By Brendan O’Connell
With pitchers and catchers set to report to spring training in about three weeks, the Major League Baseball offseason is just about over, with the exception of a few late signings and likely tweaks still to come to rosters across the league. Nevertheless, the biggest moves have certainly been made, and so it is time to look back at what transpired — and look ahead to a possible shift in power in the league’s most competitive division.
The American League East ballclubs were among the big winners of the offseason. Under the leadership of newly installed President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski, the Boston Red Sox bolstered their pitching staff with the signing of ace David Price and the acquisitions of bullpen studs Carson Smith and Craig Kimbrel, while still keeping much of their budding core. The New York Yankees traded for closer Aroldis Chapman and the Baltimore Orioles locked up slugger Chris Davis to a long-term deal that will keep him with the club for the foreseeable future. The Toronto Blue Jays, fresh off their first division title in more than 20 years, also look like a good bet to contend. The team recently fortified its bullpen by trading for deposed Washington closer Drew Storen. With perennial power threats like Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion, this is still one of the American League’s teams to beat.
As for the losers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who currently have a $230 million payroll and are notorious for spending ungodly amounts to acquire the best players money can buy, failed to nab any of the top-tier free agents, including their own Zack Greinke, now with the Arizona Diamondbacks. With Scott Kazmir being the club’s only notable signing, the Blue Crew and its fans have to be disappointed, as they surely expected more from their relatively fruitless offseason. The same can be said of the Cincinnati Reds, who, while clearly in a transitional rebuilding period, dealt off some of their most major assets in Chapman and Todd Frazier for less than they would have hoped.
All things considered, however, the most significant developments of the MLB winter may have come in the NL Central. The perennial powerhouse St. Louis Cardinals, winners of 100 games last season, lost Jason Heyward and John Lackey to one of their rivals, the Chicago Cubs, in free agency after losing the NLDS to Chicago in October. Heyward and Lackey, who were first and second, respectively, for the Cardinals in Wins Above Replacement in 2015, joined the versatile Ben Zobrist as the newest members of the Cubs.
President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein and General Manager Jed Hoyer have orchestrated a brilliant rebuild of the Cubs thus far. After several dreadful seasons at the start of the 2010s, last year featured a promising young core spearheaded by Rookie of the Year Kris Bryant, MVP candidate Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler, among others, as well as a troop of reliable veterans such as Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester, Miguel Montero and Dexter Fowler. The Cubs surged back to prominence, finishing with 97 wins and reaching the NLCS. The team looked primed and ready for years of success, and it seemed like it could provide the franchise its best shot yet at a World Series title since 1908. Despite all of this, the front office made splash after splash this offseason, and the team now stands as the most likely contender to win the 2016 championship according to Las Vegas, with online sportsbook Bovada listing them as the favorite at 6 to 1 odds.
Though the Cardinals lost some of their top players, the Cubs picked them up, which could lead to a crucial power swing in the NL Central. If nothing else, the work done in Chicago this offseason has made the Cubs the biggest winners this winter — and therefore the team to beat in 2016.