Offseason winners
Winning the off-season rarely leads to winning the postseason, but the Dodgers and Padres are looking mighty good on paper.
The Dodgers added Trevor Bauer on one of the most bizarre contracts in baseball history. They’ll pay him $40 million in 2021, one of the highest oneyear salaries in sports history. He can opt out after ’21 or return to the Dodgers to make a remarkable $45 million in ’22. If he doesn’t opt out after ’22, he’ll make $17 million in ’23 before becoming a free agent.
The Padres not only have some of the best young talent in the game, but added a handful of proven players this winter, including Cy Young winner Blake Snell, last year’s runner-up Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Mark Melancon, Jurickson Profar and HaSeong Kim.
Keep an eye on the Cardinals and how Arenado performs away from Coors Field.
The Mets could be the most interesting team in the league, with Jacob deGrom throwing 102 mph in spring training and looking for his third Cy Young Award in four years. Noah Syndergaard is due back from Tommy John surgery mid-season. Marcus Stroman is back after missing the ’20 season recovering from surgery. And they added Carlos Carrasco to the rotation from the Indians in the same trade that sent superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor to Queens.
The Blue Jays could surprise, with George Springer, Marcus Semien and a handful of talented free agent pitchers going to Toronto.
The Braves look like contenders after re-signing Marcel Ozuna while adding Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly to the rotation.
The Phillies spent some money after hiring “Dealin’ Dave” Dombrowski to run their front office.
And don’t forget some key manager changes: La Russa is back in the dugout in Chicago, Alex Cora returns to Boston, A.J. Hinch is back after his suspension to manage the Tigers and Terry Francona returns to Cleveland after missing last season with health problems.