvirate of Noah Syndergaard, Jason Heyward and Shelby Miller.
There have been rumblings that the Dodgers are trying to reset their luxury tax so they can spend more in the future, and while that makes sense (it’s not like the team isn’t already loaded with talent), it’s an odd time to keep the status quo while the rest of the division is muscling up. Then again: Los Angeles did win the division by 22 games last year. They’ve got some room to play with here.
3. What’s the plan in Boston?
“Good question!” scream millions of Red Sox fans. The challenges that have faced chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom since taking over here are sometimes underappreciated, but in his tenure he has traded Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi and allowed Bogaerts to leave as a free agent, and Boston doesn’t have much to show for it. In fact, they just designated Jeter Downs for assignment, and he was one of the key pieces of that Betts trade.
We’ll see how Masataka Yoshida turns out, and Kenley Jansen still has plenty left, but in the wake of Bogaerts leaving (and Rafael Devers still unsigned long term as he heads into his walk year), it’s fair to wonder what exactly is happening on Yawkey Way. This is supposed to be one of baseball’s superpowers. And yet it is likely that the Red Sox are going to be predicted to finish last in the AL East by most experts and projections. Does potentially signing Dansby Swanson help them enough to make a difference? What would make a difference? Are they even trying to find out?
4. Hey, weren’t the Orioles going to do something?
No offense to Kyle Gibson or Adam Frazier, but if you would have told Orioles fans — who had expectations of an offseason splash — that their top acquisitions as of mid-December would be Gibson and Frazier, it’s fair to say they’d be more than a little disappointed. The Orioles’ long-awaited breakthrough last season was exciting, and all the talent that made that happen is still there, but part of the point of that breakthrough was that after the rebuilding years in the wilderness, the front office was supposed to add to the roster. This team certainly needs more pitching, but with all the big names gone, one wonders how much of an upgrade remains on the market.
And if the Orioles aren’t going to shop in the middle tier, then they’re not really going to add anybody. Which, again, is not the end of the world: Baltimore is going to be good, and that is a sign of undeniable progress. But O’s fans were promised some big moves. And we haven’t seen that yet.
5. Can the Cubs make themselves a contender?
It’s not entirely clear why Cubs brass decided to take a step backwards the last couple of years, to dismantle the World Series-winning team (only Kyle Hendricks remains) despite playing in a division without a big-spending juggernaut. Cubs fans could have reasonably expected, once that selloff happened, that there’d be a push to contend again as soon as possible. But Chicago seems a bit stuck in the middle. Cody Bellinger and Jameson Taillon make them better, but not that much better, and certainly not good enough to offset losing Willson Contreras to their division rival. They still need a shortstop, and Swanson could be a possibility, but does he move the needle enough? This remains a winnable division, but the Cubs seem comfortable to be ensconced in third place, hoping that the Cardinals and Brewers collapse. This is what all that roster churn was for?
Is that enough? It might be if Trout, Ohtani and Anthony Rendon (remember him?) can stay healthy. But if anything goes wrong — and things have tended to go wrong in Anaheim — it could all spin out of control again. It’s great that they’re not giving up. But the risk here is obvious.
7. Does anybody step forward in the AL Central?
So here’s something you don’t say every day: The most active team in free agency in the AL Central has been Cleveland. Sure, that’s mostly the (smart) addition of Josh Bell, but that speaks to the relative stasis of this division. The White Sox lost José Abreu but are hoping to fill that void with the addition of Andrew Benintendi, who can play left and will allow Vaughn to move to first base, his natural position. The Twins, meanwhile, said goodbye to Carlos Correa — an even bigger loss than Abreu is to the White Sox. And the Royals and Tigers have new leadership and all sorts of holes from which to dig out. Does anyone want to win the division? Because it turns out that someone has to.
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